Studio & Equipment

  • Thread starter Thread starter Beathoven
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Beathoven

Beathoven

New member
Hi all,

I've been thinking about building a studio in my basement lately and I need some advices from the gurus here.

I'm a hiphop producer and I'm part of a group (I'm an emcee). I will only record vocals (I build this studio for me and my group first) and maybe standalone musicians (With acoustic guitars and simple instruments... No group with batteries and big things like that)

First, I'll show you a plan of my basement:
 

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Studio & Equipment (Part 2)

Now if we zoom in the future studio location:
 

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Studio & Equipment (Part 3)

I plan to separate the area in two parts: The control room and the "recording room". I will separate the area verticaly (If you look at my plan).

I plan on recording digitaly (I just bought a new computer), so here's my computer specs:

- Pentium 4 1500 Mhz
- 256 Mb RAM PC 133
- Inno3D GeForce2 Tornado MX200 (64 Mb RAM)
- Creative SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum
- 30 Gig HD 7200 RPM
- LG 52X MAX CD-ROM
- AltecLansing ATP3 sound system

Here are the softwares I got:

- Acid Pro 3.0
- Logic Audio Platinum 4.7.0
- CoolEdit Pro 1.2
- FruityLoops 3.1.1

Here's what I'll buy:

- Shure KSM27 or KSM32 microphone
- LG CD-ROM Burner

Now to the questions part:

1- Which other equipment will I need (Monitor speakers? Mixer? Console? Drugs?! :D)

2- What do I do with the window in the room?

3- Which size would you suggest for my control room/recording room?

4- Should I place my control room where my window is or at the opposite?

5- Will I need a lot of isolation? (The walls are made with gyprock)

6- It's an hanging ceiling, what will I need to do with that?

7- Will I need to block up the door of the wardrobe?

8- Will I need a special door between my control room and my recording room or any type of door will do the thing?

That's about all I can think of for now...

I thank you guys in advance,

Beathoven

(P.S.: Excuse me for my poor english but I come from Québec :D)
 
Moving the thread --> Newbies foru,

Since no one seems to answer my questions here, I inform you that I will post this thread again in the Newbie section - maybe I'll get some answers there.

If a moderator reads this, just delete the thread here or lock it.

Beathoven
 
Maybe no one felt competent enough to answer the questions. I haven't seen the real studio building pros for a while.

You need to wait more than three days before you give up on a thread.
 
OK, a few observations.......
You have nominated an area approx 9'x11' ......is that for both recording and control rooms? Because it really is barely big enough for a control room by itself.
Other equipment..........good near-field monitors, a console IS a mixer and you may be able to use a software based mixer to save buying a stand alone unit but you will need sufficient inputs to your soundcard.
The window........I guess it all depends on how much noise you will be making, will any sound escaping that way annoy people, etc., ........you could brick it up but covering it with thick MDF and sealing ALL cracks should be a start.
Any other "isolation" really depends on what you end up doing in the room.........
I realise my comments may be a bit "non-commital" but I don't know exactly what you wish to do in your studio or how much you want to spend but I suggest you go to the following site and start reading. You may then get a better understanding of what you need to consider before starting your project. http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html

ChrisO :cool:
 
Well, while I don't claim to be a pro at this but - I'd say as a first cut, it looks like you have a 9'x11' room, a computer, some software and a couple of mics... a good start for sure.

You talk about dividing the room up in two. That would make two very small rooms for audio. Is there any way you could use another of the rooms in your basement too? If not, then consider not dividing the room at all but using it for both recording and playback.

You should consider getting either a couple of decent Mic Pre's or a small mixer ala Mackie etc.. to use for their mic pre's and mixing multiple mics.

Consider also, looking through past messages on this forum for similar questions... they do come up a lot, there is a ton of great info here already archived and while it is not necessarely taylored to you, it can all be applied.

For all your acoustics questions: read all of the following link once. Stew on it for a while then read it again :) It is a really good resource.

http://www.saecollege.de/reference_material/index.html

Cheers
Kevin.
 
WOW - Ausrock - either I never saw your post or we posted at the same time :) :) Great advise man!

LOL!

Kevin.
 
I could have some more space...

I could make this room 16 ½' if I puted the separation wall at another place.... I took some picture of the room so you can see what it looks like...
 

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Picture 2...
 

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Picture 3...
 

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Picture 4...
 

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Picture 5...
 

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... and the last one!

Last picture. Hope it will help you guys visualize the room and the space I got.

Ausrock: I'm a hiphop producer. I make instrumentals on my computer and then record and mix the vocals with the instrumentals. So this studio will be mainly used to record vocals; so I don't think I need that much space. The only equipment in the "recording room" will be a microphone.

Does a smaller space will change a lot in the sound? I mean will it make it sound bad or? Anyway, thank you for the help you've been giving me and the one you're going to give me (I assume :)).

Beathoven

(P.S.: Also, does anyone remember the address of John Sayers website (You know that website about different studios people have build))
 

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Bloody Swedes........keep that up and I'll banish you to Ludvika:D .

Beathoven, I prefer not to tell you how to divide up your space cause I don't have to work in it. Also I am not into hipitty hopitty nor do I record to computer, so I don't have a real feel for your needs.........But to answer the best I can, it is usually considered that a small room is more difficult to "treat" than a large room. Doesn't mean that it will sound bad, just that you may have to mess around with acoustic treatment to get the desired results.

:cool:
 
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