Income Tax time... Please help me finalize my purchase on some recording equipment.

qb2k5

qb2k5

New member
Im planning to get a pair of monitors, new studio quality headphones, a new mic, new DAW sound card, compressor, and a studio/windows harddrive for my mini-rap studio used only for myself.

After doing various searching with the god-given "search button" :D , i came to the conclusion on the following items:

1. Monitors: I'm planning to get the Beri-TRUTH B2031As. (I need the bass reponse) (My budget is $499 or less)

2. Microphone: AT 4040 (due to popular feedback from this forum) (My budget is $299 or less)

3. Headphones: AKG. Which are the best AKG's on this page ? (My budget is $99 or less)

4. DBX 266XL (My budget is $149 or less)

5. Hard-Drive for Windows and Studio files: WD 76gb Raptor 10,000rpm.

6. Sound Card: Delta 1010LT or something with at least 6 inputs that records 24/96 ? (Budget $249 or less) (FW or PCI doesnt matter.)

Im all ears on feedback or any items I should change from your comments. Note that I also included a budget amount so if you think I should change something within my budget amount, please leave feedback. I need your guys help as Im sorta a noob in semi-pro hardware.


Note that the following hardware I have for my 24/96 recording DAW:

High-End pc( I do pc gaming also): AMD 64 3200+ Veince Core, 2gb DDR400 ram, 7800gt, Creative X-FI Music sound card, N-track 4 (been using it for years), M-Audio Audiophile 24/96, M-Audio DMP3 pre-amp, MXL 1006 mic (very crappy for vocals), Beri 602a mixer ( pre-amp is pretty nice, although its noisey), nForce 4 eVGA SLI Ultra motherboard, Logetich 340 speakers (LOL, been using these for monitoring), Maxtor 80GB 5400rpm (planning to eBAY after getting raptor), Maxtor 160gb 7200rpm 8mb cache.


Again Im planning to order all this hardware around Feb 15 2006.

Please, respond. Studio owners like Blue-Bear please respond. ;)

Thanks guys.

Qb2k5 ( Remeber I do rap music) :)
 
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what about a preamp. the 1010 does not have pre's. Also I own the truths 2031a. after a month ir two one of the tweeters started to make a static noise and I have to crank up some bass to even notice there is any bass there, then when I mix down the bass is really loud.
 
altiris said:
what about a preamp. the 1010 does not have pre's. Also I own the truths 2031a. after a month ir two one of the tweeters started to make a static noise and I have to crank up some bass to even notice there is any bass there, then when I mix down the bass is really loud.
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I have a brand new M-Audio DMP3 preamp that I got about a week ago. Hmm, can anyone else confirm that the truths do have this problem? Aren't you under warrenty?
 
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With $440 to spend I don't know if I'd belooking at Behri monitors.

What about some M-Audio or Wharfedale units in that price range
 
6X9's in a 35 dollar box from the car stereo shop. Make sure the speakers are Jensen or Magnavox if you want musclecar compatibility. Should come out under 200 bucks

That PC should do well. I would keep the 7200rpm 8meg buffer dfrive for the windows stuff and put the audio on the raptor ( if you REALLY need it, Im having trouble running out of IDE bandwidth when running a LOT of tracks, Ford Van is getting insane track counts as well). The new 16 meg buffer drives might just be a better BIGGER cheaper bet, then again the new 16meg raptor ooooooohhhhhhhhh

Sell the soundcards you got, and the dmp3

"2. Microphone: AT 4040 (due to popular feedback from this forum) (My budget is $299 or less)
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good choice

Forget the AKG phones, you will be one sorry sad sack when they break, and they will, SOON, and you find you need silver solder and a HELL of a soldering iron to fix them. Besides you may at some point actually need some isolation from your phones, something AKG has never been able to do (cleaning up click tracks leaking through AKG cans is always fun). Sennheiser has some serious isolation phones, which can take some volume and can be soldered with regular 60/40 and the 35$ orange weller WLC100. Or just get harvey's phones, they dont sound THAT bad, and anything sounds better than broken phones

4. DBX 266XL (My budget is $149 or less)
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For what? at that level you are pretty much better off with plugins. Do you REALLY want to commit that thing to tape?

