Building my studio - HELP!

[javashred]

Ok - So I decided to take some of my savings and build a studio. Here is what I have so far:

Mac G5 2.0 Dual Processor w/1GB SDRAM
Logic Pro 7
MOTU 828
Omnirax Prostation desk

Here is what I still need suggestions and help with:

1. Vocal mike (best mike for the price?) Condensor?

2. Mike preamp?

3. Do I need a better sound card than what comes with the mac? Or can I just use the stock card?

4. I need an awesome dedicated external hard drive - any ideas? Would prefer rackmount - but not a must

Anything else I am missing? What about for mixing down or mastering? I think I should be able to get some pretty high quality recordings with this rig once it's all together.

I have about another $3000 - 3500 to spend.

Thanks for the help!

CD

[Big Mike]

Can't help, but it sounds great so far buddy!

[Mike Dresch]

1) Shure KSM44 is a nice relatively low cost, high quality condensor that can do it all.

2) Presonus Digimax LT is a great relatively low cost mic pre with inserts on each channel that allows you to put whatever eq's, compressors, etc into the chain you want, if you want to.

3) Since you are running a Mac, I'd say look into some MOTU stuff for interfaces, particularly one that has an optical interface.
4) Glyph hard drives are great for home DAW's

[MVG]

I have a Shure KSM32 (little brother of the 44) that I think is a great do-all condenser mic. Reasonably priced too.

I also like Focusrite for pre amps. I have a Penta, which is a pre amp with compression pre-sets that you can twiddle to your taste. Studio pros would snort at that I 'spose but I'm a relative recording newbie and I like having the gear give me pointers whenever possible.

[javashred]

Thanks for all the info.

Would I need a mixer? Like a Mackie 24/8 or something? Or is it a mute point to have a mixer when everything can be done on the computer?

CD

[Mike Dresch]

You really don't need a mixer unless you want to use the mic pres in it. Otherwise, you can do pretty much everything in the computer.

[tms13pin]

So nice to mix with actual faders rather than a mouse though!

I know this isn't the FS forum, but as we're talking about setting up studios,
I've got a Tascam DM24 digi-mixer and some MOTU interfaces (two 1224's
and a 2408 and two PCI 324 cards) that I don't really need anymore.

Java, are you using FW with your 828 or PCI?

--Tom

[javashred]

Yes - It would be very nice to have actual faders for mixing. Plus if you want to run anything else through the mixer you can.


Is the Mackie D8B still a good mixer? I liked the one my singer had but that was 4 yrs ago. Is there anythihng better out? For $1250 I don't think you can beat the D8B.

CD

[badkalifornia]

Javashred....

Sounds like you have the fever bro, welcome to the club!

I would opt for an external soundcard, something with a few 1/4 inch / XLR ins & outs...depending on your configuration. M-Audio makes some great affordable gear. They make a 2 channel USB powered external card called the MobilePre, which sports phantom power as well. Best thing is there well under $200. Also, check out the Behringer mixers....unreal for the $.

As far as mic pres...BlueTube makes great affordable stuff, as well as TPS. You can land those for under 3 bills.

Rode has big bang, low buck condenser mics. They used to make a tube mic that came with it's own tube pre called the NTV that is killer (if you can find one) but, MXL has the same setup for about $200....& TCM for about $300. With all the plug-ins out there, you can get awesome vocal sounds with a mere SM58.

Good monitors are worth their weight in gold......IMHO,I'd cut corners on the mic(s) before I would monitors.....don't be afraid to drop atleast $500... You'll be glad you did.

Hope this helps, best of luck...

-ciao

[javashred]

Well - I just bought the Mackie D8B. Man this thing is very intimidating! Can't wait to start recording. Should have the MAC G5 next week.


Thanks for all the input.

[gtrcollectr]

I will assume this is the same Javashred from Jemsite, welcome to BAM.....will you be plugging a PRS into this setup or a reverse headstock Ibanez :D ....I noticed you were selling some of your PRS stuff on the Jemsite hope you didn't sell it all.


Todd

[Echotest]

If you've got an 828, you shouldn't need any other external hardware (although the D8B certainly isn't going to help anything.) Above anything else, I'd highly recommend a very good preamp, tube if possible. It can make even mediocre-sounding mic's come to life. There are several nice brands to choose from, and run the gamut of price. I'm a big fan of Avalon and Focusrite pre's, but they're not cheap (my exroomate bought a Focusrite for his studio and I couldn't believe the difference it made. He used it for everything!) But the dbx, PreSonus and JoeMeek pre's are considerably cheaper and still sound very good. Tube pre's just add this presence and warmth that solid-states generally don't have, and there is a VERY noticeable difference when compairing the two. Take a mic that you're familiar with down to your local retailer and try out as many as you can. Preamps are very subjective and what sounds like average to one person can be gold to another. If possible, try to get them to patch through a set of monitors that are the same (or as close as possible) to the ones in your own studio. That way you'll have a better idea of what the final product will be. For all of the things wrong with the company (I should know, I used to work for them *shudders*), Guitar Center will generally let you repatch various preamps into different sets of monitors (or at least do it for you.)

