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Making a Studio...What do I need for studio sound?

MechroroboticonMechroroboticon Posts: 7
edited March 2005 in Musicians and Gearheads
Sevensins and I are following our dream of strting a recording/producing business, and we need to know how to get the best sound we can, not really including room conditioning, since that's being taken care of. We want this to look and sound pretty proffessional, So we know we're gonna be spending some money. Here's a list of things we know we need. If there's anything i'm missing, tell me.

Condenser Mics
Good mic for guitar cabs
Good mic for bass cabs
Good set of drum mics
Long and short mic stands with booms
Pro Tools LE 6.x with Digi001 or Digi002
Other Editing, midi, and synth programs
Proffessional sound card
Rack Studio compressor
Rack Vocal FX/Harmonizer
Rack EQ
Rack Studio Preamp
Some nice wireless headphones
Pair of monitor speakers
Decent affordable Sytnhesizer setup
Lots of XLR cables

If anyone could tell me what the best choices for any of these would be, tell me...also tell me if there's anything i'm missing or think I should know about. Thanks!
Post edited by Unknown User on

Comments

  • HeavyMetalNygeHeavyMetalNyge Posts: 144
    How about a fuckin ass load of money? Ya got that? Sweet.
    "I had a false belief I thought I came here to stay... we're all just visiting."
  • Bart138Bart138 Posts: 37
    You're going to need more than one preamp, at least one tube and one solid-state. Their are different kinds of EQ and compressors, so you should look into that. As to which one is best suited for you, that depends on what sound you want? Crystal clear? Vintage "warm" sound? You'll also want more than one kind of mic to use with guitars, since each mic will have its own unique sound characteristics. The most important thing you left off is a high-quality A/D D/A Converter, otherwise the music will sound like shit no matter how great the rest of the chain is. Also, do not skimp on the monitors, get the absolute best you can afford.
    You know that its really hard to make it as a little independant studio, right? With the proliferation of home studio setups, everyone can be thier own engineer. If they decide they want profesional help, they'll most likely go to a bigger, well known studio, and get one of those 1am to 3am discount deals.
  • exhaustedexhausted Posts: 6,638
    better spec out the computer you want to run the protools on.
  • MechroroboticonMechroroboticon Posts: 7
    The computer we're running the pro tools on will be a Vaio, pentium processor...I dont remember how fast, but its pretty fast, a meg of RAM, plenty of hard drive space...and that's it i guess. I understand that it's not easy being a little guy with less experience than the big studios, but i'm not really worried about getting rich off of it. Besides, there's shit for recording studios down where I live, so local bands will probably jump at the chance to work with high quality equipment. I'm tired of people saying that this'll get me nowhere, because frankly I don't give a shit where this is taking me. Me and mark are doing this, and if we can make a little money while doing it, great. But its not about the money, it's helping people out, and the excitement of recording music. I basically turned this into a rant...im sorry. My friend/roommate, obviously unenlightened by anything musical, just had to butt in and say something about getting nowhere in the music world, and I tried to tell her that its not about that...and she got fucking indignant on me, trying to make me feel like a loser for wanting to play a guitar. She's one of those people that doesn't understand why people play instruments, or spend money on good equipment and not anime or cell phone bills. To her, anyone remotely artisic is fucking lazy to her, not to mention she has quite possibly the worst taste in music, but im not gonna go there, really. God, it just pisses me off. Thanks for reading. P.S. - She hates Pearl Jam.
  • gotz idgotz id Posts: 125
    heres something cheap

    use moving blankets as sound dampeners, just staple gun them to the walls.
    I wish I was the 10Club holiday single, the one that never showed up...

  • TavTav Posts: 63
    Important additions:
    For recording bass you will need a D.I. box as well as a microphone. This will insure you can get really good recorded bass tracks. See Behringer ULTRA-DI DI100 a popular unit for live and studio applications. I think this is the most important part of my post.

    Infact http://www.behringer.com is a good place to find equipment that won't break the bank...depends what your budget is but it's going to be running into the 1000's and 1000's for sure. Some people don't like their stuff but for the money it seems to be good. Pops up in a lot of venues where I live as well as studios.

    A tuner. Rack mount if you wish. It is most important that all of the tracks are in tune and that all the stringed instruments are in tune and well intonated. Behringer have a new rack tuner coming out for £50 which is the same as the little Boss TU-2 stomp box tuner. Other alternatives are the Korg DTR1000 and DTR2000.

    A metronome. Keeping time another important part of recording. Ofcourse if protools has the option of creating click tracks <which I am sure it would?> then you wouldn't really require one but still a very important piece of equipment.

    I don't know why you want wireless headphones? I'd stick with the norm and take some with wires. Good quality studio sets that isolate the user from outside sounds. Also a headphone amp could be usefull. Create a mix of instruments and then use the headphone amp + headphones to let the musicians hear themselves without the need for amps in the room...stops problems of bleeding into drum mics when recording drum tracks...I'd say it's a must really.

    You didn't mention a rack for holding all this rack equipment. You'll also need some reliable way of powering all the gear. So looking at power supplies and distros/contioners etc is worthwhile. Also you'll need some power strips so you can maximise the amount of sockets you have.

    On the synth side of things could you not get a midi keyboard/interface and then use something like Cubase with plug ins rather than getting a hardware synth?

