Total Confusion on Home Studio

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BeatDaddy

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I am an old school musician who works in the IT industry, looking to get back into writing & recording music. I see how technology has made producing & recording music much more affordable and I want to set up a home recording studio for me and my kids with a budget of $2500.

So far I have been thinking about;

Pro Audio Gina sound card
Mackie 1402 VLZ Pro Mixer
Zoom 1044CD Recorder
RNC Compressor
(2) Shure 57 mics
(2) Shure 58 mics
Sonic Foundry or Vegas Video Music editor
Roland RS-5 keyboard

Am I on the right track?
 
I assume this means you already have a computer that is decent enough to handle audio recording. If so, then the Mackie and the Gina card are decent starts.

Depending on what you plan to record, you might want to rethink the Shure SM57/58 mics. If you plan on doing any vocals or acoustic instruments, you'll probably want at least one condenser mic in your arsenal. The SM57's are best suited for amplified instruments or drums. Most studio's will have a few of them in their mic locker, but I don't think that you want them to be your ONLY choice.

Sonic Foundry is a company, I believe, not a program and I'm not familiar with Vegas Video. I think you'll find more people using Sonar, Cubase, N-Track, or Nuendo as their multi-tracking program.

I'm also not familiar with Zoom CD recorder. If it is a standalone unit, I suggest you might want to think about just getting a CD burner for your computer. It should save you some money over a standalone unit and would allow you to keep all your music, once recorded, directly on the computer.

Also, I don't know that you need a compressor (although the RNC is well regarded for the price). You can use software compression. Again, much depends on what you plan to record.

You may at some point also want some plug-ins for your recording software - although programs like Sonar come with a decent starting set that will allow you to get started. Later on you may find yourself looking for a better sounding reverb, or better dynamic processing plug-ins.

That's the problem with this hobby. You never run out of things you can buy. As someone once told me when I was considering getting into this, "STOP!! TURN BACK!! IT'S NOT TOO LATE!!"
:D
 
vegas would be a GREAT beginner program, its got an amazingly simple user interface, that hides the true power of the app...its got its problems, but so do they all...

check out the vegas-audio topics forum at www.sonicfoundry.com to learn more abouit it
 
The Gina is a dandy card for sure (I still have one lurking about somewhere) but only has two analog inputs so if you wanted to record multiple instruments simultainiously, you'd be limited. Now if you're working by yourself and wouldn't need more than two inputs running at a time, you're in like Flint.
 
Question Avalanche!

Thanks for the input!!

Dachay2tnr - I am basically recording songs for personal consumption and creating samples for others. I have various instruments and will use some vocals, all drums will be from the Roland.

Dont you think a stand alone recorder with 20GB of storage is better than a computer with a single hard drive?Or do you think it would be better to maybe install a second hard drive and use RD Ram w/ 512 bus?

What do you think about Octava Mics or Sennheiser? I have a freind that believes there is no such thing as too many mics, he has about twelve.


Track Rat - What do you feel is a better card? Should I look for a card with a breakout box or patch bay?

Pipelineaudio - What do you think about Cakewalk Pro? I used it to create a sample cd that sells pretty good on EBay.

Keep it comin, I got plenty of questions!!
 
you can get a 120gig hard drive, 7200 rpms with an 8meg buffer for about 230 canadian.
whats that like 6 bucks US?

er, maybe 145USD?
 
If portability is not an issue I'd suggest that you get a soundcard with adat interface and an external multichannel preamp that you can hook to the soundcard using ADAT lightpipe. With the Presonus Digimax LT (an 8 channel preamp under $800) and Terratec EWS88D card ($200) you'll have $1500 left for software and mics and stuff. For a recording software you could start with the popular $49 n-Tracks studio and if there's not enough features in it you could go for pricier programs like Cubase or Sonar etc.

If your looking for more portable solution I suggest a Fostex VF160 standalone recorder. You can connect it to computer thru Adat lightpipe same way as the Digimax preamp and transfer 8 tracks at a time from and to the computer. And that works in realtime too so you use the VF as recording mixer and route the signal to computer to be recorded. The quality of mic pres in Fostex is of cource not as high as on the Digimax but when you need to record some place else you wouldn't have to haul all your computer gear around.
 
