Question About What I Should Buy Next.

Everybody

Everybody

Hail Santa
As you know its coming up on Christmas, and also my birthday is early January as well. For a 16 year old this is good news! All I've asked for is money so I can purchase more stuff for my "studio" in progress. In addition to Xmas and Bday, I'm also selling my drumset (to get a cheaper one my friend is selling) and an old double bass pedal. This will have me looking at around $800 maybe a little more, maybe a little less. So this is what Ive been thinking about getting...please let me know if you have other suggestions!!

One more thing you might want to know...I will more likely for the next year only be recording hardcore, "death" metal bands, and some acoustic projects. So think of stuff that will make that type of music benefit. =]

1. Cubase 4 or Cubase Studio 4, my Presonus Firestudio came with LE, but it messed up on me and said that the account number or something got lost. But if im serious about recording I should get a semi-pro DAW anyway right? My only concern is that its $500 and if I could get LE working and spend $500 on something else to make my audio sound better, Id rather do that.

2. Something by IK Multimedia (especially since their having that buy 1 get one free deal right now) I was looking at the Total Guitar & Bass Gear Plug-ins. Or something for mastering like the T-RackS3 Standard or Deluxe. Any other types of good plug-ins for heavy guitars and bass, or mastering/mixing software?

3. I dont know what to call this one, but like a compressor or EQ etc..but its hardware...I dont really even know what they do, but I see every good studio has one (or two!) I have looked at DBX 266XL and BBE Sonic Maximizers.

4. Mic Preamp(s)...I have the Presonus Firestudio that have preamps built in, but I heard its better to get better Preamps. I have no idea what to look for though.

5. Acoustical Treatment. I dont have any right now, and heard it can make a huge improvement, especially on drums. I dont really know where to start though. Auralex is expensive, but looks very professional. Audimute has some cheap stuff, but I dont know if it works well or not.

Let me know of any other brands or anything really on all this...im brand new to all of this and dont want to waste money or be upset with a purchase.

Thank you all so much, sorry its so long!
 
You can save a bundle of money, gettin the Reaper software.
check section on this board:

http://www.homerecording.com/bbs/forumdisplay.php?f=49

Thats what I would do anyway.

I think the Firestudio pre`s should get you quite decent results for a while.

I`ve been using the firepod for some time now, and I`m quite happy with the results.

I would go for:

1. Studio Monitors (If you dont have any, its a must IMO)

2. Accoustic treatment (very smart investment)

3. Compressors eq and preamps are all valid investments, but you can get quite decent eq`s and compressors as vst (software).
Microphones might also be an intresting investment.
 
Agreed on pretty much all counts. Your DAW software has almost zero effect on your sound except when you do downsampling and/or bit depth reduction to convert it to 44.1kHz/16-bit for burning on a CD or whatever. Beyond that, it is basically little more than a pipe.

At best perhaps some more expensive audio apps come with additional plug-ins that might help improve your sound, but there are plenty of free and/or inexpensive plug-ins out there that will probably do pretty much the same thing with a reasonable degree of quality.

For the most part, though, the difference between the cheap and expensive DAWs are usually things like:

  • MIDI support
  • Removal of maximum track count
  • Additional effects slots
  • Support for interfaces with more inputs
  • Ability to export projects as OMF or AAF files for importing into Pro Tools or other DAWs.
  • Mix automation support

With the exception of mix automation support, none of those features affect your sound output, per se, though the lack of those features can to some degree impose limits on what you can do with the software, depending. Whether it is worth moving up or not depends on whether you think you would actually use those features or not. :)

I wouldn't waste money on the BBE Sonic Maximizer unless you're doing it for live show purposes. For recording, you're likely better off adding EQ yourself.
 
A tad confused =]

So Nakatira, your saying buy Reaper in substitute for Cubase 4??? or for Plugins? Also, where do I go to purchase it? And what kind of Plugins would you recommend for me?

dgatwood, what kind of plugins would you recommend?? also what types of hardware devices should I invest it, and acoustic treatment.

