Creating a Project Studio on a budget

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Permalink Reply by jason gray on June 24, 2008 at 9:48am

Obviousley their are a lot variations and preferences poeple may have and differ on Ian, the trick will be finding the balance/equipment that works with you.
I can not help you with advice on this higher end kit, I only have budget gear, but i selected the best of this in accordance to my research,the power of my PC has been the main thing for me and is great now i have upgraded to quad core,

I would advice if poss useing tube amps for guitar and mics as you suspect / with vocals it adds a Kinda rough but warm edge which is deffiniatly good for the more grungy and rock sounding vocal.

All i can really suggest is once you have some choices in each catagorie of equipment, plan out the different setup variations, go with what feels right ie.what you understand and is flexible in what it does. Then you can figure out if their is anything missing in connectivity, and other features you may wish to expand or add on to in the future, just make sure you think ahead now! with these recording sessions where possible, what scenario/recording/band setups will be going on in your studio?

All the best in your search.

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Permalink Reply by Daniel on June 24, 2008 at 10:15am

Hello there.

Right now I'm on a budget when it comes to a home studio, but for what your describing you mite want to check out some stand alone studios in a box like what I'm using ( Boss/ Roland digital recorders ) But this is what I'm using and you mite have to let your ears decide for you!! I mic all my vocals/ Flute/ Sax work with just a simple Carvin Condenser Mic. I also use Yamaha Monitors for mix down.

I hope this helps a little.

DJ.

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Permalink Reply by Howard Williams on June 24, 2008 at 2:15pm

The auralex is a good starting point.

What are you planning to replace garageband with?Logic or pro tools or just what software comes with the interface you buy?

I personally would go for two different makes of mikes having tried them all in the store (and every other store I cn get too!) just for the different types of sound or one tube and one standard although I am a fan of the Rode mikes.

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Permalink Reply by lank81 on June 24, 2008 at 2:46pm

Right now I'm leaning towards ProTools as it seems to be the most cost effective choice for me. I wouldn't have to upgrade my PC to use it but for Logic I would have to buy a new Mac. As for Mic's I enjoy the Blue and Rode Choices. I was thinking of maybe doing NT-1a & K2 Rode to mix it up - lower end but good Solid State + Tube Mic. Thanks.

Matt

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Permalink Reply by TCwebtime on June 26, 2008 at 10:53pm

I'm looking at many options myself (have been for a while, but need to complete some other stuff before I can kit myself up). Sadly I don't think I can help you much because I'm not kitting up for recording live instruments or vocals therefore I have been looking at different equipment for different needs to yours.

Unless you are in a hurry to buy everything at once what I would suggest to do is buy the first piece of equipment or software that is either most important to you or something you know you would buy anyway no matter what the rest of the kit will be.
Start from there and spend some time with it... it may then highlight what is the next thing that is really missing and make the choice for the next piece of kit quite obvious... and so on.

If you have the time to do this it will be cost effective in three ways
1- You try to get the most out of your individual next piece of kit because you are not going to have 5 new thing at once... so you will spend time and learn to use the new baby inside out
2- You will be more certain about what the next piece of kit should be therefore you get more chances to buy the right thing (more cost effective to buy the wrong piece of kit)
3- By buying things one at the time you will automatically delay buying the next piece of kit by days or weeks or even a month... and sometime even within just a few days a new lower price may be offered (with new stuff coming out and special offers popping up now and then) on the item you were looking at... so you may save some money

The above would work for someone like me that will kit up from 'zero' and has time to build the set up piece by piece for personal use... if in your case you are already very active and need to record stuff ASAP then what I said above may not fit.

by the way... let us know what you go for when you get around to buy it.
Best of luck

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Permalink Reply by Escape Velocity on July 1, 2008 at 9:04am

Hi Ian,

I'd personally recommend the Rode M3 for a lot of your recording applications - I probably wouldn't use it on drums, but for accoustic guitar, vox and woodwinds it gets pretty nice results. The kicker is it's also cheap! You could probably get 3 of them for under US$600. I use SM57's on guitar amps and drum-heads, SM58's for backing vocals and have a couple of relatively cheap large diaphragm condensers that I use for vocals... the Studio Projects B1 in particular is getting good results!

