What is your ultimate setup?

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bachelorb

bachelorb

Cowboy Chord Virtuoso
Alright..... Lots of repair stuff here lately...... Let's have a little fun..... What is your ultimate analog setup.... Money is no issue....

Mine would be a 4 channel setup because I only record for myself.... since 4 channels are cheap, I'm also practical...... :)

What is your lottery winning, no space limitation, all time best dream recording studio?
 
So yr saying if you had an unlimited budget and big room you'd still be rocking a 4-channel board and a 4-track huh? Hats off to ya Brad. That's awesome.

Honestly, I don't really know enough about pro gear to be able to list off the stuff I would want. I know I would want a nice old Neve, or SSL board with a MCI JH24 from Chris Mara, along with the Pro Tools rig. I'd have a beautiful old Studer deck to mix to and a nice collection of mics. My thing would be instruments. I'd go crazy with vintage guitars, drums and every synth I've ever lusted after. I'm a gear freak to a certain extent, but knowing me I'd get the stuff I've always wanted to own and then just collect an obscene amount of stuff to make noise with.
 
bachelorb said:
Alright..... Lots of repair stuff here lately...... Let's have a little fun..... What is your ultimate analog setup.... Money is no issue....

Mine would be a 4 channel setup because I only record for myself.... since 4 channels are cheap, I'm also practical...... :)

What is your lottery winning, no space limitation, all time best dream recording studio?
Click to expand...


Then why worry about "cheap" if you are talking about a lottery win setup...?

I think you're just too tightly focused only on what you currently know/use.
I use to run a 4-track rig way back in the day...even without a lottery win, there's no way I would ever go back to that.
My setup is already pretty awesome for a so-called "home studio"....but a major lottery win would put a Neve console in my new 5000 sq foot studio...maybe make Dave Grohl an offer he couldn't refuse for that Neve 8078 he got from Sound City. :D.
There would also be a huge ass live room with like 24' ceilings, and of course, a kick ass control room with all the trimmings, and vocal booth that you cold park a small school bus in...not to mention at least a half dozen 6' racks full of all the best analog gear in my control room...and of course, a DAW system with Burl hardware...and a mic locker bigger than Ivanka Trump's walk-in closet.
Ad to that 2-3 pro 2" tape decks, to cover any tonal whim...and....well...you get the picture.

It would be about having the best, regardless of who/what I record or how many tracks I record at a time.

That the thing with audio (at least for me)...when you have 4-tracks, you dream of 8....when you get to 8., you think 16 would give you even more options...etc...etc.
Sure, it all might be overwhelming if your mindset is stuck on 4-tracks....but I think that's just about perceptions and when you start giving yourself more and more options...you then realize that options in the studio can be a good thing. You don't always have to use everything on ever sessions...but man, I would love to walk into my mic closet and have to stand there for 10 seconds trying to decide which of my dozens of high-end vintage mics I wanted to use on a session. :)

Or...with a major lottery win...maybe I just go and buy Blackbird studios or something like that. :D
 
I'm pretty happy with what I got, but if we're talking lottery win (which I almost did the other day... 5 out of 6 numbers, DAMN!! So close!!)

I'd get-
- A few mics. Some Neumanns, AKG414, and maybe a ribbon mic of some sort.
- A couple of nice mic pres. Start out with a True P-Solo, (which I just might get anyways...)
- Good monitors. I need some good monitors.
- A big house with a studio so I can build a nice live room.
- An airplane so I can fly around the country to promote all the bands I'm going to sign to my record company.
- A big sailboat to get away from all those fools who signed to my record company.
 
I think right now I would like something like a
Carvin 1688 mixer
Tascam MS16 Tape player
Compressor
Reverb
Good monitors, mics
Tangle free cables
All in this:

image.webp


Being pulled around with this

image.webp
 
I think its down to two things mainly for me. More square footage and more mics.

I have a great little facility but sure could use some more room. I actually have a 2000 square foot steel out building to convert, but to do it would require a lottery win'

Currently I have 3 2" 24 track machines, and yes they can sync together. I have a brit console (DDA) that I would be hard pressed to let go. Two 2-track tape machines. Lots of processing power, Dolby SR, lots of DBx lunchbox gates, compressors etc. Fairchild and Pye rack compressors. Enough junk to transfer back and forth from damn near every media known to man.

Digital is a hotrod Mac tower running Studio 1, Tascam and Personus interfaces.

I play drums so that is the only instruments in house, three sets currently....

So seriously the lottery would get to where someone else builds the outbuilding into the taj mahal for me, and I go shopping for mics...
 
I'm already approaching the limits of what is sensible - it would largely be incremental upgrades over what I already have, for example, it would be nice to swap the MX80 for an MTR-90, and I'd really like to have an ATR-102 for the mastering machine, keep the A807 for loops or anything else that outright requires a pinch roller.
For a long time I really wanted a 2" 16-track machine, but now I'm used to a 24-track setup I think I'd find it a bit too restrictive.

The mixing desk could definitely stand an upgrade, but I think given an unlimited budget, most of it would go into more room, and a ton of vintage keyboards.
 
miroslav said:
You need to reevaluate your perspective.
What's "sensible" got to do with it? :D
Click to expand...

Before I got the MSR-24, I was tempted by an MCI 16-track. Until I realised it wouldn't fit through the front door.
 
