Professional Setup (only serious replies please)

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iproduce

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Hey well unfortunately.. I found out today my mixer in my home studio just went dead on me.. well not all the way but its a bad mixer. Anyway that made me mad enough, so I am looking to buy a new one now. I was going to wait but I can't now. My co-owner and I of my independet label down here in nashville are now ready to begin the album recording phase. Hence our studio is getting built as we speak and my home studio equipment is not "good" enough for album or single material. We decided we are going to record our single over at Quad Recording Studios. There we could get a professional engineer and so on, but there is so many times we can do that. Prices are expensive.

To get to the point we have decided on to buy a decent setup for a home studio. Nothing to expensive, but good hardware to record album type of material on. My question is what types of hardware do you recommend as far as a mixer,preamp,external compressors, and etc would go. I know there are alot out there. Such as the DXB,Control24, and so on. We are not looking for anything that big just yet hence the studio is not done and we looking for a home studio set up. Ive noticed Mackie has great mixers but I just wasn't sure. Please serious replies hence this is a serious post. Im sorry if the post sounds a little naive.


Thanks, Thanks for all your time.
 
Well lets say about $15,000.. I wanted to try to get a nice setup for a little lower than that but if it has to go to 15k than I will have to make that choice.
 
wow....

do you have a computer yet?
now many preamps would you need? more than 8?
 
This depends entirely on what your recording requirements are. And unless you are prepared to spend a year or five to learn how to record you'd still be better off using pro studios if you are recording for your record label.
 
Well our recording requirements aren't to high. We will be recording basically HipHop , R&B , and Church Choirs. They might be an occasion where we might have to bring in a guitarist. Remember this is the home studio setup so it will be for the personal use of the record label. We have a computer but we will want to buy a brand new fresh one. I have just a little skill in recording but nothing close to a professional engineer lol. Hence this is the home studio, I will be the engineer and I wouldn't have to much trouble getting use the equipment hence this is sort of my job.
 
Correct me if Im wrong please.

To my understanding for the type of music I record .. I will most defenitly need a good vocal condensor mic. Along with a good preamp. Computer will be no problem as I have experience with both Mac and PCs. I also have recording experiences with Protools and Cubase SX. In the past I have always had bad experiences as far as choosing a Mixer. Hence I will be doing the mixing most but not all the times and production good monitors are a must. Mastering and Mixing we would like have professional done, good chance we will. I hope that helps a little as far as our requirements.
 
iproduce said:
Well our recording requirements aren't to high. We will be recording basically HipHop , R&B , and Church Choirs. They might be an occasion where we might have to bring in a guitarist. Remember this is the home studio setup so it will be for the personal use of the record label. We have a computer but we will want to buy a brand new fresh one. I have just a little skill in recording but nothing close to a professional engineer lol. Hence this is the home studio, I will be the engineer and I wouldn't have to much trouble getting use the equipment hence this is sort of my job.
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I know people can spend their money any way they want, but I don't think buying better goods will help all that much if you don't have the expeirence and know-how to properly mix and engineer a song. But hey, if you have the cash, then more power to you.

Anyways it's going to be a stretch to keep it much under 15k depending on what you already have. you already said you need a new computer so that's 2,500 to 3,000. Do you already own software and plug-ins or are you ogin to have to buy those as well? How is your Mic situation? Anything decent?

-bradly
 
You can definitely put together a setup for 15 grand. A $2500 - $3000 computer is not needed, that's for sure. This forum like a lot of others, people are to quick to tell you false info. How can you tell another person to not spend money on a setup when they state that have 15k to play with (assuming it's true) and spend it at another studio. With 15K you can put together a great setup and over time you can bet you will be able to run it as smooth as the next dude.

There are a few ways you can go with 15K to start and if you want to gradually build it over time you don't have to pour that much cash into it at one time, but it's your dollar and if you are really serious and ready to do what you posted here go for it and good luck.

You can go with one of the various standalone hard disk recorders, Alesis, Mackie, Tascam, etc. and there are plenty of great low budget digital mixers out there to hook one of these units to. A hook up like this will run you between 4-5k and this system can be added to over time to become a serious workstation. If and when you want to add a computer based workstation to a setup like this, you can for a around 3-4K, and this should get you a computer, audio interface, and some software. You can spend the rest on a good mic, some monitors, and a decent keyboard and you're set.

www.underworldinfo.net
 
ProducerBigC said:
You can definitely put together a setup for 15 grand. A $2500 - $3000 computer is not needed, that's for sure. This forum like a lot of others, people are to quick to tell you false info. How can you tell another person to not spend money on a setup when they state that have 15k to play with (assuming it's true) and spend it at another studio. With 15K you can put together a great setup and over time you can bet you will be able to run it as smooth as the next dude.

There are a few ways you can go with 15K to start and if you want to gradually build it over time you don't have to pour that much cash into it at one time, but it's your dollar and if you are really serious and ready to do what you posted here go for it and good luck.

You can go with one of the various standalone hard disk recorders, Alesis, Mackie, Tascam, etc. and there are plenty of great low budget digital mixers out there to hook one of these units to. A hook up like this will run you between 4-5k and this system can be added to over time to become a serious workstation. If and when you want to add a computer based workstation to a setup like this, you can for a around 3-4K, and this should get you a computer, audio interface, and some software. You can spend the rest on a good mic, some monitors, and a decent keyboard and you're set.

www.underworldinfo.net
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I thought he was looking for a semi-professional setup. I believe that a semi-professional setup needs to be fexible enough to record a varitey of applications. I don't know maybe you don't think he needs to spend that much, but he is charing people and I wouldn't pay to record in a studio that didn't have a decent, professional setup. But thats just me. So just take it easy on calling what people say "false info." No hard feelings though. Different viewpoints are good and lets the person weigh the pros and cons of different ideas.

