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Pony!

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Hi,


I'm new to this board so I'll just get into it.

I'll start by saying I'm currently a student paying my own way through college so my income and budget is highly stunted.

I've been building a small digital studio based around my computer since high school. Every time I've done small updates on my computer my studio gets a small addition. I've been thinking about upgrading my studio massively (on a stunted budget, of course) at the end of summer and then start selling my services out cheaply to local groups. As it stands right now I don't feel confident in the equipment I have to sell myself out just yet.

My question is: What should I upgrade before I'd be able to do so?

The list of equipment I currently have goes like this:

Echo Layla 24/96 (not the g3)
A Nady 8 channel preamp (cheap, cost me 100 bucks new. I plan on upgrading to a better set of preamps soon)
a behringer feedback destroyer pro
gem sound xp350
pair of phonic PA speakers
2 small behringer mixers (one is a xenyx the other is a eurorack or something)

as far as mic's go:
2 shure beta 58's
1 shure beta 57
4 AKG c1000s'
1 Oktava mk219
1 Shure beta 52
2 fusion f15's
3 Audio Technica at851a's (which I plan on selling)
1 Studio Projects C1
and a bunch of mid-low level mics from superlux and samson

I've been thinking about trading up the layla for either a tascam us1641 (because it has more inputs and is USB not PCI) or one of the presonus firewire based PC recording decks. I was also looking at the behringer Ada8000 as I heard that I could plug it into the word clock and optical ins on my layla to add another 8 inputs to it which would negate half my reasoning for upgrading from the layla to another deck. (IE: more inputs)

Any insight would be much appreciated.
 
IMO, if you only want to target small local stuff, worry less about upgrading your gear and worry more about sharpening your skills. Word will travel faster about the great job that you did than the fancy gear that you have.

that being said here's what's I'd upgrade:
  1. good heaphones
  2. good monitors
  3. build some portable acoustic panels
 
I'm looking more to go to groups and record them live. Which is why I was looking at adding more inputs.

But now that you mention it, could you point me in the direction of a thread instructing (very simply, I'm not too bright) how to go about building cheaply a room treatment? I'm stuck in a basement that's pretty cluttered. My landlord is a packrat that likes to keep things there and he's good enough to let me use it for my bands.
 
Get monitors. krk 5's for $99, a piece. Pick up a set of those first
 
I actually have a set of 70's fisher full range speakers I got from my grandmother who had them lying around. I replaced the woofers in them and they sound great. I've been using those and a set of metrophones for mixing.
 
I hope this doesn't sound harsh, but you need some dedicated monitors. In the words of legendary engineer/studio designer Philip Newell, monitors are not made to sound good, they are made to be accurate. That will help a lot in getting great sounding mixes. But amen to the acoustic panels. If you want, you can buy great materials on the cheap from atsacoustics.com
 
Thanks ripthorn. I'll definitely look into a set of monitors. I had always thought these full range speakers would be fine for the job. Guess I was wrong, but I've been, more or less, mixing by headphone. I switch between 3 different sets of headphones to hear the mix differently before I make changes.

Also, thanks for the ATSacoustics site... they have very competitive prices. Seemingly cheaper than if I bought the materials and built them myself. I'll probably end up buying from them.

A follow up question would also be: I have several old mattresses lying around. Could they be used to help with treating the room? I don't mind them looking weird but would they be useful?
 
Hmmm ... where to start ...

The room that you'll be recording in has a huge impact on your recordings - especially w/ bands. Are you planning on tracking whole band live?
Will 8 inputs be enuf? it will limit you, but "have at it".
Your list:
Echo Layla 24/96 (not the g3)
A Nady 8 channel preamp (cheap, cost me 100 bucks new. I plan on upgrading to a better set of preamps soon) {I'd leave this out of the signal path}
a behringer feedback destroyer pro (definitely leave out of signal path}
gem sound xp350
pair of phonic PA speakers
2 small behringer mixers (one is a xenyx the other is a eurorack or something)

as far as mic's go:
2 shure beta 58's
1 shure beta 57
4 AKG c1000s'
1 Oktava mk219
1 Shure beta 52
2 fusion f15's
3 Audio Technica at851a's (which I plan on selling)
1 Studio Projects C1
and a bunch of mid-low level mics from superlux and samson
 
Thanks pellegrini. What do you think of the ada8000. Should I use that in conjuction with the layla? Will it add the extra 8 tracks I'd want for recording live bands? Is it compatible with the layla?
 
if it's got ADAT in, which i believe it does, then you're good to go with the ADA8000 to add 8 more channels.
 
If you're concerned with number of inputs, I'd look into something that uses Firewire and not USB. Firewire is designed for this sort of thing as it has a much higher, continuous, throughput.

I use a PreSonus FireStudio 2626 with a DigiMax FS hooked to it for 16 mic pre's at 96kHz/24 bit and couldn't be happier with it. The problem with PreSonus, at least for some people, is compatibility. There have been problems interfacing the FireStudio's with SONAR. Supposedly the fix is on it's way, it has been for awhile, so if you pic up a PreSonus unit make sure you understand the return policy of the shop you buy it at so that if your DAW doesn't like it, you can return it. I use Reaper not only because it is dirt cheap (don't let that scare you, it holds it's own against more mature DAWs), but because it works flawlessly with my FireStudio, so you could also go that route, www.reaper.fm.

-Wes
 
Thanks for your input disgruntled. If I'm able to pick up an ADA8000 I'm probably gonna stick to the Layla. Also, this fall Intel's releasing new tech, and along with it USB 3.0. Which should have a fatter bandwidth. I'll be upgrading my PC then... So, it shouldn't be much of an issue.

As far as reaper goes, I currently use cubase sx3, would it be an improvement or step down from that?
 
Pony! said:
As far as reaper goes, I currently use cubase sx3, would it be an improvement or step down from that?
Click to expand...

Don't know, never used Cubase. I used SONAR years ago, quit for a few years, got back into recording with a Roland VS-2400, and then moved to PC based DAW with Reaper.

Here's the trick, you can download Reaper and test it out, with full functionality, and decide for yourself what you think about it. If you like it, it's $50 with free updates. ;)
 
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