Building home studio

TIBON

New member
Hi everyone, me and my friend are trying to build our first studio and we need some advice.
Our budget is around 4.5K USD including: Microphone, Audio Interface, Studio Monitors, Headphones, DAW, Plugins, Acoustic Treatment, Stands and Cables.
At first we thought we should get a MIDI so we can build melody more naturaly but we decided to pass for now and invest in the more importent pieces...
Electronics in our country are very expensive compared to other places so i'll describe every product we was thinking to get with prices (according to our local stores)
we will be very happy to hear your opinion and suggestions.

* DAW and Plugins - fruity loops producer edition + Omnisphere 2 + Trillian (1000$)
* Audio interface - Apollo Twin MkII Duo / RME Babyface PRO FS (1200$)
* Microphone - Rode NT2-A / sE2300 (500$)
* Studio Monitors(pair of 2 + stands) - Yamaha HS8 / Kali Audio LP-8 (900$)
* Headphones - Audio-Technica ATH-M50x (200$)
* Acoustic Treatment- ALCTRON PF32 MKII + Primacoustic London 8 (500$)
* Stands + Cables (200$)

In your opinion, what gear should we get?
Does anything importent missing from the list?
Should we go for smaller monitors? Better mic?
Acoustic Treatment is enough?

Room size: 3.72m X 2.86m

If this post doesn't belong to this forum Im sorry :spank:
 
It's a small (9'x12'-ish) room for a studio, and the crowd wisdom here is that small rooms need a lot of treatment because they cannot actually add helpful ambience to the recording, i.e., the room sound is something you want to suppress. So, your treatment budget is probably small if you are buying pre-made stuff. If you are mixing bass-heavy content, you need a LOT more treatment.

IMO you are overspending on the interface and could probably spend no more than half that and get a good 4 channel one with fine specs, and put much of the rest into treatment. I'd probably get a good LDC and SDC microphone for your budget for one mic, as a start, but it depends on what you are recording.

The monitors are large for that space, and you could save a couple $ going with the next size down.
 
Unless there's a specific reason why you need to spend a grand on a DAW and plugins, Reaper is something like 200 dollars for a commercial license (if you're making more than 20 grand or so annually with the studio) or around 60 dollars for a personal license. The demo is fully functional, so it could save you a lot of money that could go towards better monitors, acoustic treatment and maybe an SM57. There are some righteous and amazing plugins out there, but the stock plugins in Reaper are decent plus there are a lot of free 3rd party ones.
 
Fruity Loops is US$200. Omnisphere is US$229 - as these are downloadable software packages, you should not need to spend any more than that. Trillian is a free messenger app.
 
I'd caution you on using the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x headphones for anything but tracking. They're closed back and they'll let you down for mixing and mastering. I know you have chosen decent monitors but IMO you need to also consider a 2nd set of headphones like the Sennheiser HD600 for times when you can't use your monitors or need to do detailed listening to your tracks They're open back and among the most accurate cans you can find at a decent cost. Just my 2 cents worth.
 
The OP has posted in Sound on Sound as well, no harm in that.

I am happy to see most of my comments are repeated here...Reaper for DAW and smaller monitors (I suggested iLouds or KH80)

I would stay with his choice of interface, anytime anyone suggests they 'might' go RME I am not the man to put them off!

I also did not understand his resistance to MIDI? The RME has it so all he needs is a 'dumb' keyboard and a DIN cable!

But he is always going to be limited in THAT room.

Dave.
 
Fruity Loops is US$200. Omnisphere is US$229 - as these are downloadable software packages, you should not need to spend any more than that. Trillian is a free messenger app.

Er, I think the OP means Trilian - a $299 Bass plugin. But you knew that, didn't you.
 
Ah! I see from this: Spectrasonics Trilian

That the OP need THAT bass module like a hole in the head! (be ok on can I 'spose) In any case (and I know nothing here) surely such a pluggin would need a MIDI keyboard for best operation?

Dave.
 
Er, I think the OP means Trilian - a $299 Bass plugin. But you knew that, didn't you.

Never heard of it before. Why would someone really need that many different bass samples? Doesn't look like it has amp sims? More important than having 3 different Fender Jazz basses.
Still doesn't add up to $1000 of software.
 
