Post: #1

Any of you international playboys own a recording studio at your (or one of your) place(s) for recording purposes?

I would definitely love to build one when I am a little older and independent with enough income.

Would love to hear you out about this.

Post: #2

These days to make prosumer quality recordings, all you really need is a fast computer (~800$), a solid industry standard vocal mic like the Shure SM-58 (100$), and a license for an industry standard mixing software like Ableton or Protools LE (~300$); optionally, you can add in an additional sound card with a high quality DSP chipset by Korg/Creative/Xonar or something like that (~150$). If you aren't intent on pressing CDs or releasing commercially, you can go with much cheaper or free alternative hardware/software like Audacity.

Processor speeds have gotten so fast that software can now reliably implement most of the analog signal processing functions that hardware used to do. All the equipment you see in a typical "professional" studio is really unnecessary; industry guys just use it b/c that is what they are used to and it looks impressive. There is also a heavy gear-porn element to the scene. In the end, your skill set is a lot more important to the mix than gear.

Source: I have a partial background in sound engineering

Post: #3

The guy producing our EP has a portable studio:

Macbook
Mic interface (multiple inputs into mac, so you can record more than one thing at once)
Pro mics
Stands

Does the job perfectly.

Post: #4

My setup:

Ableton Live 8
Loads of plug-ins and fx VSTs
Event PS8 Monitors
Axiom 25 MIDI Controller
Edirol UA101 interface
Beyerdtnamics DT770 headphones
1TB+ of samples

Will be trashing most of that setup for a completely new upgraded studio setup within the next 6 months or so...

will be going for:

Adam A7X monitors or Dynaudio BM6A MKII
RME Fireface 400 interface
27.5" iMac

Post: #5

One of my main hangouts is my friend down the streets recording studio. He always has chics coming in and out of there. Last night we smoked a blunt with redman and listened to stories it was fun. No chics last night though which sucked.

Post: #6

What about the wood and all other materials apart from the electronic gear? Biz and Midnite, can you give me an estimate $ figure ?

Post: #7

basically the above are good starting points, particularly Biz.

You need a computer, software/plug-ins/samples, an interface, monitoring speakers/monitoring headphones, mics, and usually a midi controller (more old school hip hop guys use a lot of other gear like drum pads, turntables, etc. You can check out Kanye West's rig for that type of stuff.

All skrillex used to create his scary monsters EP was a macbook pro, and one speaker monitor. He didn't even use a midi controller, instead entered all the notes in with just the touchpad into Ableton Live. That's about as spare of a setup as you can get.

A lot of famous trance producers/djs just use FL studio (a music software only for Windows, not mac, though it can be run on a mac if you run windows on it), and a midi controller, and monitors. Avici uses FL studio. Porter Robinson uses FL studio. Tons of hip hop guys like Boi1da (who produced drake and some eminem) use FL. I haven't used it, but it's known for being extremely user friendly, as well as extremely versatile.

A macbook pro, krk monitors, an Apogee interface, SM58 (about 100 bucks), SM57 (about 100 bucks), or SM7B (about 350), DT 770s, and then software. That's a setup that will allow you to do a lot.

Software can be downloaded, but it's easier to get all the crap on a PC instead of a mac. Just to let you know.

Recording live audio requires mics, and then the interfaces and preamps for the mic become extremely important. The quality of the preamps in the interfaces is extremely important. If you buy an SM 58 mic (the "industry standard" mic that is on tons of pro recordings) you need an interface with a lot of gain. Same goes for an SM 57 mic, or an SM7B (the mic Micheal jackson used on Thriller).

Mics are either condenser or dynamic (there are other kinds but these are the two most common). A decent condenser costs about 300 (and go up to infinity), whereas an SM58 dynamic costs 100.

As in anything gear related, the "mic world" is a very bizarre one. Some people say you need a 9 thousand dollar mic to record a voice properly, whereas famous singer after famous singer swear by an SM58. many times people's beliefs in certain types of gear are driven by emotion, and irrational thinking.

If you are doing mostly electronic music, and aren't recording live audio, then you don't need mics, or interfaces.

