Essential studio rack equipment?

I don't have any outboard gear and have no desire to get any. Apart from preamps if you can count them. I have, and always want more, preamps.

Any new equipment I buy these days is based on 100% need. If during the working I find I could do with such and such, then I'll take a look at buying it. If I haven't stumbled across that particular need, then it doesn't cross my mind.

Try out some freeware plugins before you splash out on outboard stuff. You might find that you don't feel the need for it so much. There's a hell of a lot of really cool freeware plugins out there.

If you really want to spend some money on something, I would advise spending it on room treatment.
 
Thanks everyone for the input. I will begin recording tonight.

I am telling the guys that if they like how the initial recordings turn out, then we can discuss recording an entire demo/cd and possibly even paying me!

I'm not expecting pro studio quality, but my one-man-band has produced good quality so far, after about a year of daily hobbying.

They have recorded at another guy's home studio using a mac and pro tools and they weren't real happy with the way he was telling them to arrange their songs.

So, as long as my custom build PC sounds better than his pro-tool powered mac, I'll be happy, since I don't use either ;)

I haven't been able to acquire any more gear since the original post, but more questions:

Are Pre-amps necessary when mic'ing guitar amps using sm57's through an analog 32.8? ...or is it just a matter of opinion?

I seem to get a good signal without a pre-amp and I'm just curious what all the fuss is about regarding pre's. What is the main selling point of a pre-amp?
 
SubLunar said:
Thanks everyone for the input. I will begin recording tonight.

I am telling the guys that if they like how the initial recordings turn out, then we can discuss recording an entire demo/cd and possibly even paying me!

I'm not expecting pro studio quality, but my one-man-band has produced good quality so far, after about a year of daily hobbying.

They have recorded at another guy's home studio using a mac and pro tools and they weren't real happy with the way he was telling them to arrange their songs.

So, as long as my custom build PC sounds better than his pro-tool powered mac, I'll be happy, since I don't use either ;)

I haven't been able to acquire any more gear since the original post, but more questions:

Are Pre-amps necessary when mic'ing guitar amps using sm57's through an analog 32.8? ...or is it just a matter of opinion?

I seem to get a good signal without a pre-amp and I'm just curious what all the fuss is about regarding pre's. What is the main selling point of a pre-amp?
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Yep, preamps are necessary. And you have them--right in your board. The question is, do you need better preamps than are in your mixer? That's what folks here are talking about when they say "outboard pre's" or whatever terms they're using--a rack unit (usually) dedicated to bringing the level of your mics up to a recordable point.

Your mixer is doing that for you with its preamps, but many folks like the quality and/or variety they can add to their sound with external preamps.

I'd suggest you start tracking with your board and get the most out of what you have. Work on your own sound and skills before sweating the tweak that a new preamp will give you.
 
WhiteStrat said:
Yep, preamps are necessary. And you have them--right in your board.
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That I know, but does that mean that outboard pre's are used in conjuction with a board, or is the board bypassed in a typical setup?

I know this is a newbie question for alot of you, but I've never felt I needed one, until I thought about recording "professionaly"...
 
SubLunar said:
That I know, but does that mean that outboard pre's are used in conjuction with a board, or is the board bypassed in a typical setup?

I know this is a newbie question for alot of you, but I've never felt I needed one, until I thought about recording "professionaly"...
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Outboard pres can be used in conjunction with a board, if that board is how you're getting you're sound into the computer. In that case you use an insert/line in on the board, bypassing the mic pre for that channel.

In my case, I don't use a board at all. I use outboard preamps, and those go into my interface/convertor, which has 8 line ins and sends sound to the computer via firewire.
 
SubLunar said:
What do you mean? Do you suggest plugging the Mackie straight into a CD burner or something?

I like the computer because I can write as I go along and don't have to waste CD's or other recording media. On the computer I can delete or completely rearrange things as I see fit...

The computer has 24bit/96khz AD/DA conveters on it which are fed directly via the balanced outs on the Mackie and I think it works pretty good...
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I mean it's unnecessary because you have a computer to do the mixing on.
 
WhiteStrat said:
Outboard pres can be used in conjunction with a board, if that board is how you're getting you're sound into the computer. In that case you use an insert/line in on the board, bypassing the mic pre for that channel.
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With a lot of mixers you need to be careful about using line inputs, because in many cases they are still routed through the preamp. In other words, the signal is sent from the line input to an attenuator, and then to the preamp to re-amplify it. I believe Mackie boards are designed this way.

Just use the preamps built into the Mackie board for starters. If for some reason you don't like the sound of them, then patch in outboard preamps.
 
avieth said:
However, you use a computer to record. There's no question that outboard signal processors are better than computer plugins, but they are not always necessary. You could get away with using only computer plugins for processing if you want to save some money.
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Evidence?

Show me ANY measurable parameter of a hardware gate that can compete with a look ahead plugin gate come mix time

Also, while I may not be particularly fond of this application, show me an analog wysiwyg compressor, one that actually does what you tell it and what it says it does. While we're at it, show me a release curve in analog hardware that can let a bass guitar go at less than 50msec and not distort
 
On the other hand, show me an eq plugin that sounds as good as my Manley Massive Passive. Or show me a plugin that sounds like my Avalon AD2044, API 2500, or Distressors. They don't exist and won't.

You can push "measurable parameters" all you want, but it comes down to sound and the action of the eq or compressor. So what if the knobs don't show you exactly what the unit is doing? You adjust them until you get your sound. Dialing in measurable parameters in plugins is basically describing mixing with your eyes, not with your ears.
 
Controlled chaos.

Much more stressful than I thought. We made progress and so far I still think it has the potential to come out alright.

Thanks everyone for suggestions, I've been considering al of them.
 
Why is that unnecessary? Unless I missed something but that set up is pretty universal. I am going to school for audio and have interned at two studios and all three places intergate there pro tools and mixing boards.
 
A lot of guys nowadays just have "mixer hatred"
:D

Some don't care to admit it but are lost with an analog mixer.

A buddy who is a pro producer/engineer (as in gets paid, and has done albums) has ONLY worked itb. He gets confused as all hell when he comes to my studio. The board just overwhelms him.
 
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