I do have moniters, Tascam VL-X5 (friend told me they are really nice)
and heres my mic list

-e604 (3) toms
-AKG D112 kick, bass
-SM57 (2) snare, guitar, bass
-about to buy 2 AKG Perception 170s overheads
-MXL990/991 vocals, acoustic guitar

Thanks =]
 
Everybody said:
3. I dont know what to call this one, but like a compressor or EQ etc..but its hardware...I dont really even know what they do, but I see every good studio has one (or two!) I have looked at DBX 266XL and BBE Sonic Maximizers.
Click to expand...

I strongly recommend NOT buying anything that you don't know what it is or what it's supposed to do. Nothing to be embarrassed about, just learn before you waste money.

If you need compression, There are better ones than the 266 (IMHO) for less, especially if you go on ebay. There are lots of compressors for lots of jobs, make sure you get the right one. If you're looking for bus compression for your whole mix, the best bang for your buck might be uad-1 (or uad-2, now, I guess, though I haven't tried it)

That said, if I was recording death metal I would get an sm7 for vox and a good bass DI, like a sansamp.


Good luck, and happy birthday!
 
If you're gonna record death metal...invest in some Tylenol and vodka...yer gonna need it!!!:D

Just kiddin'...mics and decent monitors for sure.
 
I am assuming your talking about "modern" Death Metal and not the early 90's Florida scene. If that is the case then you will need some sort of sound replacer software. Look into Drumagog. There are all kinds of awesome sample sets for it.
 
I'd recommend an upgraded vocal mic and a decent preamp.

An SM7 would be awfully nice if you've got a bit of dough (about $300), and the M-Audio DMP-3 is a great basic preamp. 2 Channels for $160.

If the SM7 is a bit costly, you might check out some solid performing Condensers. The MXL v67g is a heck of a mic cheep. The MXL 9090, produced by MXL for Musicians Friend, has the V67 capsule and another, brighter capsule, for about $90.

The CAD GXL 3000, which has been on clearance at Musicians Friend for weeks, at about $70... today it's $60. That's a lot of mic for the money.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid
 
EVERYTHING else is secondary to your monitoring and your room. You will only ever be as good as your monitors allow you to be, your monitors will only ever be as good as your room allows them to be. You can 'cheap out' on almost everything else - as long as you're able to accurately and consistently hear what you're doing - you can make the most out of anything.
5. Acoustical Treatment. I dont have any right now, and heard it can make a huge improvement, especially on drums. I dont really know where to start though. Auralex is expensive, but looks very professional. Audimute has some cheap stuff, but I dont know if it works well or not.
Click to expand...
Auralex is very cheap for what it is. Probably the cheapest "good quality" studio foam out there. If you've ever priced Illbruck/Sonex/etc., you'll know. A lot of the "cheapie" products out there are the wrong density, some even the wrong type of foam. That said - Foam is the last thing you need. It's heavily overused (because it's a cheap non-solution to a bad problem) and can screw and skew a room into a complete sonic nightmare very easily. Broadband trapping and lots of it - all the time, every time. GIK Acoustics 244 panels are probably the "best buy" out there as far as that goes.

It's not really sexy, it's not something with knobs to twirl, it's totally passive chunks of stuff sitting around doing nothing but turning acoustical energy into heat. It's also an instant improvement that you'll notice on every single thing you do.
 
Everybody said:
1. Cubase 4 or Cubase Studio 4, my Presonus Firestudio came with LE, but it messed up on me and said that the account number or something got lost. But if im serious about recording I should get a semi-pro DAW anyway right? My only concern is that its $500 and if I could get LE working and spend $500 on something else to make my audio sound better, Id rather do that.!
Click to expand...

If you are recording death metal and acoustic stuff, you are probably like me and don't need a $500 program full of stuff for people using keyboards and sequencers just because it is what "real" studios use.

Download the Tracktion 3 demo. I have tinkered around with Sonar in the past, and all I can say is that so far, I am sold on Tracktion for my needs. I got ver2 for free, but I am probably going to upgrade to 3 because I really like it. It still has MIDI and all that other stuff, just probably not as fleshed out. But IMO, if you are tracking real music, it is something to look into. I really don't see why it isn't more popular. It isn't a program for guitarists just looking to lay down 1 or 2 tracks.

Send that money somewhere else. See above post on room treatment.
 
Outlaws said:
If you are recording death metal and acoustic stuff, you are probably like me and don't need a $500 program full of stuff for people using keyboards and sequencers just because it is what "real" studios use.

