What do you think?

  • Thread starter Thread starter AllOrNothinEnt
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AllOrNothinEnt

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I've decided to open a small time studio to the public, as soon as 2006.
Here is the gear I'll be working with, feel free to suggest anything I may need, or be missing, as all of this gear has been paid off now, and I still have money to spend.

Computer:
AMD 64 3200+,1Gig,160GB Audio, 80GB System
Dual 15" LCD Monitor

Soundcard:
RME Fireface 800 (Sold, kept the Lynx, then re-bought the Fireface due to I/O needs)

Pre-Amps:
Focusrite Liquid Channel
Avalon 737SP
Groove Tubes Vipre
Martin Sound MSS-10
Groove Tubes The Brick

Rack Gear:
Apogee Rosetta 200 AD/DA Converter
DBX DDP Plus
Klark Tekink Helix Digital EQ
Presonus Central Station w/ Controller
Antares Vocal Producer
Electrix Warp Faktory


Booth: Clear Sonic ISOPAC E Vocal Booth

Cables:
Zaolla Mic Cables (2)
Mogami Gold Studio (4)
Monster (6)
Mogami Gold Hi-Def Inst 15' (8)

Mics:
Blue Bluebird
Blue Baby Bottle
Soundelux U195
AT 4033
AT 4050
ADK TC
ADK TL
ADK Vienna
CAD E-200
CAD M9
Studio Projects B3
Studio Projects C1
Shure KSM 32
Apex 210

Inst Mics:
Blue Ball
Blue Kickball
Blue 8Ball
Shure DMK5752 (Drum Kit)
Audix Fusion 6 (Drum Kit)
CAD Pro 7 (Drum Kit)
Shure SM57 (4)

Monitoring:
Event ASP8
Wharfedale 8.2A
AKG K 271S
Audio Technica ATH-M40FS (4)

I'll be hiring someone to sound treat the studio when I find a place to rent and set-up at.

Suggestions, comments?
 
You don't mention having a mixer, or either hardware or plugin effects like reverb, delay, etc. So I'm assuming you will be mixing in the box, but what do you have in the way of fx, of either the plugin or hardware variety?
 
AllOrNothinEnt said:
Suggestions, comments?
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Yea. There are enough studios out there. Try opening a dentist office. The population is aging, ya know. Lots of baby boomers going to need dentures soon.
 
Does that Liquid Channel give you what you paid for? Curious, I only fiddled with one at AES and it just seemed like way too much money for what you get. Sounded more modeled than I even expected.

It seems like you're OK. Maybe some overlap there though, like 2 drum mic kits (the Fusion is probably favored over the CAD?) and some others.

War
 
AllOrNothinEnt, it's hard to gauge anything when you haven't provided any info on what you're recording and the type of projects you're doing.

A couple things I see is that you're overloaded on single-channel pres, and don't have any multi-channel pres. You'll need multi-channel pres if you're going to track drums for OH's and toms. Any reasoning on the pres you bought?

I also think for the amount of $ you've spent on preamps, you're cheating yourself by running them through a Fireface 800. Unless you're mostly using the Rosetta 200 and doing single-track overdubs.

And also your preamp to mic quality/$ ratio is way out of balance. You have very high-end pres and only budget and mid-level mics. While you certainly have some decent and usable mics, compared to the preamps you have, you don't have a killer mic in the bunch. Depending on what you're doing, [ I'd have to see first ] I might even go so far as to recommend you sell a lot of the mics and buy a collection of fewer but better mics.

You should also consider getting better monitors.
 
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Also, are you planning this studio as primarily a tracking studio, not a mixing room? I ask because you've got all front end and almost no mixing gear.
 
I appreciate the feedback.

Yea, the Audix is favored over the CAD, but the cad was a freebie, so I can't complain.
As for effects, I have Waves Diamond, and every other waves plug-in out there.

I haven't had too much experience recording a band, as I mainly stayed with vocals before, thus the reason for so many vocal mics, so if anyone can point out what I may need there?

The Focusrite for vocals is great, and I bought the Avalon and Brick mainly for instruments, although I do like the way the Avalon sounds on about 50% of those I've recorded before. (vocals)
 
Personally, I would sell of half of your vocal mics and use the money to get one or two really nice ones. Add a UAD card to your setup as well. Then I would invest in one nice set of monitors, one or two decent ribbon mics, and sell of two of the drum mic packs and get a little more of a variety of dynamics. I would look inot one good set of monitors as well. It just looks to me like half the equipment is very nice, and the other half is very middle of the road. You may not need that Helix EQ either. Selling just that should be able to get you a very solid mic since the Helix is pretty new and has a high resale value:)
 
xstatic said:
Personally, I would sell of half of your vocal mics and use the money to get one or two really nice ones. Add a UAD card to your setup as well. Then I would invest in one nice set of monitors, one or two decent ribbon mics, and sell of two of the drum mic packs and get a little more of a variety of dynamics. I would look inot one good set of monitors as well. It just looks to me like half the equipment is very nice, and the other half is very middle of the road. You may not need that Helix EQ either. Selling just that should be able to get you a very solid mic since the Helix is pretty new and has a high resale value:)
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What he said.

I'd also suggest at least one good hardware outboard reverb box.
 
