[my home studio] comments and suggestion welcome

[s0ze]

Ok, Im laying out the plans for my small home studio, heres what I've got so far:

-Apple Powerbook G4 15" 1.25-GHz, 256MB 80GB Super Drive
-Logicpro7
-A cheap, hand me down, yamaha keyboard that as of now i dont intent to get much use out of
-MAudio Audiophile USB Audio and MIDI Interface
-and a boss drum machine
-and various prosample cds

as far as can see (which doesn't acount for much, being a newb and all) I have all angles covered with the exception of mics and a mic pre amp.

I plan to record vocals, bass, drums, and guitar in a standard rock/metal band, and i'd prefer to plug directly into the pre amp and apply effects to the guitar/bass/vocals through some sort of effects processing software.

Any opinions/comments/suggestion on my setup are completely welcome
and if anyone can give me any suggestions/comments on mics, a pre amp, and a processor, or processing software it would be greatly appreciated

 

[sixways]

Are you wanting to record live drums or use the machine?

You may run into some latency problems with the USB interface. I have never used a USB interface, they must be acceptable or they wouldn't be so popular.

Guitar wise, I like Guitar Rig and Amplitube. If you're doing "metal" you'll probably fare better with Guitar Rig's presets over amplitube. It also has some bass and vocal effects. I've been least impressed with Guitar Amp legends...it just didn't impress me.

I'm not a MAC guy, so I can't comment on Logic or your laptop, sorry.

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[HapiCmpur]

as far as can see (which doesn't acount for much, being a newb and all) I have all angles covered with the exception of mics and a mic pre amp.

You haven't said anything about your tracking and/or mixing environments here. Get on over to the "Studio Building and Display" forum for advice on that.

 

[Wickermusic]

Ok, Im laying out the plans for my small home studio, heres what I've got so far:

-Apple Powerbook G4 15" 1.25-GHz, 256MB 80GB Super Drive
-Logicpro7
-A cheap, hand me down, yamaha keyboard that as of now i dont intent to get much use out of
-MAudio Audiophile USB Audio and MIDI Interface
-and a boss drum machine
-and various prosample cds

as far as can see (which doesn't acount for much, being a newb and all) I have all angles covered with the exception of mics and a mic pre amp.

I plan to record vocals, bass, drums, and guitar in a standard rock/metal band, and i'd prefer to plug directly into the pre amp and apply effects to the guitar/bass/vocals through some sort of effects processing software.

Any opinions/comments/suggestion on my setup are completely welcome
and if anyone can give me any suggestions/comments on mics, a pre amp, and a processor, or processing software it would be greatly appreciated

Why not use that cheap hand-me-down keyboard as a MIDI Keyboard.

 

[sile2001]

Apple Powerbook G4 15" 1.25-GHz, 256MB 80GB Super Drive

Don't know if this has already been purchased or is on your to-buy list, but if possible, bump that 256MB RAM up to 512MB. It's only a little bit more, but makes a big difference.

 

[notbradsohner]

real monitor speakers

 

[s0ze]

Are you wanting to record live drums or use the machine?

I have A bunch of samples that I intend to use till my drummer buys his own mics

Don't know if this has already been purchased or is on your to-buy list, but if possible, bump that 256MB RAM up to 512MB. It's only a little bit more, but makes a big difference.

yeah Its mine and plan on upgrading to about a gig or so

 

[macmoondoggie]

I second the ram upgrade to a minimun of 512 and better yet 1gig. An external Firewire hard drive is a very good thing as laptop drives tend to be slower. Logic should run well on you powerbook.

 

[euphoriasonic]

it's a must you get the RAM upgrade, at least to 512. Logic Pro 7 is great, and comes with many effects for processing, and can be used with many interfaces for up to 192Khz. i am using a PowerBook 12" G4, and just upgraded my 512 to a gig, for 1.25 GB of RAM. An external firewire drive is also highly recomended, for anyting over 2-4 tracks. USB is fine, as long it's 2.0 - you should look into picking up the Pro Tools 002 rack (firewire, 8 x analog inputs and many options) or something similar, such as the MOTU Traveler, which i just got. MOTU will not work with Pro Tools, only approved DIGIDESIGN hardware will run with Pro Tools. even the MBox is a great deal, but i recomend the 1st MBox, with insert/send and returns, for hooking up external, outboard effects processors and whatever else. the MBox 2 does not have the inserts, but DOES have MIDI, which the 1st does NOT have. most midi controller's now offer USB or firewire, so you don't really need the MIDI inputs, unless you are dealing with actual MIDI keyboards, esp. many linked together.

Look at Event TR series for some better monitors, i have TR-6, bi-amplified and flat-frequency response for uncolored mixing. good luck

 

[Kevin Deschwazi]

If you're wanting to record drums in the near future you'll need more inputs. it's possible to mic a kit with 2 mics but it's not ideal.

And if you're recording lots of tracks a USB interface won't be great anyway, firewire would be much better.

 

[sixways]

You'll need something better than the M-Audio Audiophile if you intend on tracking drums. I'd look into getting something with at least 4 ins, ideally 8.

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