Nothin wrong with cakewalk. Its user interface slows me down, but if youre already used to working on it, go for it. And if you want to take it a step further check out the newest version of cakewalk called " Sonar". Cakewalk is capable of " garbage in garbage out" ( amazingly not all apps are) so theres no quality issue .

And yeah you can never have enough mics. The Oktava MC012 or MK012 or whatever theyre called now, are GREAT utility condensers, at a very low price. I have a pair with all the different capsules, and still use them along side quite a few other mics of much higher price ranges.
 
As pipeline suggested, Cakewalk Pro Audio has essentially been discontinued and replaced by Sonar. If you already own it, it is a fine program and there's no reason not to use. If you are looking to purchase, then you probably want to go with Sonar. Familiarity with Pro Audio will cut down on the learning curve for Sonar tremendously.
 
Coming Down the Home Stretch!!

Once again, I can't thank you enough for your help!

Pipelineaudio - Outside of your microphones, are all of the components you use in your computer? If so, what kind of system do you have?

Pete Halo - I'll check out the cards you recommend and I don't forsee having to take my show on the road. I'd like to ask you the same question on how much of your recording equipment is digital?

I don't want to buy standalone equipment if I can accomplish the same thing with software. I do realize that there is a certain level of clarity and hands on control that can only be obtained by a manual system, but once again I am a lounge chair Quincy Jones, not trying to make a career of this.

The last question (I promise) If I am starting from scratch should I choose a 16bit or 24 bit soundcard?
 
Re: Coming Down the Home Stretch!!

BeatDaddy said:
The last question (I promise) If I am starting from scratch should I choose a 16bit or 24 bit soundcard?
Click to expand...
24 bit without question.
 
Outside of microphones, mic preamps, compressors, analog to digital converters, mixing consoles, tape recorders, dat machines, o-scopes, RTA's and cabling, its all in my computer :)

I run a full blown recording studio so I gotta have TONS of junk, but for at home you will do better than perfect running sonar, a few mics, a decent soundcard and some mic pre's ( maybe even a card with mic pre's built in).
It seems like you remember the days when owning a four track cassette was heaven itself, I do too. Once you get these few things hooked up your jaw will drop, all the things we wished we couldve done back in the day, no problem!!!! It makes me wonder why there arent AMAZING new bands out there, with all these tools available

I remember back in the day calling myself lucky if the tape didnt stretch out of tune before I was done laying guitars!
 
Epilogue!

Now that everything is as clear as mud, I will begin to assemble my system. I will post as I get things together and let you know how it is going...............I'll be back!!

PS if any of you afficienados have websites with some of your recordings, I would be very interested in hearing them.
 
you can click "listen to demo mixes" or whatever at www.studiozpro.com for my stuff

lots of people here at homerecording.com post mixes at the mp3 forum here and they got lots of kickass stuff
 
Didn't take long...I'm back!

Pipeline - I went to the site......great tunes! Not exactly Friday Night Fish Fry Music (blues, jazz, and the like) but well produced.
I have listened to many of the MP3 postings and am surprised at what people call good music nowadays, although there have been one or two exceptions.

I want to know what you think about Motu? I've been reading about the 828 and am intrigued with the firewire concept.

Also the Presonus Firestation & Motu's Micro Express?

I have decided to use Cubase as my editing software....am I doing better?
 
Im not one to ask on MOTU stuff, I own some and hate its user interface. As for audio editing, strictly editing, I dont think its possible to beat Vegas, as its interface is totally unreal in that capacity. Cubase can do a LOT of cool stuff too, its editing isnt as speedy, but its 100% functional. Cubase is also an awesome composing program, being able to use VSTi's and createing music internally
 
I base my system around a MOTU 2408 mkII and an Alesis HD24. I like it a lot. If you'd like to hear a tune, click on my "www" button at the bottom of my post which will take you to my NoWhereRadio site.
 
Track Rat did I miss the www at the end of the post? I would like to hear some of your work.

Pipeline - Just want to make sure that when you say Vegas you mean Vegas Video. I actually have that software, but have never opened it.

I did want to ask you guys whether you thought it was better to have a separate midi input instead of relying on the input on the soundcard?

*And- Do you use dual monitors when editing?
 
Track Rat, what all digital devices are hooked to your MOTU ? Maybe you're pulling something off past what the MOTU tech support guys can do
 
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