It's a small (9'x12'-ish) room for a studio, and the crowd wisdom here is that small rooms need a lot of treatment because they cannot actually add helpful ambience to the recording, i.e., the room sound is something you want to suppress. So, your treatment budget is probably small if you are buying pre-made stuff. If you are mixing bass-heavy content, you need a LOT more treatment.

IMO you are overspending on the interface and could probably spend no more than half that and get a good 4 channel one with fine specs, and put much of the rest into treatment. I'd probably get a good LDC and SDC microphone for your budget for one mic, as a start, but it depends on what you are recording.

The monitors are large for that space, and you could save a couple $ going with the next size down.

I'd caution you on using the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x headphones for anything but tracking. They're closed back and they'll let you down for mixing and mastering. I know you have chosen decent monitors but IMO you need to also consider a 2nd set of headphones like the Sennheiser HD600 for times when you can't use your monitors or need to do detailed listening to your tracks They're open back and among the most accurate cans you can find at a decent cost. Just my 2 cents worth.

The OP has posted in Sound on Sound as well, no harm in that.

I am happy to see most of my comments are repeated here...Reaper for DAW and smaller monitors (I suggested iLouds or KH80)

I would stay with his choice of interface, anytime anyone suggests they 'might' go RME I am not the man to put them off!

I also did not understand his resistance to MIDI? The RME has it so all he needs is a 'dumb' keyboard and a DIN cable!

But he is always going to be limited in THAT room.

Dave.

Er, I think the OP means Trilian - a $299 Bass plugin. But you knew that, didn't you.

Never heard of it before. Why would someone really need that many different bass samples? Doesn't look like it has amp sims? More important than having 3 different Fender Jazz basses.
Still doesn't add up to $1000 of software.

Hey, thanks for everyone for your answers. I will took your advide and get smaller monitors (5 Inch) and more treatment (with wood wool boards and defusers)
I actually really like the FL studio so I guess I won't need another DAW... I want those plugins to be able to create as much as I can with high quality libraries.. (Yea, I make Hip-Hop / Rap) I plan on getting a MIDI controler somewhere in the future (probably Akai MPK 249)

Another question:
should I add a subwoofer to the pair of 5" yamaha?
 
"should I add a subwoofer to the pair of 5" yamaha? "

Nooo! And I don't want to knock Yamaha monitors but personally I would be looking for something small but accurate and yes...Expensive! But you really have to work backwards. Unless you have a good, accurate representation of your sound you will not produce good results.

IMHO you should regard the monitors, VERY nearfield, as giving you the information from say 80-100Hz up and good solid stereo imaging. Yes trap the **** out of the room but you can only do so much and so judge bass response on headphones.

Dave.
 
Why would someone really need that many different bass samples?
I remember buying its forerunner, Trilogy, when I went over to the dark side. It was because I'd heard a double bass sample that was so good that I initially went the route of selling some of my actual instruments like my double bass and cello, because I thought it would be easy to find a sample. This was back in 2004 and I was wrong when it came to double bass. In doing my research I heard about Trilogy, bought it and you have no choice as to the number of bass samples it comes with. There were bass guitars, double basses, fretless basses and bass synths.
And I was wholly unimpressed by the double basses and the bass guitars. The fretlesses were quite good if you used them as something other than a bass guitar and it was natural I'd be a bit snippy about the bass guitars because I'm a bass player but the double basses were so lame. It turned out my Trilogy was a cracked copy {I was kind of naive in those days} and when I was trying to transfer it to a new computer {the code I had was no good}, the guy I bought it from was nowhere to be found. To be fair to him, this was 4 years later ! And Spectrasonics couldn't help. I spent the next 4 years trying out all kinds of bass samples for double bass and what I thought of them can be seen in the fact that I just went out and bought a double bass and have never bothered with samples again.
When a friend told me that Trilogy was now going by Trilian and how brilliant it was, I gave a very honest, but unprintable, reply. :spank:
 
Look at the JBLs 305 and Kali 6.5, they'll both get your frequency response down to the 45Hz area. Diffusors and subs are not recommended for small rooms.
 
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