"Mush have" gear

Enchilada

Enchilada

Strange person.
Hey again guys!

After my last post I'm leaning toward keeping my PC as my DAW.

I'm planning to run a studio as a business and will most likely have a vast range of clients from acoustic duos, pop soloists, full bands of pretty much every genre, voice overs and ad jingles. I do have a budget though, I don't want to spend over $60,000

Here's what I have from my hobby studio days:

PC:
Phenom II X3 720
4GB RAM
1320 GB total hard disk space (planning to upgrade)
4GB RAM (planning to upgrade to 8GB)

Presonus Bluetube
M-Audio Delta 1010LT
MXL V67g
Studio Projects C1
2 x Behringer B5
2 x Behringer ecm8000
Shure SM57
Sennheiser e835
AT Pro 25
Behringer Multicomp Pro-XL MDX 4600 (not a great comp but I'll probably use it for drums)
Samson Resolv 40a active studio monitors

As far as mics go I'll probably just get a Neumann U87N because I've heard they're the dogs bollocks, a Shure beta 52 and some more SM57s

Here's my shopping list so far:

Neumann U87N
Shure beta 52
10 x Shure SM57
DBX 166 compressor
FMR Audio RNC1773 compressor
M-Audio Delta 1010 (hoping it will work alongside my 1010LT)

As far as preamps go I want a decent mixer to handle that. I also wish to route the outputs from the PC back into the mixer so I can use the faders for leveling.
I've been looking at the Allen & Heath GL2800 because it seems to have goot routing options and I've heard the have solid preamps and awesome faders.

Any other industry standard gear or gear that I "must have"
 
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Nope. I'm planning to rent a commercial space a deck it out. My budget will have to cover that too.
 
I dont know how much people will help you in the Newbie forum. This is quite the task.

Room treatment is VERY important, make sure that is high on the list. Your Neumann will sound much better in a nice room. Nice sets of monitors should be important too.

I can't offer much help but I can wish you much luck on your endeavors! Good luck, Eric
 
Erockrazor said:
I dont know how much people will help you in the Newbie forum. This is quite the task.

Room treatment is VERY important, make sure that is high on the list. Your Neumann will sound much better in a nice room. Nice sets of monitors should be important too.

I can't offer much help but I can wish you much luck on your endeavors! Good luck, Eric
Click to expand...

I've done some research in room treatment and have a fair idea on how I'll do it. I'm expecting at least half of my budget to go toward room treatment and furniture.
 
Enchilada said:
I'm expecting at least half of my budget to go toward room treatment and furniture.
Click to expand...

Smart call.

We played with this a while back in the Logic forum: https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=276480, working out what (at least I) would pick up on a $50k budget. I would be careful with some of the gear you have listed... If you want to treat this as a business endeavor, you'll need to show folks more than PreSonus preamps and Behringer gear, both because they need a reason to hire you over doing it themselves at home, and because you'll need the gear to last and be dependable. Fewer, high-quality pieces of gear would be the modus operandi - using plugins to fill the gaps until you can pick up the gear you really want.
 
I know what you mean. The Berry gear isn't on my wish list though, I just have it lying around from my humble beginnings.

In the town I'm from there's only one studio that operates as a business. He're's a link to his page http://www.grantluhrs.com.au/flying_fox.html

He makes a decent living and he's pushing 60 so I imagine he'll retire at some point. I figure so long as I can at least match the quality of gear he has I should be perceived as professional from the local musicians.
 
Enchilada said:
I figure so long as I can at least match the quality of gear he has I should be perceived as professional from the local musicians.
Click to expand...

Please take this as constructive, but the quality of your skill (and ultimately your sound) will go much farther to boost your image than your gear list. Quality gear is important, thus my previous post, but I gather from some of your previous posts that you grasp the need for fundamental competence as well.

However, your OP was aimed at equipment, not practice. In that vein, I still think that a few high-end pieces - such as an Avalon and a Neumann for vox - should be in the running. The budget-conscious might substitute an M-5 for the AD2022 (similar guts, but the M-5 is single channel only and fewer features) and a TLM-67 for the U87i.
 
