New Studio, Setup and Gear Question

[halo206]

The purpose of all the gear i have is to compliment my Alt-Rock Band. We sound like this www.purevolume.com/needforpanic , im not sure how to categorize it, so if your inclined you can check it out.

Ive been looking through, and posting in this forum for a couple weeks, and ive gotten tons of great ideas. I feel like a have a much better feel of the products i am looking to buy. So this is what i am thinking of getting, if anyone has any bad experiences with any of this stuff, or loves it, that would be great if you posted any information. I figured posting some of my music would give a better idea on what im looking to do.

Software - Cakewalk SX 2.o,
Mixer - Mackie Onyx 1620 w/ Fireware Hardware
Mic's - Rode NTk, AKG D112, 4 Shure SM57's, Matched MXL 603's, and a Shure SM81.
Comressors, Pre's - 1(2?) DBX 266XL, and aFocusrite Platinum VoiceMaster Pro
Monitors - M-Audio BX8's.

I'm more interested in advice on whether or not this gear will or will not be good for recording this style of music. If theres anything better in the same price range of what I am already getting, please let me know.

I am also not sure if i should get 2 dbx 266xl's or 1 and something else. Like a Symetrix 525 or a Bellari R 282 Tube Compressor?

ANY comments, suggestions, or anything would be very much appreciated. And if it matters i also go to school for Audio Engineering, at UMASS.

THANKS!!
-Mike

[ssscientist]

How many in your band, Mike?

If you're not planning to do any full band tracking (or even if you are) you can probably just try what you already own for a few months and then plug the holes.

You've got some nice mics and a quiet board -- the two essentials for making quality recordings...

ssscientist

[Michael Jones]

Well, that's a decent list, and some pretty good gear.
I'm curious... why One SM81?
What will you use it for?

I own a pair of SM81's and being SD condensoensor mics, they of course excell in high detail stereo micing. But you'd need a pair to do that.
So I was just curious as to what you plan on using it for.

[halo206]

There are five main instruments in the band. Guitar(2), Bass, Drums, and Vocals. We also track Tenor, Alto Sax, and Viola on some of our material. I understand being able to use and master what you have, but we dont have anything right now, except for live gear (mixers, power amps, eq's). This project is something we've been all saving for, as a chance to get better at working with our music, every aspect. Which you cant do paying 100$ an hour for a pro engineer, sometimes even a bad pro engineer, we've experienced this.

As for the SM81, I would use it to mic the hi-hat. Its a bit expensive, but i havent heard anything great about any other mic's, except possibly an sm57. If you could suggest anything better, I would definately be interested.

-Mike

[Michael Jones]

Originally Posted by halo206

As for the SM81, I would use it to mic the hi-hat. Its a bit expensive, but i havent heard anything great about any other mic's, except possibly an sm57. If you could suggest anything better, I would definately be interested.

-Mike

It should work OK on high-hat. It might have a little more sizzle than you like, but you can tame that with positioning.
But it'll work great on sax and viola. Its a great mic! Like I say, I have 2 of them, you'll find a use for it, its a good studio workhorse.