    Optional extras to make your life easier:
    A guitar rack that holds about 6 or more guitars. Keeps guitars out of the way and helps with keeping the room tidy. Keeping any working space tidy is important especially one where you are going to have so many wires flying around. You can get them for £60/$120

    As well as XLR leads get varying lengths of guitar, speaker and patch leads. Can never have enough of those at hand.

    A whiteboard. Stick it up on the wall and use it for writing up arrangements etc. so that everyone can see. Great for keeping things organised I am sure.

    A big leather chair that swivles and moves up and down. You've got to have something to sit on when you are recording and it's nice if it's comfy and makes you look important!
  • Bart138Bart138 Posts: 37
    Ooooooh how I hate Behringer stuff. I'm sure there have been a few good recordings done with them, but to me they look and sound like garbage.
    To the thread starter - have you looked into channel strips as opposed to indivudual compressors, preamps, etc? They can save you some money, and can sound just as good as individual pieces.
  • MechroroboticonMechroroboticon Posts: 7
    Yeah, that question, and, what should I be looking for in one? Anyone have any recomendations? Oh yeah, where in my setup would i hook it up? oh, about the channel strip...Will someone gimme some recomendations on that too, please? thanks.
  • Bart138Bart138 Posts: 37
    An A/D D/A convertor converts Analog (A) into Digital (D), and vice versa. It is most often the very last link of the chain into the computer. Actually, most soundcards will come with converters, but they are low quality. This makes it impossible to get "studio quality" sound. Apogee is a great brand, especially the Rosetta. I should warn you, high-quality converters are NOT cheap. The Rosetta is 2 grand, and it is on the cheap side.
  • MechroroboticonMechroroboticon Posts: 7
    Can't i just make one out of dirt and leaves? If not, i guess i'll have to fell my feet and my hair....on Ebay.
  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Bumfuq, MT Posts: 6,395
    *cracks knuckles*

    Condenser Mics
    -You'll need two matched ones for drum overheads. Rode NT1-A is a good budget choice. Better than the Rode is the Shure KSM 32. Better than the Shure is the AKG 414. If you can afford more than two 414's, Neumann.

    Good mic for guitar cabs
    -The Rode NT1-A is great on guitar cabs. The old standard is the Shure SM57. A new mic that does well is the Sennheiser E609.

    Good mic for bass cabs
    -I'd look at the Shure Beta 52. I also really like the Sennheiser 421, if I have access to one.

    Good set of drum mics
    -Shure Beta 52 on the kick drum, Shure SM57 on the snare. Toms are entirely subjective... I'd get three or four Audix Fusion drum mics if you're on a budget. The Shure PG56's are another budget tom mic. Shure PG81 on the hi-hat. If you mic the ride, another 81. Use your two condensers for overheads (cymbals).

    Long and short mic stands with booms
    -You can figure this one out, just get two GOOD tripod mic stands for your condensers.

    Pro Tools LE 6.x with Digi001 or Digi002
    -Good choice (Digi 002R, PT 6.5 here).

    Other Editing, midi, and synth programs
    -Save this for later.

    Proffessional sound card
    -The Digi hardware IS a professional soundcard. And is your A/D D/A conversion. It's good. Trust me.

    Rack Studio compressor
    -Budget choice is a dbx 266. Better? dbx 166. Better? PreSonus ACP88. Better? Universal Audio LA-2A.

    Rack Vocal FX/Harmonizer
    -TC Electronics, Lexicon, or Yamaha.

    Rack EQ
    -You'll probably want a dual-channel 4-band parametric. I like Joe Meek's stuff.

    Rack Studio Preamp
    -PreSonus DigiMax is the cheapest I'd get. I'd also recommend the Focusrite OctoPre. They both are 8-channel preamps with digital outputs that plug right into the Digi hardware's ADAT lightpipe with a regular optical cable. A tube pre isn't necessary immediately, but ART makes a decent two-channel tube pre for a budget price. I like Joe Meek pre's, and dbx has some good tube pre's. You could also look at a Neve-designed channel strip or pre. But that stuff's pricey.

    Some nice wireless headphones
    -Oxymoron. Doesn't exist. The only "good" wireless monitoring system is a good set of IEM's. Those cost $$$. Get a headphone amp and wired phones. PreSonus makes a damn good headphone amp, and so does Behringer.

    Pair of monitor speakers
    -I love the hell out of my M-Audio LX4 system:
    http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=live/search/detail/base_pid/603703/

    Decent affordable Sytnhesizer setup
    -Korg Triton.

    Lots of XLR cables
    -Get about 10-20 decent cables (Planet Waves, Mogami Silver, Monster) and at least two GOOD cables (Mogami Gold). Get most of them in 20-30 foot lengths, but also a couple 5 ft and a couple 10 ft.


    --> Note that you don't need the Compression, FX, or EQ because ProTools has these included (called "plugins"). I don't have any of that stuff externally right now, I just use the plugins (non-destructive). I do plan on getting one of those PreSonus ACP88 compressors to go with my DigiMax preamp, though. And FYI... you're looking at about $4,500 or more to get going (and that assumes your computer can take it).
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
  • KillerIsMeKillerIsMe Posts: 208
    man i love the sound of those 414s.
    http://www.myspace.com/cannedanimal
  • mccreadyisgodmccreadyisgod Bumfuq, MT Posts: 6,395
    KillerIsMe wrote:
    man i love the sound of those 414s.


    One of my favorite do-anything mics. Cardiod, super-cardiod, figure 8, and omni. Gorgeous.
    ...and if you don't like it, you can suck on an egg.
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