KineticSound said:
Please take this as constructive, but the quality of your skill (and ultimately your sound) will go much farther to boost your image than your gear list.
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I agree. You han have the best gear in the world but if you don't know how to drive it you can still produce rubbish recordings. I have spent a few years learning recording techniques and how to use various equipment from many eBooks. But if you knew my competition, seriously he has a bad rep here but still makes money :confused:

Where I'm from though there's only the one studio but there is strong enough demand for many studios. Most bands go to Sydney or Melbourne to record because the guy who runs the local studio is kind of known for rubbish recordings. Even with that reputation he still makes a decent living. If you check out his gear list he's not running anything amazing but his studio is the benchmark for my town. That's what I ment by being perceived as professional. If my gear is equal to or better than his I will at least be taken seriously while in the early stages of building a good reputation.
 
Are you using a client version of Windows in this PC? If so are you using an x64 version of Windows? If not Windows x32 which is what is on most machines can only "see" approx 3.2GB of RAM. So an 8GB upgrade will be wasted unless the other software you are using can "find" it. I know it's a small point but I've come accross quite a number of people upgrading and not realising the Windows limitation. I'm not sure the next version of Windows will "cure" this either.
 
jagd1 said:
Are you using a client version of Windows in this PC? If so are you using an x64 version of Windows? If not Windows x32 which is what is on most machines can only "see" approx 3.2GB of RAM. So an 8GB upgrade will be wasted unless the other software you are using can "find" it. I know it's a small point but I've come accross quite a number of people upgrading and not realising the Windows limitation. I'm not sure the next version of Windows will "cure" this either.
Click to expand...

All gravy mate, I'm running x64 Vista. Just to clarify here though, there is no "cure" for this because the RAM isn't really lost, there simply isn't enough address space for more than 4GB RAM.

2^32 = 4,294,967,296 = 4 GB

It's a limitation brought about by x86 hardware. To address 4GB memory you need a ful 32 bits of address bus. The upper 1GB (ish) of address space is used for other devices in you PC. There are programs and hacks that can make the remaining 1GB or RAM that isn't visible appear but it can't really be used because a 32 bit operating system cannot address the hardware.

The only real way the utilise more than 3GB (ish) or RAM is to use a 64-bit OS

2^64 = 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 = 16 EB

:p
 
+1 for enthusiasm.

I recently moved from stand alone pres and a Delta 1010 (not LT) to a Presonus FP10 and I couldn't be happier with the transition. So I'll make the following statement.

What I would do....(and I am by no means a professional so I'm just killing time on my lunch break here) :)

Lose the M-audio 1010s.
Lose the behringer pre and presonus bluetube and the AT25.
Lose all of the compressors.
Lose the samson monitors.
Lose the MXL mic and the Behri B5 and the C1 unless you specifically want it.

Keep the 57s and the Nueman and the beta 52.

Get 2 FP10s, better monitors, better pair of mics to use as overheads for drums. (I use SP C4s and love them, others use a variety of other things, do some checking around)

Don't forget a headphone amp, headphones and mic stands, cables. (those should be figured in on your budget because they add up quick)

With a budget like that, there's no reason you can't pickup some better base gear and still have a majority of that budget left to throw at treatment and then pickup a few boutique pres as you go.
 
Enchilada said:
All gravy mate, I'm running x64 Vista. Just to clarify here though, there is no "cure" for this because the RAM isn't really lost, there simply isn't enough address space for more than 4GB RAM.

2^32 = 4,294,967,296 = 4 GB

It's a limitation brought about by x86 hardware. To address 4GB memory you need a ful 32 bits of address bus. The upper 1GB (ish) of address space is used for other devices in you PC. There are programs and hacks that can make the remaining 1GB or RAM that isn't visible appear but it can't really be used because a 32 bit operating system cannot address the hardware.

The only real way the utilise more than 3GB (ish) or RAM is to use a 64-bit OS

2^64 = 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 = 16 EB

:p
Click to expand...

I never really know when I'm explaining to people about O/S limitations the limits of their technical prowess so I keep it simple.

Question for you or any other user with experience is re: sound cards. Looking at the spec of M-Audio 10/10 PCI and their blurb suggests you can employ up to four cards in any one machine. Does Cubase "see" all the cards and can it fully utilise all their resources.

