Help Building a New Studio

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inkd

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Hello, all. I am in need of assistance in getting started on building my home studio. Of course, as you all most likely know, taking on such a task is much easier said than done, which is why I seek advice from you all.

As far as my equipment goes, consider me a blank slate. I have a budget of around $5000-7000, and I would prefer a Windows setup. I was thinking something along the lines of a desktop with anywhere from 4-8 gigs of ram? I have a 1 TB external hard drive I received as a Christmas gift, so storage certainly won't be an obstacle. As for the type of music I plan to make, I will most likely need a studio made for overall/general use. I plan to do hip-hop based records, but I may choose to incorporate live elements at times (perhaps a very, very small choir or a quartet, scenarios wherein I'll need to record either vocals or instruments). Of course I plan on layering any live instrumentation I record as opposed to having them all recorded at the same time (which, if memory serves, would have an impact on the number of mic in/outs I would need on my interface). Though I have no equipment at the moment, the one piece I certainly plan on purchasing at is an MPC-1000. .:


With regard to software, I am wide-open and willing to take in any recommendations you all are willing to offer. I won't be needing anything overly expensive, as it probably has plenty of features I'll never touch. Also, I would like to operate on Firewire if at all possible, but I know that because I am using a Windows setup (probably Windows 7 if I purchase a new desktop. Custom-built?) I face the possibility of compatibility issues. Any reliable, cross-platform audio I/O's out there? 24/96k?

Thanks in advance, guys. I really appreciate the help!
 
Instead of telling you to check out www.tweakheadz.com I'll approach this straight up.

You don't have enough money for room treatments AND a recording setup so I'll just skip that.

If I had $7K to drop on a recording setup and ignoring your preference for a IBM compat I'd purchase...
  • A Apple PowerMac G5 w/1GB for $300. GarageBand is a perfectly adequate recording package. Seriously.
  • A Apogee Duet for $500
  • A Akai MPC500 for $540. You'll never master this model, far less the MPC1000.
  • A Kurzweil PC361 workstation for $1,900. You'll never master this either but it should be fun trying.
  • A pair of Adam A7 near-field studio monitors for $1100
  • A Behringer POWERPLAY PRO-XL 4 channel headphone distribution system for $100
  • Some MoreMe headphones for $120.
  • And the remaining cash (approx. $2.5K) on as diverse of a collection of great used microphones as I could find until the money ran out.

Damn. I need to save up $7K!

I have a little more time so let me expand on this.

I am a dyed in the wool PC bigot, but a PowerMac G5/Apogee Duet combo for $800 (which includes the OS and recording software!) is just an amazing top drawer audio quality setup for a bottom dollar price and it leaves a ton of money for other critical gear. I can't stress enough the importance of good monitors and the luxury of a large microphone cabinet. Toss in the creative power provided by the Akai MPC and the Kurzweil workstation and you'd have a powerful, versatile, and amazingly high quality recording setup.
 
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Yo, man! Thanks for the quick/speedy reply. Also, thank you for throwing in that keyboard! I really feel that will help in my decision. You know, I thought about mentioning soundproofing equipment in my question, but regardless I'm glad you brought it up. From what I've read, this doesn't have to be ultra-expensive. You can go DIY (at least to some extent) in soundproofing your studio. Is this true? What type of experience have you had in this area? Also, about the Apogee i/o, I've seen it and heard great things about it. Many have said it's the best interface they've ever worked with. So I'll definitely check all this out! Again, thanks for the help and any other suggestions are definitely welcome!
 
inkd said:
Yo, man! Thanks for the quick/speedy reply. Also, thank you for throwing in that keyboard! I really feel that will help in my decision. You know, I thought about mentioning soundproofing equipment in my question, but regardless I'm glad you brought it up. From what I've read, this doesn't have to be ultra-expensive. You can go DIY (at least to some extent) in soundproofing your studio. Is this true? What type of experience have you had in this area?
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Ok, First let's make sure you know that there is a HUGE difference between "soundproofed" and acoustically treated. Fact is, sound proofing a room takes major construction and alot of money.

Also, about the Apogee i/o, I've seen it and heard great things about it. Many have said it's the best interface they've ever worked with. So I'll definitely check all this out!
Click to expand...