Sell all the junk, and save the money you get for an RME Fireface :) Mic pre's and channels galore. ASIO DM. Totalmix. Happy happy joy joy
 
That PC should do well. I would keep the 7200rpm 8meg buffer dfrive for the windows stuff and put the audio on the raptor ( if you REALLY need it, Im having trouble running out of IDE bandwidth when running a LOT of tracks, Ford Van is getting insane track counts as well). The new 16 meg buffer drives might just be a better BIGGER cheaper bet, then again the new 16meg raptor ooooooohhhhhhhhh
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I was planning to partition 40GB for audio and 30GB for Windows XP PRO.


Sell the soundcards you got, and the dmp3
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I wouldnt mind selling my Audiophile 24/96, but I just got the DMP3. Any other cheaper sound cards you could reccomend me in the price of $399 or less? FW or PCi, it doesnt matter.


Quote:
"2. Microphone: AT 4040 (due to popular feedback from this forum) (My budget is $299 or less)
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good choice
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Thanks. Im trying to avoid going to those overpriced $50+ an hour studios. Since Im on a budget.

Forget the AKG phones, you will be one sorry sad sack when they break, and they will, SOON, and you find you need silver solder and a HELL of a soldering iron to fix them. Besides you may at some point actually need some isolation from your phones, something AKG has never been able to do (cleaning up click tracks leaking through AKG cans is always fun). Sennheiser has some serious isolation phones, which can take some volume and can be soldered with regular 60/40 and the 35$ orange weller WLC100. Or just get harvey's phones, they dont sound THAT bad, and anything sounds better than broken phones
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Hmm, I notice you have a real studio. So you guys use the Sennheisers, right?

So you had bad experiences witht the AKG phones? Did you blast the AKG phones while tracking?


Quote:
4. DBX 266XL (My budget is $149 or less)



For what? at that level you are pretty much better off with plugins. Do you REALLY want to commit that thing to tape?
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Its just the plugins kill my cpu perfomance, really badly. Should I get a soundcard with built-in DSPs? Something unfer $299

Sell all the junk, and save the money you get for an RME Fireface Mic pre's and channels galore. ASIO DM. Totalmix. Happy happy joy
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Im a student struggling for cash everyday. But thanks for your help man. ;)
 
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What about the Bx8's (not A's) for 329.99? I can also scrounge for the BX8a's if there is a major difference between the two.
 
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I was planning to partition 40GB for audio and 30GB for Windows XP PRO.
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The best results weve had was to have three hard drives. One for the os and system stuff, one for storage of junk and more importantly the swap file, and one for actual working audio. These would be three different physical drives, not partitions. The swap file can be put on the system drive for slightly decreased performance. ALl of our testing has shown that even the 8meg cahce ATA 100 HD's at 7200 rpm are not going to be the limiting factor in even 50 tracks of 96khz. The SATA drives WILL eat less CPU as they get read/written though, not too terribly much, but about a decent EQ plugin worth

I wouldnt mind selling my Audiophile 24/96, but I just got the DMP3. Any other cheaper sound cards you could reccomend me in the price of $399 or less? FW or PCi, it doesnt matter.
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At that price its probably right what you have. It takes a pretty significant jump in cash to make a noticeable difference from there. The Fireface is what I consider to be the cheapest, complete solution, component level like you have will be fine as long as you like the parts you have.

If you DO plan on going to 8 channels though, the price of 8 GOOD pres and 8 good AD/DA converters plus the worlds best ASIO DM soundcards all in one package for a Fireface makes great economic sense

Thanks. Im trying to avoid going to those overpriced $50+ an hour studios. Since Im on a budget
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.

50 bucks could be overpriced, or it could be welfare. With our gear 50 bucks would take 100 years to pay back, and we charge 40...

Hmm, I notice you have a real studio. So you guys use the Sennheisers, right?
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I only have one set of those, I got LOTS of AKG's, mostly Fostex T series, but I plan on replacing them with the sennheisers

So you had bad experiences witht the AKG phones? Did you blast the AKG phones while tracking?
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Ive never actually blown a set, just had the wires come loose. WHat should be a 10 minute fix with stuff on hand becomes a nightmare of epic porportions. The leakage thru those phones makes them useless for drummers, OR singers who want the music at all loud

Its just the plugins kill my cpu perfomance, really badly. Should I get a soundcard with built-in DSPs? Something unfer $299
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With the PC you have, plugins shouldnt be costing you much CPU wise. Your PC would actually SMOKE the one that runs our studio everyday. Forget soundcards with built in DSP. Its VERY hard for them to talk to the host apps, even "VST" DSP cards like the UAD-1 and TC Powercore can be NIGHTMARES!
 
