Advice on gear to buy for a professional home studio

[tbrowningmusic]

Hello, I am currently about to set up a home studio for my producing / song writing work. I am looking for peoples recomendations on gear to buy.

As it is my first studio i have a basic knowledge on what i want but i want to know what you would suggest

My budget is at £20,000 max
just name me your favourite gear so i can check it out and compare it to the equipment i am already thinking of using,

Thankyou so much for your time
I really do appreciate it

 

[mattr]

Really, honestly, give us a budget. Its not as if you're posting on Gearslutz, but asking for open suggestions for gear where 'money is no issue' is guaranteed to get some unhelpful responses

For example...

How about a nice big analog console... the largest you can find... 96 channel, if not larger? Neve... SSL... API... your choice! Get one that's been removed from big film scoring studios in Hollywood for that extra bit of street cred.

Gotta find some good rooms to stuff that console in... $2m should be enough to construct a purpose built studio complex. Make sure you hire the most expensive architects and acoustic specialists you can find.

Next up should be the meatiest PT HD rig you can spec up, like with the expansion chassis for the extra DSP cards and whatever. Obviously you'd have some high-end converters on the front-end (Apogee? Lynx) because the 192s don't cut it, and have it hooked up to the most powerful Mac Pro money would buy.

Don't forget the overflowing mic cabinet full of irreplaceable vintage mics, and some lunchboxes stuffed full of extra preamps because the ones in the desk won't do. Add about $500k of analog outboard and you're more or less sorted.

At the very least of course.

Or you could give us a budget and we could be a lot more helpful

 

[tbrowningmusic]

haha my bad, my first tiem using these forum sites, should have thought about that

the budget is £20,000 max

 

[mattr]

Ahh, £20k is still more than enough to get you a nice setup (certainly more than I've spent so far ). Few more ideas about the kind of music you're recording, the room(s) you're using, etc, would be helpful to get us pointed in the right direction. I'm heading off to catch some sleep now but I'll pop in tomorrow and throw in a few of my thoughts on how to split it and spend it. Just one point for now, which is to definitely spend a small portion of that budget on acoustic treatment (you can DIY a lot of it at low cost anyway).

 

[tbrowningmusic]

yeah i got that man

im splitting the room i have into two rooms, one room will be acousticaly treated and the other will be lightly treated.

Ive been looking into computers and have found that inta-audio have some great ones. I'm deciding to get the "Intel i7 Sample Station"

The stuff im looking for advice on is all the other hardware i am going to need. As i said i have a basic idea but i want to find out what others would recomend rather than just jumping at equipment and getting something that is terrible if you get me.

 

[Dogbreath]

yeah i got that man

im splitting the room i have into two rooms, one room will be acousticaly treated and the other will be lightly treated.
.

I don't use a computer for recording so I can't help ya there but imo...there's an order of importance and the room is right there at the top.

With you splitting the room into two, what are the dimensions?
The reason I ask is that rectangle is better and bigger is better.

If I was to do it over again...I'd focus on my room acoustics first, the monitoring chain next and then start with the gear.

Check out DIY bass traps and also GIK acoustic stuff. Frank (weasel9992) works with GIK and knows his shit plus he's a good guy.

food for thought...

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

This reminds me of an old saying around here.

A good engineer can make great recordings on a Portastudio.
Engineer wannabes couldn't make a good recording on an SSL..

or something to that effect.

Frankly, I'd suggest starting out small, learn the basics, work with what you have untill your recording skillsets manifest themself in great sounding work.
Untill then, your wasting an investment trying to instantly be an engineer via great equipment. Theres no replacement for plain hard work and experience. No equipment in the world will make you a great engineer instantly.

However, there are a few elements that you need to start with.

TALENT(clients) You can make great recordings of talentless musicians
but you can't make them into good musicians.

Good monitors and a good monitoring geometry/CR

Good mics

A great sounding room.

Anything more is just icing on the cake.

My .02

 

[tbrowningmusic]

ive studied music engineering and got top grades on my course so i know more then enough to get a good sound

i also have a set up now but it is bedroom basic with abit of acoustic treatment. I want to expand and get more and better equipment as i want to work as a producer. I wouldnt put this much money into somethimg if i didnt know what i was doing.

 

[dintymoore]

overkill your front end

Of all the gear I got, none made as much difference as getting some Neumann mics (I have an old U87 and two KM84's). If you buy them right, you can sell them for a profit so in a way they are the cheaper than Behringer in the long run.

I'm a fan of the Summit stuff too, love the TLA100A's and their tube eq. Also big on the Jensen mic pre's.

Here's my thing: there's no way you're going to get every step of the audio chain as good as they do at Disney. So you prioritize. And the transducers are more crucial than what's in the middle of your chain. After great sources (great musicians, singers and musical instruments, which is essential) the mics will make the most difference in your recording, so make the front end of your chain over the top. Get that as good as Disney, 'cause there's no way you're going to get the room, board and playback speakers as good.

I've found that if you have a great musical instrument and a great mic that it comes out right with no eq with almost no hassle.

 

[pandamonk]

Of all the gear I got, none made as much difference as getting some Neumann mics (I have an old U87 and two KM84's). If you buy them right, you can sell them for a profit so in a way they are the cheaper than Behringer in the long run.

I'm a fan of the Summit stuff too, love the TLA100A's and their tube eq. Also big on the Jensen mic pre's.

Here's my thing: there's no way you're going to get every step of the audio chain as good as they do at Disney. So you prioritize. And the transducers are more crucial than what's in the middle of your chain. After great sources (great musicians, singers and musical instruments,

and acoustics,

which is essential) the mics will make the most difference in your recording, so make the front end of your chain over the top. Get that as good as Disney, 'cause there's no way you're going to get the room, board and playback speakers as good.

I've found that if you have a great musical instrument and a great mic that it comes out right with no eq with almost no hassle.

 

[Weasel9992]

im splitting the room i have into two rooms, one room will be acousticaly treated and the other will be lightly treated.

Hold your horses there cowboy.

How big are the rooms? Shape? Surface composition (wood, sheet rock, plaster, brick)? What are you recording? Where are the doors, windows, etc.? There are a ton of questions to ask before you go making one decent room into two useless rooms.

Also, try to discipline yourself to not blow your whole budget on gear. You have NO IDEA how many times per week I hear, "Man, I've been spending money on gear for YEARS and all this time it was my room that sounded like crap!" A $6,500 U47 is going to sound like a $300 Behringer LDC in a crappy room, and you'll never rise above it no matter how much money you throw at the problem until you fix the room. That's not a sales pitch...that's reality.

Frank