Studio & Equipment

[Beathoven]

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:

 

[Beathoven]

Studio & Equipment (Part 2)

Now if we zoom in the future studio location:

 

[Beathoven]

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?! )

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 )

 

[Garak]

Well the first thing you need is a good soundcard. I'm all for the delta series from M-Audio. They range from the basic Audiophile 24/96 at $250 CND to the Delta 1010 at $930 CND. Where you are just recording vocals I would go with the Audiophile. If you wanted to record more than 2 channels at a time I would would go with the Delta 1010lt that has 8 inputs and output, two mic preamps and its only $650. One other thing that is usefull about haveing 8 outputs is that you can do better headphone mixes on the fly when recording vocals but you need a mixer to match.

Next you need a preamp. Again M-Audio has the best bang for the buck. The Audio Buddy is a nice little preamp that you can use with your shure mic. If you go with something like the 1010lt you won't need a preamp because their are two built into the card. The only problem might be is that I'm not sure if it has phantom power which is required for most condensers.

For montiors go with the yorkville YSM-1p they are around $800 CND. I have a pair of YSM-1i and they are great. Go find your local yorkville dealer.

You may also want to get a small mixer to use for montioring. Something with a headphone output.

Depending on how much noise there is where you are recording you shouldn't need to do, too much soundproofing or treating. Usually the only time you need sounproofing is when recording drums or loud gtr amps. You might have to deaden the room a bit for vocal recording with foam and curtians and stuff.

http://www.m-audio.com <-- Delta Soundcards
http://www.kellysmusic.ca <-- Canadian M-Audio Dealer
http://www.yorkville.com <-- Yorkvilles Website

 

[Beathoven]

Thanks for your answers Garak!!!

Someone answered to this thread in the Studio Building & Display forum. If you want to continue the discussion there, I posted some photos of my room.

I went to the websites you told me and it seems you gave good advice... I'll probably go with what you told me... Seems perfect for my situation.

Thank you again,
Beathoven

 

[Beathoven]

Forgot to ask...

Wouldn't my Creative Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum do the thing?

Just for the front part of the card I got a midi in/out, headphone out, a second mic in, spdif IN/OUT, optical in/out and aux in Right/Left. At the back I got a line in (analog) and a mic in (analog) with three other plugs for computer speakers (Center(Subwoofer)/Front/Rear out). What would I need else?

Beathoven

 

[Garak]

How about quality?

Soundblaster makes good multimedia cards but for recording you need something that is built just for recording. They are the next best thing.

The onboard mic preamps suck. Never use the mic inputs on a multimedia card, they may be fine for online chat programs and other stuff but are useless for recording.

With those cards you are limited to 16 bit and 44.1khz or 48khz. Most pro cards are 24bit and can go upto 96khz.

1/8" mini jacks suck and its hard to find good cables. They break too easliy and just plain suck. On pro cards you will find 1/4" jacks which are much better and you get the left and right inputs on seperate jacks insted of built into a little tiny 1/8" jack. Some cards have ballaced inputs and outputs which are better for long cable runs and weak signels.

Some pro cards use RCA they are ok and better than 1/8" but have the same durablity problems as the 1/8".

I use to think that a multimedia card would be fine to recording then I got a Delta44 and i have never looked back.