The best results weve had was to have three hard drives. One for the os and system stuff, one for storage of junk and more importantly the swap file, and one for actual working audio. These would be three different physical drives, not partitions. The swap file can be put on the system drive for slightly decreased performance. ALl of our testing has shown that even the 8meg cahce ATA 100 HD's at 7200 rpm are not going to be the limiting factor in even 50 tracks of 96khz. The SATA drives WILL eat less CPU as they get read/written though, not too terribly much, but about a decent EQ plugin worth
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I will keep this in mind. So by your feedback, I might get 2 (36gb Raptors). One for audio recording and one for WinXP stuff. And I will leave my 160GB IDE 7200rpm Maxtor drive for games.

Thanks again for your help buddy. :)

Last audio question:

So what are the best monitors you would reccomend $499 and under?

I read that the BX8a and the KRK are pretty good.

I noticed you worked with Vanilla Ice, is that right? What tracks has he recorded at your studio?
 
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altiris said:
what about a preamp. the 1010 does not have pre's. Also I own the truths 2031a. after a month ir two one of the tweeters started to make a static noise and I have to crank up some bass to even notice there is any bass there, then when I mix down the bass is really loud.
Click to expand...

Actually, the 1010LT does have a couple preamps on inputs #1 and #2...not the best in the world but servicable. However, if phantom power is an issue, you're up the creek.

I liked the DMP3 idea.
 
I will keep this in mind. So by your feedback, I might get 2 (36gb Raptors). One for audio recording and one for WinXP stuff. And I will leave my 160GB IDE 7200rpm Maxtor drive for games.
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That could work, but the raptor for windows could be overkill, might just want to get a bigass drive to put windows on, partition it and store stuff to it, set the swapfile ( and your audio apps temp file perhaps) to the game drive, and work off the raptor. Were going to give the new uberPC were buildinga try with stocker 8meg cache sata 150 drives and see if the drive can keep up, but you certainly cant go wrong with a raptor as a working drive! Drooling over the new 16 meg cache raptor

So what are the best monitors you would reccomend $499 and under?
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http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Jens...19737/catOid/-13645/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

and put em in

http://store.yahoo.com/mobile-emotions/6x9speakboxh.html

I read that the BX8a and the KRK are pretty good.
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The 2005 on up KRK V-8's come highly reccomended from a source I wouldnt even believe would say it

I noticed you worked with Vanilla Ice, is that right? What tracks has he recorded at your studio?
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of all the shit I done :) These were just some ESPN themes and things, the Metal vanilla ice stuff
 
The rear decklid of a musclecar is the only worthwhile listening environment

ALL the other speakers I have are for making rappers happy
 
pipelineaudio said:
The rear decklid of a musclecar is the only worthwhile listening environment

ALL the other speakers I have are for making rappers happy
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I wish I could EVER tell when you're being serious any more. :p
 
pipelineaudio said:
That could work, but the raptor for windows could be overkill, might just want to get a bigass drive to put windows on, partition it and store stuff to it, set the swapfile ( and your audio apps temp file perhaps) to the game drive, and work off the raptor. Were going to give the new uberPC were buildinga try with stocker 8meg cache sata 150 drives and see if the drive can keep up, but you certainly cant go wrong with a raptor as a working drive! Drooling over the new 16 meg cache raptor
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Reason I want a Raptor for Windows XP is because, I want it to be Windows Vista ready. Windows Vista is the next OS made by Windows that will be arriving hopefully fall of this year. I can't wait. It suppose to be more geared towards gaming. :D
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IF you decide you just HAVE to buy a compressor, I would really consider the Behringer Composer Pro over that dbx 266.

But, I would not commit either to a recording except for possibly using the peak limiter. If you don't need the peak limiter, then you really don't want either unit.

The cheapest "tracking" compressor I would consider would be a dbx 160. Even that box can be a bit lame for tracking.
 
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