Studio Setup - Some Advice Please

B

barakazen

New member
Hello everyone,

I'm not sure in which area I should be posting this question but I'll start off here.

I'm setting up a small electronic production studio at my place, for the second time, lets just say everything I had was stolen and am starting basically from scratch, with a new goal, electronic music (downtempo, ambient, trip hop, etc).

Half of the recording I will be doing on the road, recording parts all over the countrty with a Roland Edirol R-09. I will compose all the basic structure at my place and go around having musicians pitch in.

Right now I pretty much have my monitors... And all my instruments, bass', guitars, sax, etc. I don't have a descent soundcard, don't have any MIDI controlers, no knobs to tweek what so ever. I feel the need to rewire back into my machine.

I'm also missing mics.

So here's what I've wanted to do and would like some feedback from you guys.

I'm planning on purchasing the following setup to get some music rolling:

AKG C1000s Condenser Mic - It's battery powered so I can record on the road.

Roland Edirol R-09 - I looked at the Zoom PS-04 but it has no USB interface and it's considerably bulkier than the Edirol.

M-Audio Ozonic - This has it all in one, I won't have to buy a soundcard, I can plug my instruments into it and record directly thru it, I have full control of the software i'll be usind (live + cubase + reason), and it's all done thru firewire. Please let me know what you guys think about this. I have alternatively (less $$$) thought about M-Audio's Axiom, but lacks the features the Ozonic has.

A set of headphones, please recommend under $50.

That's about it, if I where not to get the Ozonic I would have to think about getting an external sound card, like M-Audio's Audiophile or such.

I am not sure if I'm getting stuff that is not necessary. I live in Costa Rica and it's pretty much a one-shot to get things here, I can't really go around buying stuff all the time, it would preferablty have to be one shipment.

All comments and recommendations are welcome!

Thanks!

Andrés
 
First of all, cutting and pasting your post into more than one forum is called 'crossposting' and it's frowned upon. Pick the best category/forum for your post and post once --- it saves everyones time, including yours.

Now to your questions.

You are getting your hardware and software wires crossed. The Edirol R-09 is a stereo recorder with which the Ozonic would be useless. The Zoom PS-04 is a 4 track, but still has no facility for running any of the software you list.

If I've misunderstood or you left something out of your post, please post again. Otherwise you'll need to rethink your studio setup either to include a laptop computer for travel or to go the full hardware route with a small mixer and some microphones.
 
Thanks for the warm response scientist...

I have a computer.

I use Edirol to record brass instruments, choirs and sounds from the outside with a AKG C1000S. These sounds I will later use to incorporate into whatever I've been working on. I'll load the 'in process' track into the Edirol, play it for the musician outside my studio and then he'll play a riff on top of what i've used. Then when I come back to my studio i'll load the info to my computer and finish the work.

Ozonic will control whatever software I use (Cubase, Reason, Live). And of course it goes into my computer as well.

Bass guitar, mic, electric drums and guitar will go into my computer routed through Ozonic.

I pretty much wanted to know if the equipment I'm planning on purchasing will do the trick, if i'm missing something, if i'm wasting money on something that could be replaces for a less expenssive piece of equip, etc.

I will be purchasing:

M-Audio: Ozonic (will use it as an external soundcard to record my bass, guitar, mic and drums, each at a time, won't be using it as a mixer playing several instruments simultaneously. I can also use it for live performances triggering riffs and loops and it also serves as a synth, for on the road composing. Oh, and it's firewire.

Roland's Edirol R09: This I will use for field recording of things like bass, choirs, drums, percusion in general, etc. I upload the files into my productions back in my studio.

AKG C1000S Mic - I found this to be the best (budget wise as well) for field recording as for it has an internal 9V batt, eliminating the phantom power limitation when plugging into the recorder.

I have at this time"

Computer
Monitors
Crappy keabord (it has MIDI though, barely)
And all my instruments.

Any comments, suggestions?

thanks.
 
The Ozonic is as good as anything else, both as a soundcard and a controller keyboard.

The Edirol has gotten good reviews and uses a Secure Digital card which are now comparable in price to CF and other more common types. It has a 'high quality stereo microphone' built in --- you might want to wait on buying the C1000s until you've sussed out whether or not the built in mic might be enough - or even suit your needs better...

The C1000s is an older microphone that hasn't really aged well. I've had mine for going on 20 years now and don't use it much anymore. You might want to ask in the 'Microphones' forum about alternatives.
 
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