Interface:
RME Fireface 800

Converter/Clock:
Lynx Aurora 8
Big Ben

Monitors:
Dynaudio Air 25

Rack Gear:
RNC (8)
TC Helicon VoiceOne
TC Electronic M2000
Lexicon MPX1

Pre-Amps:
Focusrite Liquid Channel
Avalon 737SP
Avalon U5
Focusrite ISA 428
Martin Sound MSS-10
Groove Tubes Vipre

Mics:
Blue Baby Botle
Blue Bluebird
Red Type B
AT 4050
Shure KSM 32
Soundelux U195
AEA R92
AEA R84
ADK TC
ADK TL
AKG C 414 B-XL II
Soundelux iFET7
Shure SM 57 (4)
Shure SM58 (2)
Audix DP3
Sennheiser MD 421
Sennheiser MD 441
Royer 121
Studio Projects C4 Pr
Shure SM81LC

Updated the list, removed items I'll sell, added those I felt could be used.
 
Depending on what your purpose will be on those AEA ribbons I'd probably either get a pair (they're not that far apart in price) of the same or just one.

The R84 is a bigger sounding mic with a huge low end and natural top.

The R92 has a more high end presence and doesn't get huge like the R84.

I compared the two here:

http://www.nowhereradio.com/artists/album.php?aid=2079&alid=1286

You gotta read the instructions on how to pan and hear which mic etc. The guitar and drum tracks are from virtually the same position and are the most true comparisons. The guitar tracks were re-amped so the performance is always identical.

War
 
Personally, I think having 2 or 3 Sennheiser 421's would help more than just one. Very nice on toms, and having 2 or 3 on toms rather than a mix and match might work better.

edit: 8 RNC's might be overkill, if you ask me.
 
So far I think the list definately looks better. I still see a lot of redundancy in the LD condensor department. No real pairs either. I also think that 8 RNC's is a lot of overkill. I would keep just 2 of them tops, and then invest in a Distressor:D
 
The reason I listed 8, was because I already own 2, and I have everything set for an 8 channel set-up right now.
 
AllOrNothinEnt said:
The reason I listed 8, was because I already own 2, and I have everything set for an 8 channel set-up right now.
Click to expand...

It might serve you better to look for a little variety in flavour with the compressors, I think.
 
16 channels of the same compressor is abit crazy...
even if it's only realy 8 controllable ones...
like you don't want to compress everything do you?!?
keep maybe 3 of them and spend the rest on something like a distressor

and the liquid channel still seems silly...

Chessrock has a point too

also your mic selection is abit weird.. if I were you I'd be thinking of getting a base of one great set of drumm mics.. a couple of great vocal mics and maybe a pair of ribbons...

something like this..
2x 414's (overheads, guitars, Vocals)
3x 421's (Toms, guitars, occasional vocals)
1x Re20 or sm7b (kick, Vocals)
2x m201 (snare, hats)

as a basis.. and then add a fairly coloured vocal mic.. something liek a baby blue.. then you have a very clean condenser (414) a very nice Dynamic (re20/sm7) and a coloured condenser.. you should be able to geat a great sound on almost any vocalist with one of those..

after that you can add a pair of ribbons if you want.. maybe a more standard kick mic... whatever you want realy
 
16 channels of the same compressor is abit crazy...

If you're mixing outside of the box, it can make sense. It's still a lot of compressors, but I believe Harvey has 14 of them!

War
 
Are they Harveys only compressors though?

It seems like if you have 8 channels of controllable compression because you ahve an 8 track setup, tha means you plan on compressing every track to catch volume peaks. In my opinion, thats not a good way to track. You should compress only for reasons, for specific reasons. You should never really have a problem with a track clipping if you have proper gain structure. All you need to do is turn the levels down a bit. If you like the sound of what the compressor is doing, then I say go for it. I just cringe when I see people talking about putting a compressor in line just so they can record a hotter signal to tape.

If it were me, I would sell the Baby bottle and the Bluebird and get a Blueberry. Then I would pick whichever AEA I liked best and sell the other to buy the same one you decided to keep (now you would have a pair:D ). Then maybe pick one of the two ADK's, sell the other and try and get another 414. With a pair of 414's hanging out, you may even want to consider dumping either the 4050 or the KSM32 and outting that money into some tom mics, a kick mic, or some more small diaphragm condensors. In any event I would keep the Royer. For some acoustics and most electrics that thing is absolutely amazing:D I would also consider dumping the Focusrite 428 (since you like your liquid channel) and looking at a Great River, a portico, or some other Neve style preamp. That flavor seems to be missing for you preamp list.

Of course all of my suggestions are based on my opinions which are based heavily on my own likes and dislikes. It just seems like you are pretty close there to having a very solid set up. There just seem to still be some odd parts of it.
 
I totally agree about variety in the compressors. With a studio this size, you shouldn't have more than 2-4 channels of the same compressor. Other compressors to consider in the budget range:

ART PRO VLA (this is one you really should have)

Joe Meek SC 2.2

DBX 160X or 160XT

There are also used compressors from companies like Symetrix that would be worth looking into.

Another used unit that gets good words is the JBL/Urei 7110.

As far as outboard fx processing, if you feel the need for two processors in that price range, then the pair I would recommend would be the MPX-1 and the Kurzweil Rumour. In fact, you might want to put the Rumour first on your outboard reverb list. I used to own an M2000 and just wasn't that impressed with it. The RUmour is much better and has a much larger variety of reverbs. Probably the best value in reverb boxes out there.
 
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