Don't remember the studio's name or the exact country. But somwhere near the Bahamas is a place where Mick Jagger did a bunch of recording.
Anyway I'd fly there with nothing but the clothes on my back and suitcases full of cash.

Knock on the door and tell them "I'm buying your place".At a certain dollar amount, they'd just hand you the keys.

If that failed, I'd fly to Nashville and do the same thing at Blackbird studios.

Hire the whole staff including John, carry on as normal with the exception of my own sessions taking 1st priority.

Hire the greatest musicians on the planet to play on my stuff. I mean really, why do I have to do it all myself?

Then I'd build an apartment upstars, a huge one. Cause I'd probably never leave. With a helicopter pad on top.

Nashville might be cool. I've got friends and clients down there, but never been there.

:D
 
In another 30 years, that Neve board that Vig did Nevermind on will be talked about in the same tones that we use for the EMI Redd board. Hell, it almost is today. I bet there isn't an offer that Grohl would even entertain for that. I know it was only a hypothetical, but I was actually thinking "What would it take to get him to sell it?" and I really don't see a number. I bet you could throw 5 mill at him and he wouldn't do it. It's too big of a part of his history. Not to hijack the thread, but I've always thought about how freakishly lucky he was to end up where he is today. Not to take anything away from his talent, cuz I think as a drummer and a songwriter he's super talented, but imagine yr band breaks up by the end of the tour and yr stuck on the opposite side of the country and out of nowhere it comes up that this band yr friend knows is looking for a drummer. You have nothing else going for you at all so there's really nothing to lose so you say "Sure." Then that band turns out to be a huge breakout success that changes music and you are famous within 10 months. Seriously...

Grohl won the lottery, a thousand times over. Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled program.
 
I'd like to have a big, good sounding room, an dedicated echo chamber, some u47 mics etc., langevin am-5166 tube preamps and a Reel2Reel recorder with 3, 4 or 8 tracks.
 
I see a lot of the same thing, but what they hey, it's my dream, too. More space and a mike locker full of really nice mikes.

But add to that a top notch computer with all the inboard and outboard gear I have on my wish list. That'd do!
 
jpmorris said:
Before I got the MSR-24, I was tempted by an MCI 16-track. Until I realised it wouldn't fit through the front door.
Click to expand...

Use some of the lottery money to get a bigger door installed. :)


Level Anything said:
In another 30 years, that Neve board that Vig did Nevermind on will be talked about in the same tones that we use for the EMI Redd board. Hell, it almost is today. I bet there isn't an offer that Grohl would even entertain for that. I know it was only a hypothetical, but I was actually thinking "What would it take to get him to sell it?" and I really don't see a number. I bet you could throw 5 mill at him and he wouldn't do it. It's too big of a part of his history. Not to hijack the thread, but I've always thought about how freakishly lucky he was to end up where he is today. Not to take anything away from his talent, cuz I think as a drummer and a songwriter he's super talented, but imagine yr band breaks up by the end of the tour and yr stuck on the opposite side of the country and out of nowhere it comes up that this band yr friend knows is looking for a drummer. You have nothing else going for you at all so there's really nothing to lose so you say "Sure." Then that band turns out to be a huge breakout success that changes music and you are famous within 10 months. Seriously...

Grohl won the lottery, a thousand times over. Anyways, back to our regularly scheduled program.
Click to expand...

Who said "an offer he couldn't refuse" involved millions of dollars...?
I would pay Robert Duvall to go make him the offer. :p ;)

Hey...if he wouldn't let it go...I'm sure I could find a few other special Neves out there that would be fair game.
Other than that...I would make Lenny Kravitz an offer he couldn't refuse for his rig....his studio has a custom Helios console previously Owned By Leon Russell and the EMI Redd37 Console previously owned by Abbey Road Studios. :cool:

There are actually MANY great studios and consoles out there all over the world...real old/vintage stuff, and many more modern, but still classic consoles....like the "newer" Amek/Neve 9098 console...superb...or even the new Rupert Neve 5088 designed console.
Who was it that said everything is for sale...you just have to find the right price.

Anyway...since we're just pipe dreaming here...
My desire would be not to just build the ultimate, private, personal use only home studio....I would want to build a recording complex that would attract great musicians....and of course, I would get to use it too. :D
 
Ultimate setup for me?

Really, any full setup that actually works, is of some vintage and pedigree and is setup in a proper space would be lovely. I know that's ambiguous, but I'd just love a turnkey setup that doesn't need TLC, some love, or massive work before it can be used.

I'm stuck in a vicious cycle of repairs and it would just be nice to capture music.

:D
 
At Miro's post.....That's exactly what i was talking about.

You could go to any neighborhood at dinner time when everyone was home and just start knocking on doors. With a breifcase full of cash, I'd bet by nightfall, one family would be in a hotel room, and you'd be sleeping in your new house.

Haha! I just wish i had enough money to put my theory to the test.
:D
 
sweetbeats said:
Ultimate setup for me?

Really, any full setup that actually works, is of some vintage and pedigree and is setup in a proper space would be lovely. I know that's ambiguous, but I'd just love a turnkey setup that doesn't need TLC, some love, or massive work before it can be used.

I'm stuck in a vicious cycle of repairs and it would just be nice to capture music.

:D
Click to expand...
Ah, I think a part of you would be lost.:D
 
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