If you want to record JUST voice, and maybe an acoustic guitar, an sm58 works. If you want to mic an electric guitar amp, you need sm57s. These are designed for higher volumes.

I'm looking to get a good interface, but I'm thinking about switching away from mac, and other things in life have gotten in the way of music production.

Post: #8

(04-28-2012 06:22 PM)Biz Wrote:  My setup:

Ableton Live 8
Loads of plug-ins and fx VSTs
Event PS8 Monitors
Axiom 25 MIDI Controller
Edirol UA101 interface
Beyerdtnamics DT770 headphones
1TB+ of samples

Will be trashing most of that setup for a completely new upgraded studio setup within the next 6 months or so...

will be going for:

Adam A7X monitors or Dynaudio BM6A MKII
RME Fireface 400 interface
27.5" iMac

Biz, that's a very nice set up. The adams are a bitch to work with because it forces you to really understand how to mix. The translation in the music is quite different, yet very accurate, and you really have to get used to the frequency response once you a b different sets of speakers . Have you looked at the equators? Love ableton, although the midi functions are still far behind that of logic, and do I dare say nuendo? I went with a few apogees after looking at the lavry blues and blacks which were very clean. studio b has a few myteks, which are much cleaner than lavry, but, not as much color as the apogee. You have any outboard analog gear...compressors, eq's?

Post: #9

(05-01-2012 07:41 AM)Pusscrook Wrote:  

(04-28-2012 06:22 PM)Biz Wrote:  My setup:

Ableton Live 8
Loads of plug-ins and fx VSTs
Event PS8 Monitors
Axiom 25 MIDI Controller
Edirol UA101 interface
Beyerdtnamics DT770 headphones
1TB+ of samples

Will be trashing most of that setup for a completely new upgraded studio setup within the next 6 months or so...

will be going for:

Adam A7X monitors or Dynaudio BM6A MKII
RME Fireface 400 interface
27.5" iMac

Biz, that's a very nice set up. The adams are a bitch to work with because it forces you to really understand how to mix. The translation in the music is quite different, yet very accurate, and you really have to get used to the frequency response once you a b different sets of speakers . Have you looked at the equators? Love ableton, although the midi functions are still far behind that of logic, and do I dare say nuendo? I went with a few apogees after looking at the lavry blues and blacks which were very clean. studio b has a few myteks, which are much cleaner than lavry, but, not as much color as the apogee. You have any outboard analog gear...compressors, eq's?

Not yet, I'm 100% ITB but when I get more time to put into it I will look into buying some analog...actually some of the ones I want are fairly cheap ones

Post: #10

(05-01-2012 08:42 AM)Biz Wrote:  

(05-01-2012 07:41 AM)Pusscrook Wrote:  

(04-28-2012 06:22 PM)Biz Wrote:  My setup:

Ableton Live 8
Loads of plug-ins and fx VSTs
Event PS8 Monitors
Axiom 25 MIDI Controller
Edirol UA101 interface
Beyerdtnamics DT770 headphones
1TB+ of samples

Will be trashing most of that setup for a completely new upgraded studio setup within the next 6 months or so...

will be going for:

Adam A7X monitors or Dynaudio BM6A MKII
RME Fireface 400 interface
27.5" iMac

Biz, that's a very nice set up. The adams are a bitch to work with because it forces you to really understand how to mix. The translation in the music is quite different, yet very accurate, and you really have to get used to the frequency response once you a b different sets of speakers . Have you looked at the equators? Love ableton, although the midi functions are still far behind that of logic, and do I dare say nuendo? I went with a few apogees after looking at the lavry blues and blacks which were very clean. studio b has a few myteks, which are much cleaner than lavry, but, not as much color as the apogee. You have any outboard analog gear...compressors, eq's?

Not yet, I'm 100% ITB but when I get more time to put into it I will look into buying some analog...actually some of the ones I want are fairly cheap ones

Cool , a lot of api stuff is going for real cheap. I am a dealer of many sorts of gears.

