Help building my studio

[burnisgood]

Hi,

Please ignore the naivety of this!! And I apologise if it has been asked millions of times before.

Can you tell me what I need to build a basic Home Studio? I have read loads of websites that contradict each other and seemingly leave off lots of things that others have on.

The budget is to be about £800. (around ($1500).
I am a guitarist and will be using it to put down backing tarcks, ideas and rough demos.

I basically want to record using Cubase on my PC and really would like a list of what I need for the Studio. What hardware/software I need for a basic setup. Do I really need a MIDI keyboard? A lot of home setups I have seen don't have a mixer, why not? Include in the list if I need A/D converters, Audio interfaces etc.

I have decided to use SM57's. I own a nice pair of B & W's. I'm a PC user.

I suppose what I am after is a list of what I need to get the basic studio up and running. Again I'm sorry if this seems stupid but the advice would be so appreciated!!!!

 

[Renascent]

Presonus firepod w/free SM57 and Cubase LE (Very lite version, but 24tracks and a good lot of features.. its free w/the firepod) --- $550 from musiciansadvocate on ebay. Authorized dealer and it arrived in 3days, great seller.
Buy some 703 Rigid fiberglass or rockwool. Goto Ethan Winer's FAQ or browse around realtraps.com at all the DIY type stuff. Ethan is extremely helpful and knowledgable and you won't find many businesses posting up some of their great secrets like he does!

A good set of studio monitors. I chose KRK Rokit5's for now, and eventually I will upgrade to RP8's. The Rokit5's are very affordable, under $300 if im not mistaken, and they sound excellent.
I'd suggest a midi keyboard and perhaps something w/a lot of sliders for adjusting levels within cubase. Midi controllers can be used for more than just playing softsynths.. you can hotkey the crap out of just about any program now and it will make your life a lot easier

Spend lots and lots of time reading Ethans stuff (notice this is the 2nd time I said it)

Assuming you have a computer, bump up the ram to max your computer will handle. Buy another hard drive if yours is small. If you computer is going to be in the same room you record in, consider a quieter fan (SM57's will pick up fan noise, and then some)

Read ethan's accoustic stuff (3rd time)

With that setup you'll have exactly what I have, which has been pretty nice so far, and you'll also have some money left in your pocket. The firepod is a moneysaver, you can do everything digitally.. it is your interface and your mixer all in one and the sound quality is excellent.. can't top 8preamp'd inputs

Now if you want to go analog, thats a whole new world
Analog mixer, recorder or audio interface, preamps, who knows what else. I'd like to some day have both an analog and digital setup, but for right now I did bang for buck

Hope this helps.. Seriously read ethan's accoustic info he has.. search it out and learn to use the search tool on the forums too. lots of good info!

Good luck
Scott

 

[LfO]

In the future, please don't post the same message in multiple places - its called crossposting, and won't make you popular around here. I put in my two cents on your post in the Newbies forum.

 

[burnisgood]

Yeah sorry about that. I put it in here and then realised there was a section for noobs!!!

Mods please delete this one.

Again sorry!!

 

[LfO]

No worries! Mods don't delete threads around here unless they're spam, or potential legal probelms Just have to let it sink.

BTW, I know you said you've read up on other sites, but I want to recommend tweakheadz.com as my preferred "home recording in a nutshell" - its worth checking out.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Now if you want to go analog, thats a whole new world

NEW??? Since when? Analog has been here.....lets see.....only about 100 years Actually, you are using pretty much all analog anyway. BTW, how old are you. Your ears are ANALOG.... so you've been using it since you were born. You see, thats what no one tells newbies....

SOUND IS ANALOG....MICS ARE ANALOG... AMPLIFIERS ARE ANALOG...SPEAKERS ARE ANALOG and so are your EARS. When you stick a digital system in the signal chain..guess what? Your digital system has to CONVERT analog to numbers with an Analog to Digital converter, store them, and then regurgitate it back into analog with a Digital to Analog converter so your analog speakers can make analog sound so your analog ears can hear it... Now, whats wrong with this picture?????You got it bunky!! DIGITAL! At least from my perspective.

fitZ

 

[treymonfauntre]

what an incredibly ridiculous post

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

what an incredibly ridiculous post

Interesting, I see you are forming sentences now. How bout an encore... perhaps with words you can pronounce. But please, try not to drool this time.

 

[LemonTree]

£800 almost covered my room treatment

 

[bpape]

Gotta live with it Rick. Digital is here to stay. I agree that an analog world is much simpler. But, the digital world offers so much for so little.

I've learned to live with it. Now I just have one mantra - "keep the A/D - D/A conversions steps to as few as possible." If it's already digital, leave it there until you're ready to output it to the speakers. Don't go back and forth. No algorithm is perfect.

 

[RICK FITZPATRICK]

Gotta live with it Rick

Thanks for the advice Bpage. But no, I don't. I use analog for my fun period. This is home recording. I don't HAVE to use digital. I use 2 midiizer synched MSR-16's and is sooooooooo much fun I have a 32 trk Lexicon digital system too, but only use the PM-90 reverb in it.
The point of my statement though, was some newcomers to HR know nothing about analog. Some even think it is extinct, not knowing that some of the best recordings still being made are tracked on 2" tape. However, I understand the pricepoint/editing advantages. I happened to grow up in the analog era and my EARS tell me something.
fitZ

 

[bpape]

Understood...and agree.

 

[Renascent]

I wasn't suggesting its a new world
I was suggesting its a whole different beast.

I know analog was first. I prefer analog. I still play records on vinyl. Get off me biaatch

 

[zengeezer]

I wasn't suggesting its a new world
I was suggesting its a whole different beast.

I know analog was first. I prefer analog. I still play records on vinyl. Get off me biaatch

What's this biaatch crap!?! Quit beatin' around the bush (so to speak) and call the bitch a bitch!