starting out NEED HELP!!!!!!!

[mr. produca]

hello people, i gotta lot a questions for yall
ive been thinking getting a studio up and running and need some advise on some gear.
I only got 7k to spend on this stuff pretty small
Imma start with some equipment i want to buy and i want yall to give your opinion.I am mainly gonna focus on stuff like hip hop and r&b but i want to be flexible enough to record a few live intruments here and there (guitars acoustic and electric etc.)
1/
i have been hearing a lot about the studio projects microphones. i was thinking of getting the c1and tb1 or t3. i also heard alot about rode, audio technica,neumann (a bit out of price range) and akg as good brands of mics.need mics for vocals and instruments
can ya tell me where to go with this one??

2/
now i need a good qaulity mic pre (or 2), compressors and eq. been looking at some avalons and neve's but damn these are expensive. can yall tell me any products that will give me clean pro like recordings without breaking the wallet???

3/
now its on to a mixer. need drastic help on this one.

4/
effects like reverb, chorus and so forth, is it better to go hardware (outboard) or software? can you name some equipment in this area????

5/
recorders. tape to tape or digital completely lost

6/
monitors, headphones dont know what to pick

7/ stuff that i didnt mention before :mic stands pop screens,acoustic treatments,cables. boy oh boy!! hope i didnt forget anything important
when im done recording i want that pro studio feel to the music like i usually hear on commercial releases. i dont know if it could be done with less than 10k or even 20k
PLEASE HELP

 

[ljmaxx]

I'll try to help you out.

Mics are wide open IMHO but start out with a AT 4050 which will run you around $500 and that gives you a LDC with 3 polar patterns and this mic has a solid reputation in studios all over the world. Then go for an EV RE20 or Shure SM7 which either will run you around $400. You could pick up a matched pair of MXL 603's for under $200 which will cover the SDC mics. Get a couple of Shure SM57's which will run you about $75 each.

For a mic pre I'd get the Sytek MPX 4Aii which will run you just under $900 but this pre will give you 4 channels of good quality.

Compressor I'd look at the FMR RNC which is under $200 and if you get 2 of these they'll match up with the Sytek so you'll have all 4 channels covered.

Effects I'd get the TC M2000 which will run you around $600. One of the best around IMHO.

Recording gets tricky but if you decide on a stand alone DAW I'd go with the Akai DPS24 which will cost you $2800. The DPS24 also has lots of usable effects included with the unit. By going with the DPS24 you'll eliminte the need for a mixer as it's already there. Read up on it and you will see just how much is on that unit. If you decide to go with a computer based recording set up I have no idea what to recommend. I don't record with a PC.

Monitors you have tons to choose from but I'd recommend the Mackie HR 824's which are powered and will do a great job for you. Headphones I'd get a pair of Audio Technica ATH M-30's or M-40's which will run you around $50 or so.

If you add all the above up you are sitting right at $6000 which leaves you $1000 for chords, stands, a patch bay, and other items you'll need. If you decide to go preowned you can probably save at least a grand off of the above numbers. I added some links below that covers what I recommended above. I hope this helps you out some. You'll get lots of recomendations from the people who hang out in here and most of it will be solid advice IMHO. Good luck with whatever you decide.



http://www.sytek-audio-systems.com/

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=23790&item=7329874757&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search/detail/base_pid/242041/

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=47093&item=7329952418&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3278&item=7329094420&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

 

[mr. produca]

thanks for the starting point, looks very solid and i really apreciate it. another small question though, people tend to say that different microphones have different flavours to sound. they say that a particular microphone may be warm, harsh airy,crisp, dark, brittle etc. i dont totally understand what is meant by these terms can you explain and what mics/flavour would you recomend for a person with a high and brittle or midrange to deep voice????
thankz.