Download the Tracktion 3 demo. I have tinkered around with Sonar in the past, and all I can say is that so far, I am sold on Tracktion for my needs. I got ver2 for free, but I am probably going to upgrade to 3 because I really like it. It still has MIDI and all that other stuff, just probably not as fleshed out. But IMO, if you are tracking real music, it is something to look into. I really don't see why it isn't more popular. It isn't a program for guitarists just looking to lay down 1 or 2 tracks.

Send that money somewhere else. See above post on room treatment.
Click to expand...

I second Tracktion 3...I'm running Sonar 6PE and I can't wait to go back to Tracktion....so easy. BTW I record psychobilly rockabilly and roots rock.
Why the fuck do I need all that hip hop soft synth bullshit anyway????
 
Alrighty!

Okay so first off thank you tcb4, and also what is IMHO stand for haha. Told you, im a total n00b. Sometimes in my defense I dont really know what to look for when im reading about products, because they usually never just spell it out, at least for my n00b ears. For instance you mention like bus compression for whole mix. I dont know what a bus is or what you mean by whole mix. =[. But im deffinatly thinking about that sansamp bass di box! Thanks!

Corndog....hahahaha..screw you...jk I already got that stuff on hand!!!:D

Wireneck, yes of course im talking about modern "death" metal, not the original type I think youre refering to:). You know, I was actually looking into Drumagog....just dont know much about it except you can play boxes miced up and get it to sound like a real drumset...which is pretty badass. Where can I look at some "sample sets" you mentioned?

BudgetMC The MXL9090s look real nice for the price. and so does that preamp you mentioned. Question though, since I have an 8 channel presonus firestudio (preamps built in) do i need another preamp? If I do I have no problem getting them.

MassiveMaster, thanks a ton for all that info...I will deffinatly save up for some auralex products and in the mean time get a couple of those GIK panels.:)

and finally OUTLAWWWS, yes yes yes, I am recording real musicians, I doubt ill be using any midi for a while. So I will check out tracktion for sure!

Thank you all a TON!
 
You just cant do better than Reaper for the money... can't do it...

Do yourself a favor and google it... download the trial... and wonder why you ever considered anything else...

Then thank me later...
 
Summing it all up..

Ok so here is my refined list of what i THINK im going to get.

1. Instead of Cubase 4 im going to get Reaper.

2. Noone really stated much about me getting and plugins by any brand so I guess I wont buy any IK Multimedia plugins or any in general. I would like some good ones though.

3. Someone said I could go cheaper by instead of getting hardware, get software compression EQ etc...so what brands and types for cheap?

4. I think depending on how much money is left over ill get the M-Audio stated above. and also the Bass DI box.

5. For acoustic treatment, im just going to get some GiK acoustic panels for now especially since they are the perfect price.

so far this is coming to be around...

-Reaper $225.00
-GIK 244 2x4 4” Acoustic Panels $129.98
-I forget to tell yall im getting 2 drum overhead mics so that is about $200

so im up to $555 still have another $150-250 to go....but if I really dont need anything else i could spend that on some drum gear or actually, maybe some good mic cables.
 
Massive Master said:
EVERYTHING else is secondary to your monitoring and your room. You will only ever be as good as your monitors allow you to be, your monitors will only ever be as good as your room allows them to be. You can 'cheap out' on almost everything else - as long as you're able to accurately and consistently hear what you're doing - you can make the most out of anything.
Click to expand...

Hey Massive Master...can you see any problems with my home studio in terms of my room and monitors?

14082008.jpg


;)
 
-GIK 244 2x4 4” Acoustic Panels $129.98
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Not one or two -- Eight, ten - twelve or more. There are 30 in this room (and I could actually make use of more).
Hey Massive Master...can you see any problems with my home studio in terms of my room and monitors?
Click to expand...
Yes I do. :)
 
Everybody said:
2. Noone really stated much about me getting and plugins by any brand so I guess I wont buy any IK Multimedia plugins or any in general. I would like some good ones though.
Click to expand...

I realize it's not a priority right now, but when you're ready for some plugs, gotta love the uad-1
 
Trueeee

Which UAD1 pack would you suggestion i see a few (flexi, project..)

Also what is a DSP card? how would I get that in my comp?
 
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