Post: #11

yea prob start off with either a Juno106 or SH101 and def want a Yamaha DX7...can easily break the bank investing in synths, addicting...

Post: #12

(05-02-2012 02:21 PM)Biz Wrote:  yea prob start off with either a Juno106 or SH101 and def want a Yamaha DX7...can easily break the bank investing in synths, addicting...

That juno was my favorite analog keyboard. Man that thing rocked! You might wanna check out the motif module which has all the DX7 sounds in it.

Post: #13

you guys really like buying actual synths? I'm pretty content with midi.

Post: #14

(05-05-2012 01:13 AM)Rurik Wrote:  you guys really like buying actual synths? I'm pretty content with midi.

analog = more bandwidth, plug -ins cant compare, but I use them all the time. It like using a eq. or compressor plug -in to master a track ,. you would instantly notice the difference.

Post: #15

I use Reaper (essentially free and super powerful for PC), a bunch of plugins (Arturio, AmpliTube, Native Instruments), a MIDI controller, and a USB Audio Interface. Plugins are addicting

Post: #16

My type of thread :-)

I've got

SM58 (2), SM57 (1), SM7B (1), MXL 990
Macbook (2)
MPC 1k, 2500
Microkorg
Nord Lead 2x
Prophet Emulator
A few midi keyboards and controllers
Bass Guitar
I like to use a few different interfaces, I had a nice MOTU a few years back that was stolen
Pro Tools, Reaper
Ableton (i'm not a big fan though)
A PC filled with plugins.
Yamaha HS50M Monitors

gear that I treasured but was stolen :
Korg R7
Motu interface
Yamaha HS80M (2)

Post: #17

My 2 cents..

What kind of music are intending on making? If it involves acoustic instruments, an SM58 will not do this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDmss9lwK...re=related

Yea, some big name singers use the SM58 in a band context effectively enough. Or buried in some mix is fine. But, I've had a 58, there's no way it could do what it did on the guitar and voice on Jessie J's Track.

If you're doing Electronic music, I suppose it doesn't matter that much, I can't really say, I don't make techno, trance, house, etc.

Hardware beats software. Don't know why, but it does. If I were to embark on a serious Electronic studio project, here's what I'd do if money were a concern. Track things with the best soft-synths you can find. Then send those tracks out to a proper mixing place , and have them pump all the tracks through outboard analog gear.

If you can afford real synths....more power to you.

Post: #18

(05-05-2012 09:49 PM)Zep Wrote:  My 2 cents..

What kind of music are intending on making? If it involves acoustic instruments, an SM58 will not do this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDmss9lwK...re=related

Yea, some big name singers use the SM58 in a band context effectively enough. Or buried in some mix is fine. But, I've had a 58, there's no way it could do what it did on the guitar and voice on Jessie J's Track.

If you're doing Electronic music, I suppose it doesn't matter that much, I can't really say, I don't make techno, trance, house, etc.

Hardware beats software. Don't know why, but it does. If I were to embark on a serious Electronic studio project, here's what I'd do if money were a concern. Track things with the best soft-synths you can find. Then send those tracks out to a proper mixing place , and have them pump all the tracks through outboard analog gear.

If you can afford real synths....more power to you.

that's an amazing vocal performance by jessie j in that link, but I have to question whether the mic is really that crucial.

I've seen Jason mraz do some pretty amazing performances on a shure dynamic mic. John Mayer used an sm7b on his first album, and there were many intimate moments on that.

Same thing goes for Brandon Boyd of Incubus who used an SM7B on Morning View.

You know more than I do, but for my purposes (a fairly budgeted set up) I'm sticking with that....though I may get a lower end condenser. I've been thinking....

Post: #19

My setup

Hardware

Mac Mini (2.53Ghz Dual Core, 4GB Ram)
Focusrite Saffire 6 USB audio interface
SE2200a Large Diaphram Condenser Microphone
Midi Keyboard
Akai LPD8 Midi Controller

Software

Logic Pro 9
NI Massive
LennarDigital Sylenth
Lexicon Reverb Pack
Waves H Comp
Waves L2