What i hope my setup to be like

  • Thread starter Thread starter spikey
  • Start date Start date
Hey - Welcome to this Monkey House! By now you know that most of us are, as they say in the building trade, "half a bubble off plumb." On the other hand, you must be pretty close yourself or this bug would not have bitten you hard enough to memorize those damn catalogs. Especially from Musicians Friend and Full Compass. And Sweetwaters. :D

So have patience, keep your sense of humor and spend some time following APL's links - they are very good sites with lots of information.

One other thing I'd suggest - Don't blow all the cash at once. Start with the smallest setup you can until you put a few hours under your belt. By that I mean a modest but clear interface, a computer, a decent set of monitors (Like Event TR5 or the equivalent - you will hear stuff but don't have to break the bank to get going) and a starter program like n-track (check the n-track thread on this BBS and follow the links to fasoft corp).

Once you get going with the basics, you will develop a sense of what you need next and why. The "why" is important because it keeps you from wasting as much money as we all do!

And the comments about foam insulation are the real deal. People have died in places with this stuff on the walls. Good soundproofing is a matter of design and good baffling involves specialty foam that is not flammable. Don't mess with bedding foam!

Good luck, check in often, give us as much hell as we give you and enjoy this place. It has a tendency to grow on you. Kind of like a wart...

....but a GOOD wart! :D
 
Alright, you are right, I should have been a lot more kind.

this is what I should have said first.

Heya spikey, good buddy. I'm glad to see that you are wanting to build a studio, it's a great hobby and can make an even better profession.

The thing that strikes me first about your budget idea is that -wow- that's a very large total! Quite a sum of money for a man your age.

I do notice that roughly 75% of the buget lies in the building, which you plan to do on your own. (which is awesome)

So let's just assume that it will indeed cost 10 grand, so putting that to the side, you are left with $3,408.

With this near 3.5 grand, you have planned to purchase a very nice 32track HD workstation, very nice cables, good guitar mics, a good vocal mic, a good drum kit, and a slew of entry-lvl. gear. You appear to be planning to purchase all of these things brand new as well. This plan would work for you, but you are going to have to save/spend a lot of money, and you are probably going to want to most of the gear replaced within a year or so.(however long it takes you to figure out which things are holding you back).

What I suggest is this:

Take that $3,408, and make the most out of it. Instead of going with the korg 32track workstation, build yourself a decent computer(you may already have one.). I'm not going to pretend that building a computer is going to be drastically less expensive that the korg, but you could still save a few hundred bucks. If you are really stuck on the idea of the korg, try and find a place to demo one. It might be your thing.

Now, let's assume you've now spent somewhere in the ballpark of $1,200 on either a computer build, or the korg(or equivalent). That leaves a total of $2,208.

This is what I suggest you do. Instead of buying all the other things on your list, (like I mentioned before), make the $2,208 go as far as it can go(quality+quantity).

Here's a few tips:

Don't buy the new furniture, save for maybe the desk. Hit up your local thrift store for the chairs/futons/couches/etc. My buddy and I decided our studio needed a couch, so we went to a thrift store, found a 9-foot golden beauty for $30. We also snagged a arm-restless rolling chair for $3. You will find keepers if you look. If you want things to look new/professional(which is understandable), you can always cover the furniture with new fabric. This can be done for cheap (budget fabric type stores), and with just a tad of sewing, or draping and stapling.

From one drummer to another(possibly?), save yourself the grief, and don't buy that zildjan zxt pack. Good sounding cymbals sound great when recorded properly. Bad sounding cymbals sound bad when recorded properly. I started playing drums on the zildjian zxt high hats, and played them out for approx. 3 1/2 years. I even gigged them. I regret it. Though I made one smart move, and saved up for a zildjian A 16 fast crash, and it was amazing. You should check pawn shops, newspapers, the free ads on this site, ebay, etc. I found a sabian 19" ride at a pawn shop for very cheap, and I will probably be using it for the rest of my life. It was just really dirty, and the guy didn't know what he had. I just sold a zildjian A custom 16"crash for around $100. Look for these types of things. If you are planning for it to take 2-3 years, use that time to find the best stuff you can, for the lowest amount of money. People sell quality gear at low prices all the time, you just have to be patient, and always on the prowl.

If you are looking to be using that much pro-audio cable, look into either making it yourself, or having a family member or friend make it for you(who might be more experienced with a solder gun/electronics). You can save money that way, and the money you save can be put into more quality gear, that you will want to keep a lot longer.


Those are just the main points I would like to get across to you; I apologize for being a jerk about it earlier.

peace.
 
You could probably save some money using pre-exsisting space for the time being. Ideally an acoustically sound room would be great, you can take the same steps to treat a pre-exsisting room and save yourself tons of time and money. Basements and spare bedrooms or hell, a used bedroom are pretty common amongst the home recording crowd, and some pretty decent results have been accomplished.

I would stick with the basics for now. Tell us what you already have and we can help you from there.

PC, software, 4 mics, 4 mics worth of preamps (be-it standalone pres or a board), soundcard with atleast 4 ins, and a way to listen to it, headphones for now or studio monitors.

