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#1
10-20-2003
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What do you think of my semi-pro studio?
Whats up guys. I'm new to this board. I've been recording for 11 years, since a I was a senior in high school. I've worked in home studios, and have learned alot. I can make (IMHO and others) "commercially" sounding material (with alot of patience and time). I dont have 100k invested, only 25k. Some of the studios I've worked in were 50-100k home studios with alot of outboard gear (analog and effects).
I record rap, hip-hop, r&b, and pop, gospel, and jazz. I'm also thinking about starting a recording label. I have 3 acts I want to sign already. One of them is a rapper who unlike "rappers", he has the look, the flow, the personallity and style, a girl who was on American Idol here in Dallas but got booted off for singing "Amazing Grace" They told her that "this isnt Christian idol, this is American Idol.....u sound great but......next." And last is a R&B singer. Well, enough jabbering, here's my equipment: COMPUTER 1 (Workstation A): 500 MHZ PIII 512 MEG Ram 4 GIG HD for software 32 GIG HD for vocal tracks Midiman Omni 4 in 4 out soundcard UNITOR-8 MIDI patch bay 3 - 21" monitors (CRT, I wish they were flatscreens) Internal 48X CD burner SOFTWARE: Cubase VST Wavelab 3.0 Tons of plug-ins Soundiver Acid Soundforge MixMan Passport Memphis ************************************* COMPUTER 2 (Workststion B): 966MHZ P3 512 MB RAM 13 Gb HD 30 Gb HD Delta 44 audio card Emagic 4x2 MIDI box 17" monitor SOFTWARE: GIGA Studio 32 Wavelab 3.0 NOTE: this computer was built just for GIGA Studio ************************************************ SOUND REINFORCMENT: Oktava MK-319 Mic (vocals) Bellari MP-105 Tube mic pre Berringer 24 Trk Eurodesk mixing board (modules and keys, never vocals) Antares Auto Tune Tascam TM-D1000 16 Channel Digital Mixer (For Sale) Mackie 1202 (sub mixer for indvid. outs on Alesis DM-PRO elec. drum kit) Event 20/20 Nearfield Monitors Alesis Midiverb 4 Haffler 75W/Channel Amp Unitor8 MIDI patch bay DBX 166XL stereo compressor/limitor/gate Dual Cassete Deck Numark turntables ************************************************ SOUNDS: Roland JW-50 as a Master Controller (also a great 16 ch. midi "live" mixer) Roland JV-1080 (dance, techno, house, & vint. synth, 2K more Patches) Roland JD-990 (700 additional patches) Roland JV-90 Roland MC-303 Korg Triton Rack (Maxed out sample time, SCSI card and SCSI zipdrive) Yamaha TG-77 (400 additional patches) Yamaha FB-01 (Awesome bass module) Yamaha TG-500 (500 additional patches) Yamaha S-80 Keyboard Alesis QSR (400 additional patches) Alesis DM-Pro drum module with Hart Dynamics 7 piece elec. drum kit Gigastudio 32 with 16 channels of 61 keys mapped out with drum sounds AKAI sample disks Hundreds of old LP's from 60's, 70's, 80's, & 90's used for sampling Couple of guitars (need to be better, there only Mitchell acoustics) COMMING SOON IN THE FUTURE: MoPhatt Module & Virus C, Lexicon MPX-550 Multi effects processor, M-Audio Delta 1010, Berringer headphone distribution box, and ProTools LE/Digi001 workstation on a 2.5 GHZ 1 GB DDR RAM AMD XP system. Computer is being built for ProTools as we speak. I've moved on from being the average bedroom producer. I would like to quit my profession someday (aircraft mechanic for a major airline) and do this full time. Does it pay to go and take some audio courses at a local school on "professionally" mastering? What do you guys think of this setup? And can you think of any other equipment I might need to go professional? 
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#2
10-20-2003
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honestly there isn't an answer to what you want to know
if going professional was as simple as picking up a few pieces of gear wouldn't everyone be yielding professional results?
The pros aren't good because they own expensive gadgets and record in great acoustical enviroments (sure all of these things make life easier). They are pros because they have the skills and the know how to get professional results. "I've moved on from being the average bedroom producer". So what exactly would you classify yourself as now? With all of that gear whats keeping you from taking things up another level? "Does it pay to go and take some audio courses at a local school on "professionally" mastering?" It couldn't hurt, would it make you a professional? I seriously doubt it.
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#3
10-20-2003
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Re: What do you think of my semi-pro studio?
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#4
10-20-2003
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This is just being honest and frank with you. You asked a pretty straight question, so I figure I'll do you a favor and give you a straight and honest answer. But besides your monitors, synths, and maybe your computer, I don't see a single piece of gear that I'd consider "professional" as you put it. In fact, I'd probably consider it all to be pretty low-grade, even for a project studio.
