Home studio, help needed

[wx3]

You have to worry about skill first. Then equipment.

A great AE can make a tape player and a sm57 sound good.

A poor AE couldn't make the best pro tools rig sound good if his life depended on it.

Unfortunately I tend to fall into the latter.

Before you invest all your money into this studio you better start off small and start tuning your skills.

Why buy behringer when you can buy used?

 

[pandamonk]

You have to worry about skill first. Then equipment.

A great AE can make a tape player and a sm57 sound good.

A poor AE couldn't make the best pro tools rig sound good if his life depended on it.

Unfortunately I tend to fall into the latter.

Before you invest all your money into this studio you better start off small and start tuning your skills.

Why buy behringer when you can buy used?

With behringer gear i get what i want and i'm not just buying things that aren't greatly suited to me, because they are there. It very very rare to find any used studio gear here anyway. I have used cheaper equipment and got ok results, and am doing a college course on music tech to gain learn and gain experience. I see this as a step up from the cheaper gear i first used.

 

[wx3]

You need to re-think this drastically.

If you have a pile of crap, even if you add more crap to your pile, you still just have a pile of crap.

A drum kit mic'd with 12 cheap mics going though 12 cheap preamps isnt going to sound as good as the same kit carefully mic'd with 4 or so quality mics though quailty pre's.

You're saying that you simply don't have the money to afford the nicer gear, but if you get nice gear you really don't need as much of it.

 

[pandamonk]

I'm not going to mic the kit with 12 mics that often, i was just using that as an example of why i may need a 24 track mixer. I will mostly mic it with 8 mics. I'm thinking of getting the Samson 8KIT, are they any good? I've heard that preamps at this price range don't really matter too much, as they will be as bad as each other. It's only when you get up into the 1000s where there is a huge difference. And again, I'm not looking for the best of the best. I just wana be better than the local studio, which shouldn't be too difficult Also my mind is set on the DDX3216, and i know this is a bit ignorant of me, but I can't help it. I just feel that people on this forum don't give Behringer a chance. I know there are many who have a lot of experience with Behringer gear, but they are usually very experienced with most gear, and so have used the top of the range stuff, and so obviously Behringer will seem crap to them, and the herds of sheep just tag along(sorry i don't mean to offend, I'm just having a rant). I have read some good reviews of Behringer gear, and they all say it's obviously not the best, but for the price, they have some great gear. I've used/still use Behringer gear, and have been happy with it. If i buy it and a few years down the line realise that you guys were right, at least it aint huge sums of money I've lost, and I can sell it on. It's only the mixers that i will have to sell on, and they are only £500(with expansion card)each, and I could probs sell them on for at least £300 each.

 

[phillwildman]

Hi there Pandamonk,
'Hello, is there anyone in there'.
Sorry but I have to say you're not listening to any advice people are offering are you?
In any type of business it is best to start small and grow with your experience.
Get a bit of good gear first, then try getting some clients and then if you get a good enough rep then more work will naturally follow, leading to money to purchase some more good gear with.
I get the distinct impression that you may have fallen into the trap of desiring some fantastic peach of a studio, with countless channels and lots of patchbays etc, maybe because your college course is feeding you with all the jargon and talk of what you could do if only you had 'this and that'.
Everyone is trying to offer a little help, don't ignore the experience of others.
Slow down a little and be practical by slimming down your wishlist to a more affordable limit, 'limit the quantity but not the quality'.

And as for the insulation, don’t compress it, it kills the acoustic properties.
Rockwool is better than loft insulation, get some 100mm RS60 or something instead.
The outer skin of your building should be solid block (to stop sound escaping) , and the inner walls rockwool, plasterboard etc (to absorb sound).

(Try CCF or Keyline in the phone book)

All the best

 

[pandamonk]

Hi thanks for the reply. Yes, i know i am jumping ahead of myself, but I'm planning for the future, not buying it all at once. I'm thinking of buy/building the computer and using what I have at the moment(not good enough to charge people)and building up some cash from tutoring, then buy one mixer, patchbay, and headphone amp, to start with. And start recording for people, then as I get more money building up the rest. I know I'm ignoring some of the advice, but that's because most people are so against Behringer, when I know, from experience, that they aren't as bad as people here are saying.

I'm building it as a shed so i don't need planning permission, so can't put solid block on the outside. It doesn't need to be greatly insulated anyway. It will have a layer of plaster board covered with ultratouch insulation, the inner shed, then and outer shed made of OSB, all separated from each other by an air gap. Only the anderson shelter (which houses the drums and vocals) needs to be well insulated, but that is 3 bricks thick and rendered anyway, and will have plasterboard and acoustic foam/ultratouch insulation on the inside. Ohh and the knauf insulation wont be compressed a huge amount. Maximum it will be compressed to is 100mm, and much of it will be at the right thickness. I already having it, so can't afford to get the rockwool. As i said realier, it doesn't need to be greatly insulated