Help me spend $20k!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Coop
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Coop

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I'm purchasing the initial core components for my home studio. The PC is bought. The instruments are here. I need everything else. I'm also fuzzy on exactly what core components are needed to go from input to CD. The music is acoustic / vocals with a focus on sound quality and written parts for a reasonable amount of additional tracks. Time to spend some money! What would be your list of core components and what specific brand / models would you buy?
 
Hmmm! Shades of "Ken D Webber"!.
You say you got 20k to spend,but want to know what
direction to go. I suggest prior to spending a dime,
use the "SEARCH" function of this bbs.
You need:
Near-field monitors
A good mic/mics
a pre-amp or mixer
Recording Software.
A decent sound card
and a partridge in a pear tree(I'm bored here at work!)
You can start your mission also by checking out:
http://www.samash.com http://www.allprosound.com http://www.sweetwater.com
http://www.musiciansfriend.com http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837 http://www.mannysmusic.com
These stores list Different makes and models of some of the equipment you need.
If all else fails,you can send the money to me and I will invest it in my gear-needs and after 4-5 years I'll pay you back!
Peace
Mr.Q
 
Let's start with some good stuff and see if we run out of $'s.

Monitor Options:
Genelec 2029b, $1,250
JBL LSR, $1,760
Genenlec 1030A, $1,876

Mics, you gotta have one really good mic, don't you?
U87, $2,900
AKG C414B, $800

Sound card
Unicorn 1224, 24bit, 116db, 8 in, 8 out, $1,099

Software
Cubebase VST 5.0, $700
Is it worth paying more maybe Waves gold @ $1,900?

Mixer.

I need help here. Any ideas?
 
So far you spent 10k with anutha' 10k to spend on a mixer.
Check out a 48 track Ghost by Soundcraft or 1 of them Spirit boards. The choice is endless!
Or,like I said b-4 send me the money and in 7-8 years
I'll hook you up with my new invention that would be able
to make a 5 year old a recording engineer! :)
(it's a secret!)
 
Coop, Don't forget something. Where are you recording
at? A tracking room, iso booth,etc. is important
too. Twenty grand might go real far in a home
studio, get you some badass stuff,but a nice sounding
room, acoustical treatment, all that stuff is
equally important.

At the very least, build some kind of doghouse
for your computer and other noisy gear.David
 
Thanks DavidK. The room is a finished 15 x 20 room. Drywall and carpeted. It is fairly live sounding and I have looked at packages of studio dampening material, but I'm waiting at this point to see how the room sounds once recorded.

It used to be the norm to make the room very tight / dead to get the compression of the sound on tape. Is this still the thinking given the ability to compress and clip with effects? Or, is a live room a potential attribute?
 
Coop, the great studios have rooms that sound great!
I am a classical guy, and classical recordings
are the most harshly judged by the audiophile
nuts.

We never make classical recordings in a studio,
we make them in a concert hall, with no
artificial reverb added. It takes an engineer
with Stevie Wonder ears to pull of this
feat, they are very intense folks who really
know their stuff.

The trick with classical recordings is to
record in the best hall possible. For years,
the Chicago Symphony used to travel down
to Champaign, Il, to the Univ. of Il to make
their Recordings, because the hall was better
than their own ( I went to school there, one
of the worlds great halls in the middle of farmland!)

That being said, you would need a budget of
100,000 to get a GREAT room, but a few bucks
might make your situation better.

A dry room will probably suit you better,
but If you have a room that actually sounds
good, it would be better in certain situations.

I know squat about acoustics, but some rooms just
sound great, and if it isnt to noisy, take advantage
of that. I record in my living room, and it
sounds awful, so I get out the good ol reverb machine.

But I would love to have a dedicated tracking room
that has a warm, natural sound, so if you can
accomplish this, you are set! Cheers, David
 
Yeah - I'm with David here - good acoustics is worth every penny spent. You can change the sound more by changing the room than by changing the EQ.

There's a nice room in Adelaide David, that's where they go here, The opera house is a lemon.

cheers
john
 
Thanks John!

Good to hear from down under. My experiences with good rooms has been, for the most part, by accident. I would have no idea how to design in good acoustics. I've been to one site where you can put in the dimensions of a room and get a mathematical value suggesting good acoustics, but I am very skeptical on it's worth.

The studio room I'm starting with has a good live sound to the ear. It will be interesting to see how that translates to recording. The music is acoustic with a focus on vocals so I should not be over driving the acoustics of the room.

Thanks again for the comments.

Phil
 
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