Keep in mind that this comes with the caveat: if it gets you great results, and your finished product sounds slick, then ignore what I just said, because in that case, what you have is fine. As far as the whole schooling thing goes, it just depends on how good the school is, and whether you feel you have something you could gain from it. I'm not sure that I'd go and quit my day job unless you're absolutely certain you've got a future in this with plenty of lucrative business lined up. It's a pretty tough and competitive raquet. You have to have more than just musical skills and/or production abilities. Good luck, though, and keep us abreast.
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#5
10-20-2003
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I'm with Chessrock. You're one more person who has fallen into the trap of spending piles of money to process a signal that you don't have. In short, your front end sucks. As a completely different concept, I spent the same $25K as you, but $11k is just mics and preamps, and I'm not there yet. A Bellari pre makes a very good anchor, and if your main vocal mic is a $99 Russian condenser, you have got a long ways to go. Don't even think about buying another synth, module, FX box, or anything else, until you've spent several thousand dollars on mics, preamps, and room conditioning.-Richie
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#6
10-20-2003
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Re: What do you think of my semi-pro studio?
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#7
10-21-2003
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Every commercial studio MUST have at least one decent microphone. The fact that you don't makes me wonder about your knowledge of recording.
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#8
10-21-2003
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ignore these guys, you've got a really cools setup, the problem being that you have to spend the same again on getting decent premesis sorted (unless you already have) . i'd go with the label thing. as far as mastering goes don't be afraid to pay somebody else to do it! if you really are determined to go down the pro studio route i'd say get a big analogue board (trident 65 seris are way cheap at the minute) and a high end mic ( u 87 or one of those sony things).
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#9
10-21-2003
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ignore these guys, you've got a really cools setup, the problem being that you have to spend the same again on getting decent premesis sorted (unless you already have) . i'd go with the label thing. as far as mastering goes don't be afraid to pay somebody else to do it! if you really are determined to go down the pro studio route i'd say get a big analogue board (trident 65 seris are way cheap at the minute) and a high end mic ( u 87 or one of those sony things).
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#10
10-21-2003
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ignore these guys, you've got a really cools setup, the problem being that you have to spend the same again on getting decent premesis sorted (unless you already have) . i'd go with the label thing. as far as mastering goes don't be afraid to pay somebody else to do it! if you really are determined to go down the pro studio route i'd say get a big analogue board (trident 65 seris are way cheap at the minute) and a high end mic ( u 87 or one of those sony things).
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#11
10-21-2003
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#12
10-21-2003
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There are pros that use Behringer stuff all the time. Funny how people on this board go to all the trouble convincing us that some cheap mic/pre is the best thing since sliced bread, beats things over twice the price and then turn right around and pick the stuff that they recommend apart. Funny, that is all. A pro studio makes money off recording. There is no definition of pro studio or equipment other than the ability to make money. Many pro studios suck ass. I have been to alot and wasted $$$ on them too. The end result can be outdone by the average hobbiest. It is the talent of the engineer that makes the diff. Of all the really good ones I worked with, not one single time did any of them rate or complain about equipment. We recorded and if we did not get the sound we wanted, we changed mics/pres or something else and moved on with life. The really suck ass ones did nothing but waste my time and complain about the equipment and why we cannot get the right sound. Funny, that is not.
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#14
10-21-2003
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A few hi-end mics and pre's and you're about ready to go!
Best of luck and hope ypu accomplish your goals!
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#15
10-21-2003
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#16
10-21-2003
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With all due respect, Acorec, being a fraud that that can make money is *not* the definition of professional. You're right, though, that the skill, imagination, and experience of the AE *is* what makes something "professional". A professional studio, to live up to that moniker, must present whatever music is being recorded in a good light, and does it on a schedule and on a budget. It usually makes music sound better than it is, and never makes it sound worse.
Regarding gear/setup, which is what the poster was asking about, I am a big fan of the Oktava MK319. While not, perhaps the greatest thing since sliced bread, it is a unique sounding mic, at an unbelievably low price point. It can, I don't doubt, be used on "professional" recordings with great success. Having it as the only real vocal condenser of a commercial studio is like having an auto repair shop with one wrench. A commercial studio doesn't need *one* mic, even if it's a Neumann, Soundelux, Brauner, or a Behringer B-1. It needs a *shit load* of mics, probably including an Oktava MK319 and a Studio Projects B-1. Now Harvey Gerst is a bona fide expert at getting professional results with cheap mics. Does he have just one? You speak of the real engineers- Yes, when the sound sucks, they get another mic or another pre and go on....Because *they have* another mic and another pre, because they run a "professional" studio. If this guy wants to go pro, he's going to need a front end. Right now, he's upside down and ass-backwards. He has advanced capability to process a signal he doesn't have the gear to capture. Gear will not make you a pro, but real pros use real gear.-Richie
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#17
10-21-2003
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......and beleive it or not, I had the opportunity to sit and chat face-2-face, with the esteemed Richard Monroe and the brutha' knows his sh*t!!! 