Also concerning USB/MIDI connections and standard MIDI connections apart from delay and timing issues can Cubase see both types of connection in the same machine. I've seen a MIDI 2in/2out with a USB Hub and connection to the PC via USB. Has anyone used such an arrangement with Cubase and any problems.

jagd1
 
jagd1 said:
I never really know when I'm explaining to people about O/S limitations the limits of their technical prowess so I keep it simple.
Click to expand...
Lol, no worries :p
jagd1 said:
Question for you or any other user with experience is re: sound cards. Looking at the spec of M-Audio 10/10 PCI and their blurb suggests you can employ up to four cards in any one machine. Does Cubase "see" all the cards and can it fully utilise all their resources.
Click to expand...
I haven't used more than one card but if you use the M-Audio ASIO driver there is a section that lists what cards you have in your system. Not being a user of Cubase either I can't really comment but I imagine there would be no problems.
jagd1 said:
Also concerning USB/MIDI connections and standard MIDI connections apart from delay and timing issues can Cubase see both types of connection in the same machine. I've seen a MIDI 2in/2out with a USB Hub and connection to the PC via USB. Has anyone used such an arrangement with Cubase and any problems.

jagd1
Click to expand...
I've used USB MIDI in the latency was terrible! The MIDI port in my Delta 1010 is lightyears ahead of USB MIDI which I personally found pretty much unusable. Weather or not both are usable in Cubase, again I can't comment but I have no idea why anyone would ever want to use USB MIDI.

Hope this helps!
 
Creamyapples1 said:
+1 for enthusiasm.

I recently moved from stand alone pres and a Delta 1010 (not LT) to a Presonus FP10 and I couldn't be happier with the transition. So I'll make the following statement.

What I would do....(and I am by no means a professional so I'm just killing time on my lunch break here) :)

Lose the M-audio 1010s.
Lose the behringer pre and presonus bluetube and the AT25.
Lose all of the compressors.
Lose the samson monitors.
Lose the MXL mic and the Behri B5 and the C1 unless you specifically want it.

Keep the 57s and the Nueman and the beta 52.

Get 2 FP10s, better monitors, better pair of mics to use as overheads for drums. (I use SP C4s and love them, others use a variety of other things, do some checking around)

Don't forget a headphone amp, headphones and mic stands, cables. (those should be figured in on your budget because they add up quick)

With a budget like that, there's no reason you can't pickup some better base gear and still have a majority of that budget left to throw at treatment and then pickup a few boutique pres as you go.
Click to expand...

I don't have a behringer pre. As for the presonus blutube, its great for now but I would never use it once I get my studio up and running.

As for the Presonus FP10, can the preamps be turned off? That's one of the things I love about the Delta 1010 series. No preamps and great A/D converters. I'll be using a mixer for preamps, either an Allen & Heath or a Soundcraft because I used to have a 24ch Spirit mixer and I LOVED the preamps.

Thanks for the advice though :-) starting to get a clearer picture of where I want to get to. I don't really want to buy any more rubbish gear and gradually upgrade. Apperently that's where most people lose money when running a home studio :p
 
Enchilada said:
Lol, no worries :p

I haven't used more than one card but if you use the M-Audio ASIO driver there is a section that lists what cards you have in your system. Not being a user of Cubase either I can't really comment but I imagine there would be no problems.

I've used USB MIDI in the latency was terrible! The MIDI port in my Delta 1010 is lightyears ahead of USB MIDI which I personally found pretty much unusable. Weather or not both are usable in Cubase, again I can't comment but I have no idea why anyone would ever want to use USB MIDI.

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...

I'm stuck with one of these keyboards as it has only ONE USB MIDI port and nothing out. Terratec make a 2MIDI IN/2 MIDI OUT Hub which has a 3xUSB hub and is connected to the PC via a USB connection. I'm wondering if I connect a 10/10 Card and the USB Keyboard to this hub streaming other MIDI kit from the remaining two MIDI IN/OUT's whether I would kill a lot of any potenetial latency. Anyone want to take a wild stab at this one?

Jagd1
 
Enchilada said:
As for the Presonus FP10, can the preamps be turned off? That's one of the things I love about the Delta 1010 series. No preamps and great A/D converters. I'll be using a mixer for preamps, either an Allen & Heath or a Soundcraft because I used to have a 24ch Spirit mixer and I LOVED the preamps.
Click to expand...


On the FP10 you can either use the preamps or the line-ins.
 
I've never uses a Delta 1010, so I really can't comment. All I know is that my Firepods have served me very well. :)
 
dastrick said:
I've never uses a Delta 1010, so I really can't comment. All I know is that my Firepods have served me very well. :)
Click to expand...


Ditto, and the pres aren't too bad either. Better than the old school mackie, group buy and bluetubes I was using prior to that with a 1010.
 
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