Don't go off what other people like because other people aren't you. Look around, check things out, ...ask tons of questions... read lot's of reviews. Find out what works for YOU and not what works for everyone else.
 
Okay, thanks for pointing that out. Which would better suit my needs? You mind elaborating?
 
Would you mind detailing some of the differences between acoustic treatment and soundproofing. Which would best suit my needs and are there any useful resources (online or otherwise) or guides that would help me to better understand how to go about treating my room without having to break a bank in the process. Thanks!
 
inkd said:
Would you mind detailing some of the differences between acoustic treatment and soundproofing. Which would best suit my needs and are there any useful resources (online or otherwise) or guides that would help me to better understand how to go about treating my room without having to break a bank in the process. Thanks!
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I would love to go into detail but the chances that I will be wrong are fairly high. Acoustics and I just don't agree and I doubt I'll ever be able to understand it.

What you're gonna want to do is ask what the difference is between "soundproofing" and "acoustic treatment" in the studio building and display forum. And don't take it personally if someone starts virtually throwing things at your head, mkay?
 
Soundproofing would be the act of preventing (reducing) the amount of sound that travels from one space to another.

For instance, decreasing the amount of sounds that travels from your studio space into the adjacent room or outside. Your objectives for sound proofing would include a) stopping sounds from leaving your room so your wife/parents/friends can watch TV in the next room b) preventing outside noise like birds, traffic, kids in the next room etc from entering your room, being pickup in the mics and fucking up your perfect take.

For acoustic treatment, your goal is to improve how your room sounds. All rooms, based on their dimensions are reflectivity of the material that the floor, walls, ceiling is made from will affect how you hear sounds inside the space. Take your unfinished basement... concrete floor, walls, wood ceiling (all very reflective) with big empty space will have lots of annoying flutter echo. Also, the rooms dimensions will create peaks and nulls at certain frequencies (corresponding the room diemnsions). Your fix here is to add absorption and reflection (but almost always mostly absorption) so that what you hear coming from your speakers will be as close to accurate as possible. The result will be a room thats easier to mix in and mixes that translate better to other systems. I would argue that if you are using mostly pre recorded samples, room treatment is slightly less important than if you were recording live instruments (but not much less).


As far as putting together your studio... Make a budget... You aren't going to get everything you'll ever need in one fal swoop, so plan and getting what you need to get started, and you can build on that.

PC (build your own)... $800
Software (Reapers good) $60 - $400
Interface............... $600
Sampler.... $xxx
Keyboard / Midi Contr.. $xxx
Monitors........ $700
Good Vocal Mic $1000
Room Treat (OC703)..... $500
Cables / Stands...... $200

I would argue that you can *get started* well within your budget.
 
wheelema said:
You don't have enough money for room treatments AND a recording setup so I'll just skip that.

*snip(*

  • A pair of Adam A7 near-field studio monitors for $1100

Damn.
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ROFL, you want him to spend $1000+ on monitors, but NOT treat for acoustics :confused:? Acoustics and monitors go hand in hand. Don't skimp on either. If anything, split the $2500+ you were suggesting to put towards mics- get a nice mic or two and treat for acoustics. You can always keep buying mics (most people do).
 
As far as the differences between soundproofing and acoustic treatment goes, they kinda go against each other. Soundproofing takes mass. Mass that prevents sound waves from getting out. But all that mass causes all the sound to bounce around the inside of your studio. Think of a typical concrete box basement - you cant hear much outside, but inside is an acoustical nightmare. If you let the sound escape, you have a much easier time controlling the acoustics inside the room. That means you hear tons of reflections, resonant freq's, nulls and voids in specific freq's that are cancelling or reinforcing themselves (based on the size of your room), what you hear inside is NOT what the mix really sounds like..

'Soundproofing' means nobody outside can hear it, doesnt matter what it sounds like inside. 'Acoustically treated' means you hear the mix for what it really is, and you dont care how loud it is on the outside. Soundproofing takes a shitload of $$, ie heavy duty construction. Staggered stud walls, double/triple sheets of drywall, Containing sound is hard. Acoustic treatment is relatively cheap. To accomplish both is indeed a difficult feat..
 
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