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#18
10-21-2003
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......and beleive it or not, I had the opportunity to sit and chat face-2-face, with the esteemed Richard Monroe and the brutha' knows his sh*t!!!
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#19
10-21-2003
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Richard Monroe gave you some excellent advice.
I'm just going to say this straight out, because I've been there myself: you have the typical beginners studio, heavy on synths/prosumer audio gear and other similar candy, but light on the meat and potatoes stuff like *quality* mics, preamps, converters, compressors, and mixer. It's the meat and potatoes that will get you where you want to go. It looks like you still have money to spend, so forgo all your "Coming Soon in the Future" items except the Digi 001, and get yourself some real audio tools. Best things I can think of for you would be a good channel strip (example: Avalon 737), some quality mics (at least one SM57 plus another higher end mic), and a couple channels of *great* AD/DA conversion to use going to the 001. All the styles you record include vocals, and yet you have basically no front end to record those vocals with, so until you have that aspect up to par the rest is just more silliness. That said, your musical goals are excellent, and you sound very excited about what you are doing. It's good to see that, and I wish you the greatest success.
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#20
10-21-2003
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certainly ignore blue bear. everybody seems to be ignoreing the fact that you are recording hip hop and only really need one channel of high end mic pre and a decent mic. the remark to you having loads of synth and not enough outboard processing is a just because the production process in hip hop is more based on a sound that fits the mix from the beginning, rather that processing sounds that do not initially fit in to the mix.
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#22
10-21-2003
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Even if you are recording only one voice at a time you still need a few mics to match to the voices of the various singers that will be recording. One voice at a time does not equal one mic in the studio.
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#23
10-21-2003
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Excuse me, Toby, but he did say pop, gospel, and jazz. And the tracking has nothing to do with whether a given signal sits in a projected mix or not. Real recording involves a flattering translation of the original source. The better the source is, the more accuracy is required in that translation. Gospel and pop both involve multiple singers, with or without overdubs, and singers of a wide variety of basic sound. Jazz requires mic'ing standup bass, brass/saxes, harmonica, strings, African percussion, piano. We're not talking about "beats" or electronic music here, we're talking abouit recording complex mixes with the entire spectrum of acoustic instruments, and multiple vocalists.
That's the whole point. The mic cabinet and pres needed for rap/hip-hop are peanuts compared to the needs of gospel or pop. I'm afraid a cheap dynamic plugged into a Bellari is not in the ball park.-Richie
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#24
10-21-2003
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OK. not knowing that I'd get ripped apart, turned inside then back out, I know that my "front end" sucks. No kidding. I had a studio owner tell me a long time ago that "its not what you may or may not have, but what you can achieve with what you have." With that said, I know I need better mics and pre's. But I've made alot of stuff that is getting radio airplay here in dallas. Done a few jingles, beats in backrounds for dj's talking, and local hip hop artist. not once did anyone say, "man that mic sucks", "man that pre sucks." I know it isn't the best, but HOWEVER: They LOVE the finished product. Now with that said, I have to eq and process the hell out of a vocal track to get it to sound great....maybe, maybe, I wont have to work as hard to get it to sound great with better mics and pres.
So What would you recomend for a pre and better mics? Dont hold back. I have 3 grand to spend. PS, I know I'm a good engineer and producer, but "I can always learn more."
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#25
10-21-2003
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Well, Anppilot, I do have to hold back, because 3 grand will only touch the surface of what you need. You need dynamics, small diaphragm condensers, a kick drum mic, at least one main vocal condenser, and a utility condenser. But if you want to take a step up for 3k, I'd start like this.
Basic 2 channel preamp- Toft ATC-2 $1000. Really good 2 channel pres are more like $2500, but you need mics. dynamic- Elecreovoice EV20- This is usable as a vocal mic and a kick mic. or Sennheiser MD441. Either one about $600. Vocal condenser- The sky's the limit here, but I would recommend Shure KSM44 because it's (only) $700 and versatile. Utility condenser (also good for some vocals) AKG C414B-ULS- good on a wide variety of instruments and percussion, everything from guitar to violin to piano. $700. There, your 3K is gone. Initially, spend $100 at Guitar Center for a pair of Oktava MC012's for small diaphragms, and upgrade later to AKG C451's, $600 the pair. These are middle of the road mics, but all of them are useful. I've got $7000 in mics and $4000 in preamps, and I'm not even close to what I would need to be to go pro.-Richie
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