What next piece of equipment is most crucial for my home studio setup?

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MeanMrMustard99

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What next piece of equipment is most crucial for my home studio setup?

Hey everyone,

Hoping I can get some advice on what piece(s) of equipment are best to spend my Xmas gift card money on.

Here is what I have so far....

Guitars - Gibson Les Paul standard, American Strat, Godin electric, Yamaha Acoustic, Epiphone Acoustic
Amps - Fender Champ & Marshall `62 Bluesbreaker
guitar effects - tonnes of Boss stomp boxes
Bass - Epiphone (McCartney Hofner replica)
Drums - Alesis DM5 electronic kit
Keyboard - Roland e30
Patch cords - All new top quality cables
DI Box - Radial pro DI
Microphones - Shure 58's & 57
Interface - ZoomR24 (multi recorder/interface/sampler)
Computer - iMac (Garageband)
Headphones - Apex (Hi-Fi Monitor HP-80)

Thats just about everything in my setup....

What would my best purchase be to take me to the next level in my recordings?

I'm currently debating between Studio monitors (M-Audio BX5A) or a condenser mic (Audio-Technica AT2020) Am I overlooking something in my setup that I should be thinking about?
Any tips, suggestions or info to point me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated

Cheers
 
Greetings, You asked a very broad question, making it difficult to answer. What you do next depends a lot on what your goals are for the near future and how far along you are in achieving those goals. For the time being just put your money in the bank and don't rush to spend it. Both items you are contemplating seem to be good value for the money. Buying studio equipment is a very subjective thing. For me, the most crucial piece of equipment for my studio would be a pretty wife without vocal chords.:rolleyes: Remember to have fun with this recording caper. :)
 
Your monitoring chain and proper (PROPER) treatment of the space are - BY FAR - the most important pieces in ANY audio chain. Personally, I'd hold off and get something much more substantial than the 5's. And I'd start reading up on (again, PROPER) treatment of the space - RealTraps, GIK Acoustics (etc.) have a good amount of info on their sites.
 
Honestly you have everything you need to make good recordings. If I were you I would invest in some tutorials to use this gear effectively! If you don't yet follow homestudiocorner.com or therecordingrevolution.com check out those sites! Those guys also work together on a site called duelingmixes.com Buy some of their tutorial videos even if you already know how to use eq and compression, these guys show you a way to use them effectively without harming your mixes. I am in now way trying to insult your recording/mixing ability! lol Joe Gilder who runs homestudiocorner.com has a video where he recorded and mixed an entire song with acoustic bass, acoustic guitar, and handclaps/floorstomps percussion loop in an hour with only a shure 57 mic! Despite all this it would definetly be worth it to add a large diaphragm condenser mic to your arsenal! I personally can recommend the akg perception 120! Which isn't technically a true large diaphragm mic but sounds great on vocals and acoustic guitar and I have used it on an amp. I got mine on ebay for like 60 bucks and its a $100 mic. Honestly any $100 large diaphragm mic will be all you need. Cheers to good recordings in 2013 man!
 
Some quick things off the top of my head:

AT2020 mic or budget studio monitors (read a ton of reviews before you pick) are great additions
Mic shield (Auralex has one for $100 that I have. Not perfect, but a noticeable difference for sure in terms of reducing unwanted natural room verb)
Consider a different DAW; the better ones (Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, etc. etc.) are much more powerful software-wise
 
Heavy on the peripherals.

You have a lot of the instruments and peripheral things you need but seem to be light on the primary gear.
Which iMac do you have?
Did you get a free copy of Cubase LE with the Z24?
The M-Audio BX5As are not that bad and you could add an m-audio sub down the road.
If you are into the Audio-Technica Brand, perhaps save a bit more and go for the 4033 or 4040.....
How about a photo or 2 of your room?
That would help. :thumbs up:
Take a look at some of the photos on my website to see how I have acoustic panels set up around my desk........................
 
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