Consider looking at the Alesis Master Control - looks like a pretty good product and used with a Motu 8Pre or a Behringer ADA 8000 it will give you 16 simultaneous input channels.

The real killer investment though is going to be in accurately reproducing what you've recorded - i.e. getting some kick-arse monitors. KRK have a great reputation. Yamaha's offerings in this space are often the subject of mixed reviews. If you're working to a budget, check out the Tapco/Mackie options as well. For the record, I use a couple of old Roland RSM 90s. They produce a pretty big sound without being too boomy in my room. Make sure you test whatever you're going to get in the room you're doing to be doing your mixing in though. Different monitors will have different interactions with the space, depending on the position of bass ports, the dispersion angles on their horns, etc. Try before you buy if you can.

Hope that helps


Jez

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Permalink Reply by Throbber on July 1, 2008 at 10:33am

Does anyone with a brain ever buy Behringer ???

If you are ever thinking "Behringer" then, you don't have enough money.

Their stuff is total garbage.

Throbber.

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Permalink Reply by Howard Williams on July 1, 2008 at 12:26pm

Although I agree that Behringer equipment is at the extremely budget end of the market I haver two bits of their kit which I have used for years A composer pro and a big wedge monitor both of which I am very happy with. I must admit though I wouldn't be buying their mike preamps if it was me.

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Permalink Reply by Throbber on July 1, 2008 at 3:14pm

I have to say, you do "appear" to get a lot for your cash when compared to other kit, but that is just what it looks like.

Although, this should make you think, it's not what I am getting for the money, it is more like, what I am NOT getting for the money, when it comes to Behringer.

I always think that if I am going to spend any money, I don't want to end up having wasted £400.00 for the sake of an extra £200. This applies to everything.

I run a business and I sell equipment to customers, time and again it takes a 3 hour explanation to educate people to this way of thinking.
I always ask them, "why do think a BMW costs nearly twice as much as a Ford ?"
Then I tell them,
I will not skimp or cut corners on any of my builds components, this costs extra. If you want to save money, you need to go to the cowboys.

Rule No.1: If you want mince, then, go to the Butchers, not an audio suppliers.

I could make a lot more money by selling them lesser quality, but I won't do it, even if it means taking a hit myself. No Compromise, ever.

BTW, you can't just buy stuff from me, I need to like you before I will sell you anything, regardless.

Oh yeah, don't ever listen to a salesman, not unless he is not trying to sell you something, or is saying stuff like I have above.

Think on.

Throbber.

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Permalink Reply by Escape Velocity on July 1, 2008 at 3:19pm

The only reason I bought an ADA 8000 is that it's the only 8-channel ADAT expansion option I could find that retails for under Au$800 or so - at that price you may as well just daisy chain another firewire audio interface in. The ADA8000 does the job okay as long as you're not fiddling with knobs while recording. I wouldn't describe it as a pre-amp per se - more as an Analog to Digital converter with phantom power and a trim knob per channel. I only use it for fairly noisy instruments (e.g. drums) where a little extra digital chatter doesn't really impact the sound critically.

Also - it's vaguely insulting to suggest that not having the money to buy better than Behringer somehow implies stupidity. All it implies is not enough free cash. Careful with the free range generalizations there - someone might take offense and fire up the flamethrower.


Jez

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Permalink Reply by Throbber on July 1, 2008 at 3:21pm

Too Bad, looks like you have been insulted then.

Would you like some fuel and a light for your flamethrower ?

Throbs.

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Permalink Reply by jason gray on July 1, 2008 at 4:09pm

I use Behringer, truth B20301a monitors and a B2 pro Mic, not forgetting my BCF 2000.
And all seems fine with me, they make some good budget gear that has lasted me, the only equipment that i would not reccomend by Behringer is their standard dj mixers but thats irrelivant to this post.

Any how, shame on you throbber - Lol! i see you are anti behringer.
do we need to get a bleep ***** censor here on the forum, for the word B*****r For you mate,
I have seen it done for the word Judge jules on another forum lol!

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