Studio Recording Offer @ Fastlights Studios

As some of you might know, I was away to Spain and Portugal during the last two weeks of July. It was a very different experience, unlike other parts of UK. Will update about the trip if I have the time.

So, right when I came back from my Spain/Portugal trip, I pretty much rushed through to edit my tracks for Animangaki 2012(AMG) performance; as well as preparing songs to record for my first studio recording experience.

The studio recording deal was an offer I randomly saw at FB – RM50 for 3 Karaoke tracks recording (3 hours) + editing + mixing. It was quite a deal as I think the normal price to record a karaoke track is RM180 with sound engineer and editing. Studio ambience was fine (recording and working room), except that there was no sign board, door locked always and the whole place outside the working room was empty with not much lights, no furniture as well. Plus there’s only one sound engineer there, so it would be better for females to have someone to accompany if you would like to try out this studio ^^.

I have to say the tracks I recorded are only of average quality as I have only 2-3 takes (some small parts maybe more) per song, and there’s a time constraint of 1 hour per song. Perhaps I’m just not used to it as I usually have more than 50 takes per track when I do home studio recording. Editing wise I’ve learnt some stuff thanks to the helpful sound engineer and I believe after more practice I should be able to edit my own tracks better in the future.

To sum it up this recording deal should be suitable for songs that require minimal editing (clear vocals not much effects) and vocalist who can sing perfectly within very few takes (or for those who just wanna have fun recording some songs ^^). If I’m not wrong there should be more recording deals during festive seasons (Christmas, Valentine’s day, Chinese New Year..etc) and I won’t mind trying out for festive songs to have some fun again~

Do check out Fastlights Studios FB for more information regarding studio service and packages:

https://www.facebook.com/fastlightsstudios

Unboxing Samson C01U

I've been wanting to get myself a USB studio condenser microphone for years. And so after surveying, reading all sorts of net reviews and sound samples (and with the help of my friend), I finally found this lovely model to get along with - good quality with reasonable price~

Unboxing and fixing it took some time, and am overall satisfied with the sound recording test. 

 >> Box includes: C01U microphone, USB cable (long enough to stand and sing while attaching it to the computer), tripod desk stand, black pouch (some sort of plastic feel), and also a audio software.

I tried recording some songs partially to test out the recording quality and am so far satisfied ^^. Details are captured well and the tripod desk is more stable than I thought. But I think having a Popfilter is necessary to reduce the "pop" sound. After putting the Popfilter the recording sounds so much cleaner. I wonder if it's the mic or the filter, but there's no background noises (fan, air, etc) so I don't have to worry much about the recording environment.

Wanted to get myself a mic boom but it's already out of my budget, so I decided to purchase the Samson Shockmount first as it's quite a popular product.

Gonna play around my new gadget and hopefully record more song covers~