Home studio set-up...foresee any problems?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris Meck
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Chris Meck

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Alright, guys, I've been lurking here for awhile, but haven't posted...'cause, well, I haven't had a home studio yet.
But I'm about to take the plunge, and after some real world experiences with some equipment, this is what I've settled on, and for what purpose.

I own a ton of dynamic mics, 57's, Beta '58's, etc.
I am purchasing a Power Mac G4, 450, 128mb, 10GB
I am leaning towards the MOTU 896
I am leaning towards the TLM 103 (aside from usin the U87 and U67 a lot in studios, I've also used the Shure KSM 32 at a buddy's home recording environs-which was good, by all means, but the TLM 103 he purchased was head and shoulders above, esp. for vocals, IMO.)
I am leaning towards a Meek VC1Qcs ( my buddy had a VC6Q which was a very cool front end for his Protools 001 rig.)I'm aware it's not transparent-that's largely why I like it. It adds a funky analog flavor that I dig. I'm not recording Celine Dion, I'm trying to make rock and roll records.
And for the following reason, a 20 bit ADAT.

I've recorded in many studios over the years, paid attention, read the books, watched what miking techniques did what sonically...and my opinion is that the room is crucial for drums, and room I don't have. SO:
I plan to record drums in a 'pro' studio that I've used a lot and have been happy with the drum sounds in particular in, drop them onto the adat and do the guitars and vocals at home with the above equipment. I plan to augment and add so that eventually I can do drums as well, but this will be the original core system to start with.

Opinions? Thanks in advance!
Chris Meck
 
Go with the twinQcs- 2 channels of funky sound for stereo funk-Richie
 
My suggestion would be towards the computer you are getting. 10GB is going to be pushing it as to being not enough storage space......I would look into getting more than that. Also, I am assuming 128mb is reffering to RAM...you'll probably find that this isn't enough. I have 256mb and am going to upgrade to 512 here pretty soon. If you are doing a decent amount of tracks and using good plugins, I would suggest 256 for a minimum. Plugins like TC Natives reverb can really juice the computer.
 
Macs are powerful but I do agree, 10 GB is WAYYYY to little space
I'd drop so REAL money into storage. like a 80 GB Seagate Barracuda Type IV Ultra ATA. that should run ya 120.00 if ur frugal.

Ram should deffinitely be a minimum of 512mb IMO.

:D Peace

-ZPphreak
 
Everything has come down in price so much, got for 512 or 1024 MB of RAM, and a 60 or 80GB Hard Drive.
 
Mac's utilize RAM and HD space more efficiently than PC's don't they?
But still, 10g of hard drive space sounds woefully inadequate, especially after you get your O/S and applications on there.
What software are you going to use?
 
The reason I mentioned 512MB of ram is because with realtime effects and many multitracks soing on simultaneous, it is Imperative that the audio be seamless. Especially if you want to do any waveform editing at the same time. Realtime auditioning of effects requires MONDO ram.

my $.02

-ZPphreak
 
Yeah, I'm planning on adding memory, that's the just the basic computer I'm purchasing. My buddy, who's a Mac guy is gonna help set it up and hunt for extra mem deals, etc.

I've not decided 100% on what additional software (i.e. plug-ins) that I'll go with...I know that I don't prefer to use a whole lot of delays or a ton of reverb; I'd like something geared more towards sounds; with compressor options, expansive EQ possibilities, stuff like that with just basic but good sounding reverbs and delay. In fact, the software that comes with the MOTU 896 'claims' to do all that-anybody have any complaints with it?

As for the Meek, I know I like what it does, but I think ONE channel of that is good-I'll probably build the rest of the outboard gear one 'channel' at a time, and looking ahead, I may go with a TL audio unit-either the pre or the valve EQ with another pre OR both the pre AND valve EQ if I'm in a position to splurge. Probably a RNC or two as well as I go.

I DO know that I'm not keen on getting lower quality stuff to just "get by" with; I'd rather wait until I can afford good stuff and just make due with a 'limited' system for the time being.

Thanks for the prior and any new feedback-I'm looking more for your thoughts on the gear I've listed, any good or bad experiences with any of it?
Chris Meck
 
Chris-

I may have missed it in the posts above, but what mixing/editing software are you planning on using? Cubase, SONAR, Vegas...?

I agree with what everyone above said about memory and HD. I'm running 120G 7200RPM HD and 512M of DDR RAM with an AMD 1.3G T-bird processor...with more memory coming. I'm running Vegas Video and Sound Forge as my primary mixing/editing tools, and a Seasound Solo EX and Expander as my input devices. Haven't had a computer hiccup yet...in fact, I don't think it's even breathing hard yet. I've had 24 tracks of Vegas running as I've been recording with no problem-I LIKE that.

Never underestimate the power of having TOO much computer...
 
To chime in....My average 24 bit Sonar project these days is over a gig. Granted that's on Windows XP Pro, but like the others, I think you'll use up 10 GB pretty fast even on a Mac, if you do a lot of recording.
 
Yeah,
I'm planning on adding a bunch of external mem drives that'll be dedicated to the recording responsibilities of the computer. I should be up around 80 GB and 512 RAM with the added stuff. That should be enough.

I think I'll run Digital Performer-I hear it's very good, and it is the system designed to run on the MOTU, so you'd think it'd match up seamlessly.

Chris
 
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