Assuming you already have a decent PC, you've already got a good start!
 
thanks guys

well, thanks for the egg carton idea.... lol. anyways, yeah, im young.. but i have done alot of reading, i talked to my autocad teacher today, and we came up for a more cost effective building keeping it alot more under ten k, and hopefully i will be able to have it done by the end of next year... like i said i plan on buying the equipment first, and i doubt i'll buy it all new... that was just the pricing i got from musicians friend.. i figured look it up there, then go to ebay.. ebay dont have a compare option or reviews. yes, i am ambitious, and yes, im gonna have to rub my ass raw to have it done, but everyone i know is excited about it. i have been recording for a long time, nothing special, just kristal audio engine and a decent mic or four, so im not too unknowledgeable. most kids would rather have a mustang, but i'd rather have my own studio/practice area... the "soundproofing" idea i admit was pretty weak... but the stuff that is acutally used was hella expensive, but with alot of budget freed up, it wont be too bad, im actually kinda interested in making some traps, i'll definately read the links that i was given, and i really could care less about sarcasm.. doesnt fase me at all, i know what i know and what i want... dont care about what others think (unless its usefull). anywho, thanks guys, and i have been reading that thread called "let me see your studio(something to that effect)" and ive gotten lots of ideas from it, i think what im gonna build will be about 16' by 23' pretty small, but big enough for my band, and any local bands who want to record for cheap ( i hate chargin anyone lots of money :/ ) anyways, thanks for the replies. cheers!
 
btw

oh, and by the way, im not really too interested in using a pc, except for smaller end tasks, i prefer using the mixer/station to do most of it, just thought i'd let y'all know. thanks!
 
that I mean a modest but clear interface, a computer, a decent set of monitors (Like Event TR5 or the equivalent - you will hear stuff but don't have to break the bank to get going) and a starter program like n-track
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And once you get used to that, then get a nice multitrack reel to reel and see what you've been missing :D
 
RICK FITZPATRICK said:
And once you get used to that, then get a nice multitrack reel to reel and see what you've been missing :D
Click to expand...


That's maybe the best advice in this thread.
 
i think my most pressing question is going to be ( and i think it will be more easily answered when i get my little drafting of the studio uploaded) what the cheapest effective way will be to sound proof it ( i have elderly neighbours) without making it sound totally dead inside, and what the best placement would be. like i said i will work on getting a picture of the draft up, thanks!
 
spikey said:
i think my most pressing question is going to be ( and i think it will be more easily answered when i get my little drafting of the studio uploaded) what the cheapest effective way will be to sound proof it ( i have elderly neighbours) without making it sound totally dead inside, and what the best placement would be. like i said i will work on getting a picture of the draft up, thanks!
Click to expand...
First thing you'll need to understand is that sound-proofing and acoustic treating are really two different things. You're studio will not be dead because you used real sound proofing techniques in your construction. Many people seem to get confused, and think that things like foam, acoustic panels, or even egg cartons are used for sound proofing, when in fact these items (excluding the egg cartons) are actually materials for acoustic treating. If you really want a sound proof room (or something approaching it) you'll need to investigate construction methods such as making a room inside a room, and using lots of mass (such as multiple layers of drywall). Once it's constructed, however, you may want to concern yourself with treating the room which has nothing to do with keeping sound from getting into or out of the room, but everything to do with controlling the quality of the sound inside the room. I believe the links that apl provided you will talk about this in detail.
 
yeah, i have been checking out the links from apl (thank you very much man) well, basically im hoping to have the control room as soundproof as i can possible get it, and i have been reading in on that and it sounds more like constructional methods, and i plan on consulting my teacher more on that, he has done alot of entertainment rooms etc. and i think the acoustical treating will be inside the control room for sound sampling but im not too worried about that part as long as i can get it to be decent sounding inside it, then acoustic treating the live / recording room is my biggest concer, and the vocals booth as well, but like i said, i think that can be more easily answered with the drawing? anyways, thank you for your reply!
 
To be honest, before I joined this board I thought that the egg carton theory was for real as well. How did it become such a myth? Does anybody know if and why there is any validity to it?
I'm just curious because I've told other people that the egg carton thing is B.S. and when they ask me why I have no educated response
:confused:
 
So is it safe to say that all they may do is absorb certain higher frequencies and that's about it? (I'm trying to decipher that report I just read)
 
mixer/recorder workstation: korg d3200 32-track digi recording studio ($1,299.00)

guitar mic's: shure sm57(x2) ($179.98)

drum mics: nady dmk - 7 drum mic package ($179.99)

mic cords: mogami silver series mic cables (x10) ($199.90)

audio monitors: m-audio studio pro 3 professional desktop audio monitors ($99.99)

head phones: nady qh-660 (x6(buy 1 get one free)) ($149.97)

vocals mic: behringer b-1 large diaphragm cardiod condensor mic ($99.99)

desk: k-mart desk ($59.99)

sound-proofing: foam bed mats (74x77" = $17.99)

futon: k-mart futon ($299.99)

control room chair: k-mart chair ($49.99)

studio wheeled chairs: k-mart chairs (x2) ($79.99)

bass amp: behringer bx1200 ultrabass 120w 1x12 combo ($199.99)

drum kit: pulse double bass 8-piece drum set with hardware ($499.99)

cymbal pack: zildjan zxt rock pack with free 14" china and cymbal bag ($299.99)

building: self built ($10,000(hopefully))

GRAND TOTAL: $13,408.79


Don't get the Behringer b-1. Get the studio projects b-1. Same price, better value. I don't know anything about the nady drum mic package, but nad has never really impressed me with their gear. And, if you can afford it, you should try to get better monitors than the M-Audio studiopro-3. I'm not really one to talk,though, seeing as I have the M-Audio studiophile monitors, which are only a couple steps above the studio-pro 3.
 
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