-bradly
 
bradly said:
I know people can spend their money any way they want, but I don't think buying better goods will help all that much if you don't have the expeirence and know-how to properly mix and engineer a song.
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First thanks for replying. Anyway, this is not something I just started to do this year. I've been messing around and recording alot maybe a good 2 years but thats not including big hardware. Just basic stuff like small mixers, you know the basic setup. So I'm not just basicly going to be mixing and recording songs being clueless. Maybe I've should have said that sorry if I've caused any confusion.

As far as plugins, its to my understanding that they are very expensive. In the $15,000 budget I wish not to include them if theres no room, lets say the $15,000 is hardware wise, but I will not over look the plugins. Currently I own Cubase SX 2. I have also had experiences with ProTools but that was elsewhere. As far as the Mic goes we have a $500 dollar mic, I forget the name. The results from it was not bad at all, I think problems from it came either through my bad mixer, soundcard or bad enviorment.

I have all my production equipment, all that I need now. I guess all I am really looking for is a good mixer of some sort, a good audio interface, preamp, very good monitors, maybe a good microphone, and of course a computer. I know the equipment doesn't make the quality of the song, but bad equipment can have an effect on it.
 
What about getting one good vocal mic, like a Neumann U87 and a nice preamp to go with it.

A bunch of sm57s for instruments, 58s for other vox

Then get a Tascam 1814, 8 channel, firewire mixer/control surface. It's got 8 preamps you can use for recording drums, guitars etc.

Fast, quiet computer. Load it up with Sonar or Cubase or whatever you like, and a couple of TC Powercore or Universal Audio DSP cards for some quality effects.

A pair of decent monitors would round it off.

See how you go with that, then with the money left over, if you need to, have a look at some outboard gear, nice compressor, limiter etc
 
^ Thanks, it sounds good. Will that be the Tascam 1814... Or the Tascam 1884. I have been looking at the 1884 for a while now. Is the feedback on the 1884 any good?

Im open to everyones thought and opinions. I am also looking for equipment but I do not want to buy any trash like I have done in the past. What monitors would you recommend Bull Hit?
 
bradly said:
Different viewpoints are good and lets the person weigh the pros and cons of different ideas.
Click to expand...


Best thing I've heard in awhile.



iproduce,

Do you have 2 people on the same comp. that come to this forum? If not...

I can't believe that you said...
iproduce said:
This is the funny thing. When I plug in RCA cord into the speaker and I put my finger on the other end of the RCA cord, the same color.. and the buzzing noise begins. It did that on all 3 cords.
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I'll make it to my 250th post if it kills me!


L8er,
livilaNic
 
livilaNic said:
Best thing I've heard in awhile.



iproduce,

Do you have 2 people on the same comp. that come to this forum? If not...

I can't believe that you said...


I'll make it to my 250th post if it kills me!


L8er,
livilaNic
Click to expand...

No I do not, If this comes to a thread where you anyone doesn't take me serious because that I stated that my budget was $15,000. Then I do not yearn your help. I clearly stated serious replies only, and I am not trying to be rude, but if you enter the thread intending to criticize or do anything other than help please do not reply.
 
you' be surprised how much plugins can cost if you want a decent set. how much is the latest waves package? probably close to $1000.

tascam 1884 is a good piece of advice. i have heard good things about it.

another option to go is the mackie onyx mixer and firewire interface. with this you get a real mixer (can use it live or studio), 16 solid solid preamps, a nice EQ section, lots of routing optoins, studio-talkback (pretty cool feature) and high firewire bandwidth. At least worth checking out www.mackie.com check out the biggest model of the onyx line and read up on it.
 
iproduce said:
Well our recording requirements aren't to high. We will be recording basically HipHop , R&B , and Church Choirs. They might be an occasion where we might have to bring in a guitarist. Remember this is the home studio setup so it will be for the personal use of the record label. We have a computer but we will want to buy a brand new fresh one. I have just a little skill in recording but nothing close to a professional engineer lol. Hence this is the home studio, I will be the engineer and I wouldn't have to much trouble getting use the equipment hence this is sort of my job.
Click to expand...
With this in mind I would get a Yamaha AW4416 and a nice selection of mics. That would also be portable, as a bonus.

Should set you back 3-4000 dollars. Save the rest and spend as needed.
 
I'd personally go with a dual 1.8Ghz G5, the Tascam FW unit mentioned above, and Logic 7, then fill it out with a Neumann mike for vox, and a vew 58's and 57's.

I think Wintel is great for tinkerers, but not always the best route for someone with little hardware experience, which this person may or may not have.
 
What are some good external audio processors such as Compressors and etc. I hear Avalon make pretty good compressors and are used by alot of pro studios? Thanks for all the replies.




Thanks
 
iproduce said:
No I do not, If this comes to a thread where you anyone doesn't take me serious because that I stated that my budget was $15,000. Then I do not yearn your help. I clearly stated serious replies only, and I am not trying to be rude, but if you enter the thread intending to criticize or do anything other than help please do not reply.
Click to expand...

I'll do what ever the fuck I want.

I just didn't understand someone thats going to be spending 15k would plug something in and touch the other end. 15k is alot of money. I don't think you have it anyway. Get 15k before you ask to waste peoples time explaining something you will never do anyway.

*No need to reply this is my ego writing, after all I am a guitarist*
 
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