Stating a Small Home Studio

[knightknife]

Alright, I have some money to spend on a small home studio ($2000). Im not sure what kind of basic equipment I need to begin recording. I would like to do some acoustic tracks with some vocals. Maybe an electric guitar and bass thrown in there(would like to plug in directly with the electric guitar and bass). Right now this is the gear that I have: "mxl 990 and the mxl 991" mics (im not sure if I need a pre amp for these mics), mac book 2ghz processor with logic express 9, 2 and 2 mic stands. So if anyone could tell me what else I need, that would be really nice.

 

[gcapel]

You have some fundamental things to buy. Monitors, A/D/A Conversion (at least two channels of I/O), and 2 mic pre's. If you are ever going to track and acoustic drum kit you will need more channels of a/d conversion and and mic pre;s. You could fill that budget in a hurry. I wouldn't skimp on the conversion or the monitors.

 

[suprstar]

Considering what you have now, for $2k I'd get something like:

$200-$500 - Interface - firepod / motu, whatever 8 channel interface. If you're absolutely 100% positive you'll only ever need 2 channels, you can save a lot here and get a USB mixer or whatever 2 channel interface. Something as cheap as a Yamaha mw10 is a great deal for $150 or so. But like gcapel said, you'll be screwed if you EVER need 3+ mics at a time (drums). IF you decide to save a few hundred here, I might spend it on another condensor in the $300 ballpark like AT4040, SM81, SP C1, etc..

$200-$300 Room treatment, 8-12 diy 4'x2' 703 panels. If you have nothing, a little goes a long way here.

Some dynamic mics:
$200 - A couple 57's or audix i5's, etc for drums / guitar amps, general use
$200 - A d112 or audix d6, etc for bass / kick drum

$200 - A few cheap headphones for tracking, + headphone amp. Even some AKG K55's and a behry amp, you could probably pull off for $150. SQ isn't important here.

If you don't have the cabling to connect it all, add a couple hundred bux..

The rest on the best monitors you can get, I can't tell you what's good in the $800-ish price range, but I'm sure someone can. Even if you spend $500 on the interface, you still have a good chunk of $ here.

 

[RandyW]

If you got a macbook and need an interface then a Duet is gonna
give you the best conversion per dollar available on a MAC.
If you need more than 2 channels then Ensemble.
The Duet has pretty good pre's on it as well so you won't need
to invest in one of those right away.

I would suggest some nice monitors like the Adam A7's the cost
a bit more than most of the other offerings but you won't be replacing
them in 2 years. I've found after buying a couple pairs of less than
stellar monitors I could have had the A7's.

Along with that some room treatment and you should be good to go.

Your mics require preamps and 48V phantom power but that is covered
with the Duet.

I don't know but if your any thing like me I'd recomend a training manual
for the logic 9.

 

[RandyW]

If you got a macbook and need an interface then a Duet is gonna
give you the best conversion per dollar available on a MAC.
If you need more than 2 channels then Ensemble.
The Duet has pretty good pre's on it as well so you won't need
to invest in one of those right away.

I would suggest some nice monitors like the Adam A7's the cost
a bit more than most of the other offerings but you won't be replacing
them in 2 years. I've found after buying a couple pairs of less than
stellar monitors I could have had the A7's.

Along with that some room treatment and you should be good to go.

Your mics require preamps and 48V phantom power but that is covered
with the Duet.

I don't know but if your any thing like me I'd recomend a training manual
for the logic 9.

 

[johnnymegabyte]

$200 - A few cheap headphones for tracking, + headphone amp. Even some AKG K55's and a behry amp, you could probably pull off for $150. SQ isn't important here.

Spend the extra $10 and get the AKG K66, They are more flat / accurate, and more of what is actually recorded versus the K55's are a bit boomy / over emphisized. My K66's have lasted me well for 5+ years

 

[suprstar]

Yeah, I have 4 sets of K55's that are over 10 years old! I see the K55's are discontinued now, the K66's are in the same ballpark, so I'd go for em. You don't have to splurge on K240's or HD280's or better. Altho a good set of headphones is nice to check a mix on.