What can you get with a single microphone, preamp, portable interface, and a laptop? A great recording, that’s what. Today’s Reader Spotlight is the very talented and funny band, I Cuigini d’Ungheria from Italy. Guitarist and engineer, Simone, created a killer sound with his simple laptop based studio. Plus they shot an incredibly funny video!
The Studio Setup
Simone’s apartment living room studio is centered around a three year old Macbook Pro running Cubase 5.5. His interfaces of choice were the MOTU Ultralite mkI and the MOTU 828 mkIII. His signal chain for just about everything (vocals, guitar, banjo, upright bass, clarinet) consisted of a Shure KSM 32 condenser mic running into a Universal Audio LA 610 preamp, hitting his MOTU interfaces.
Percussion was tracked with the same rig, and just the shaker you hear at 00:47” was tracked with my old Shure SM57 direct in the MOTU Ultralite. We love Michael Blair (Tom Waits drummer/percussionist) and we use the same approach for rhythm: I collected a lot of toys, broken things, bells, frying pans, pots… Bela also played my couch, miked with the KSM 32 and LA 610. I also programmed some percussion with EZ Drummer Twisted Kit. – Simone Salvatore
I love the creativity here. Instead of purely programming some drums and percussion Simone and his band went for organic sounds, anything they could find and bang around in front of a mic. The result (as you here in the video) is rich, warm, and engaging rhythm section. It’s also unique, giving them their own sound. Love it!
Mixing With Stock Plugins
Simone did a fabulous job recording this song. But his mix is where things really came together. This song has clarity, punch, warmth, and most importantly musicality. The best part about it all? He mixed it in his closet and used primarily the stock plugins in Cubase 5. Incredible!
I mixed entirely in Cubase 5.5 using the stock plugins and the ToneBoosters TB Ferox. I used a lot of your tips when mixing also like checking in mono, compressing the mix buss. Also I made the 500hz cut you suggested on the percussion group and BAM! It sounded immediately better! – Simone Salvatore
Dedicated To The Craft
Simone is one of those guys who just gets it. He’s taken full advantage of all the knowledge and training available these days, by putting it into practice. And guess what? His band’s music has benefited. Tips and techniques are nothing until you actually implement them in real life.
I’ve invested in a lot of your products and have to say they are the most REAL out there. I learned so much from you, and I recommend all the engineers I know to invest some money in your products, because today there are incredible possibilities, but you have to know how to use them! – Simone Salvatore
My hope, as always, is that hearing Simone and I Cugini d’Ungheria make great recordings like this one will only fuel your desire to do the same thing. I hope it motivates you to improve your craft by getting out there and actually making music. You likely already have all that you need to make killer sounding tracks, you just need to rethink what you’re doing with your gear and get to work!
For more great music from Simone and I Cugini d’Ungheria, subscribe to their YouTube channel, like them on Facebook, and check out their website as well.
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My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
Graham, this is inspiring. Really great to hear real world examples of people doing great work on limited resources and hear how they do it. A great way to illustrate everything you write about.
Wow! That is really awesome. It should certainly serve as an example of what is possible with the bare minimum. I’m impressed.
What a joy to see what people are doing with the knowledge they get here. Just watching the videos on youtube has made my mixes improve tremendously.
Also, It helps a lot that the song is well arranged. There are many times that we worry too much about the quality of mics, gear, room acoustics, etc and we forget about the song itself! music should be the first concern!
Toneboosters plugins are awesome and ridiculously cheap, check out Reelbus i use it in all my mixes.
great song, great recording!
After I got over the addiction of endlessly looking for free plugs online and just went with what I already had in Cubase, like what you recommend, my mixes went through the roof. Of course sometimes I do pull up some plugs from Variety of Sound for their nice saturation tones, but they are only an extra bonus for me.
I love what you are doing here, and like many others I’m sure, you have been a real help in gaining the education I need to do what I love for real. Thanks for everything Graham!
This is great. Congratulations and compliments to Simone and his band – the music and the video are both excellent and thoroughly enjoyable. Thank you Graham for continuing to provide the great tips and motivation and for sharing this wonderful example of how to put it all together using modest gear.
I’m loving these reader spotlights where you showcase indie artist who use low budget means to get a polished recording. Cool Stuff!!!
Me too. These guys are motivating me with my music also!
Thank you all for you nice comments!
I’ve been recording and mixing for 15 years now, but I’ve learned a lot from Graham’s videos. In the past I was used to think that without an huge amounts of expensive plugins or hardware you can’t mix.
Then I understood that you “just” have to know very well your gear and your software, and you can have great results also without super-expensive things. Of course I do love my trusty LA 610 and my Shure KSM 32, but it’s more important to know exactly how your mic(s) sound, how it respond to different positions, how your plugins works…
If you are serious about recording and mixing invest your money in some Graham’s videos: they are the best and cheapest shortcut to develop the ability to obtain the sounds you dream! 🙂
I want to thank my step-cousin Bela (Gabriele Damiano, a great singer, but also a super cool drummer!) for sharing this funny adventure with me! And, of course all the friends (musicians, actors, photographers…) that helps us to make this project real! 🙂
Your work is “Do it Yourself” work is inspiring, Simone! Keep it up!
Thanks for the plug Simone. But seriously, you’ve taken my tips and ideas and implemented them beautifully with some fun and well crafted recordings. Job well done!
Thank you Graham! 🙂
When I find something I like I have a great pleasure to share it with other people: I find your site and Joe’s site and I give your addresses to all my collegues and friends.
Everyone has to learn from you and your enthusiasm!
Ciao,
Simo 🙂
Hi Graham,
Wow, wonderful video and mix! something different video on your post. Great mix ! All credit goes to you Graham, you are base for everything. Today’s DAW guys must buy all your videos. Wonderful post graham.
-Baba.
Thanks for the support Baba. I’m just trying to help and show people what is possible these days. Encouraging, even to me.
A little video from the recording session 😉
http://youtu.be/PsFkXOE9gCE
Dude, this is epic!
I admire their use of [mostly] stock plugins and a single mic. That said, have people looked into how much their gear cost? I would hardly call it the “bare minimum” or a reflection of “limited resources”. I for one don’t own a $550 dollar microphone, a $600-700 dollar preamp, and TWO interfaces (the III not being particularly cheap either).
Yeah – it’s not the cheapest setup. But it’s a great use of a home studio.
Agreed. Did they pay someone to mix their album and another to master it? just wondering as it would have made a huge difference in what we’re hearing (versus them–unless they’re extremely talented–mixing/mastering in the box)
If you read above you’ll see they mixed it themselves, mostly with stock plugins in Cubase.