I'd second Badkalifornia's sentiments about monitors. It's one of the few areas in a studio setup that if you skimp, you'll be really sorry you did. It doesn't mean you have to buy $3000 Genelec's, or even spend $1000 for that matter. But listen to as many brands and models as possible. I have a couple of personal favorites as far as accurate sound reproduction goes: First, the Mackie 824's. Probably one of the best pairs of monitors currently available (usually under $1000 a pair). The 624's are slightly smaller and less expensive, but just as good (you might lose a little bass response though.) My second choice (and the ones I owned for quite awhile) are KRK's, V-series. I had a set of V6's that were outstandingly accurate. I have heard from a couple of people that they found the monitors a bit fatigueing to the ears after awhile, but that can happen with any monitor if you listen to it long enough. They were about $700 for the pair (even KRK's Rokit series are great value for the money.) My third (and most affordable) choice is (believe it or not) Samson Resolv monitors are actually very nice monitors (especially for the money.) They've also gotten rave reviews from several mag's. The Resolv 80a run about $400 for the pair.

As for mic's, I like the BLUE brand. The Baby Bottle is an excellent mic for pretty much everything, and it's a condenser. Runs about $599. Even their "Ball" series are nice for the money. But it's hard to go wrong with a Shure. I used to use a Shure SM-57 for just about everything. As long as you know it's quirks, it'll get pretty much any job done. There's a reason that every studio in the world has at least a few, even if they've also got $3000 Neuman's. And you can beat the crap out of them without breakin' em. $89 is hard to beat, and even if you get a more expensive mic, I'd still recommend getting an SM-57, you'll find lots of uses for it (and won't get mad if it disappears or somehow manages to get damaged.)

The D8B is an interesting board. When I worked at GC (yeah, I know...leave me alone), they ran $10,000. And they didn't work very well. The hardware itself was great, but the software was buggy as all get-out. However, considering Mackie has upgraded the software considerably and the fact that it cost you less than a PRS CE, I'd say it was a very good investment. Plus, you can still get a bunch of add-on and expansion cards for the thing, further enhancing it's usefulness. I'm one of those people that doesn't use a mixer at all for DAW work, but at that price, I'd certainly pick one up if I had the money.

One thing that I would certainly recommend is a good pop filter for your whichever mic you choose. Not one of the little foam "condoms" that slip over the mic, but a mesh "gooseneck" one that clamps to the mic stand. They're only around $25 (you can make one from women's pantyhose as well), and you'll drive yourself nuts with vocal tracks if you don't use one. I use the "PopperStopper" ones and they work great (just don't let your cat play with it and/or sharpen it's claws on it, or it will no longer function as intended...ask me how I know:D)

A quick note about external hard drives. I don't really like them, mainly because they can't transfer data as fast as an internal one (especially the newer SerialATA drives, which your G5 should have.) If you go with one though, make sure it's either Firewire or USB 2. Don't use USB 1.1 (standard), it's too slow and you'll pull your hair out waiting for big files to load. You can get expansion cables to run a power plug and SerialATA cable from the inside of your computer to the outside, and you can use a regular SerialATA drive with it (keep in mind that the drive will be exposed to static though.) I'd recommend using the external drive for backups only. Don't work on music directly from the drive, since it can sometimes introduce annoying wait times while processing. The G5 has quite a bit of expansion room inside, so I'd just say to install a couple more internal hard drives and get full transfer speed. Because Mac's are pretty easy to open up, it wouldn't be too hard to swap an internal drive (maybe five minutes.) You could probably even use thumbscrews (available at computer stores) for the drives, so you don't need to fiddle with a screwdriver every time. But the choice is yours, go with what you think will fit your needs better. As far as Glyph drives are concerned, they do what they do pretty well, but I've always thought they were really overpriced. You can get empty external USB and Firewire drive boxes, and just stick a hard drive inside, and it's quite a bit cheaper. I mean, if the drives eat it, your data's lost either way, whether you spent the money on an expensive Glyph setup or not. You might also want to look into DVD+/-RW. Discs and drives are much cheaper, and some of the double-density discs can hold upwards of 8gb's or so. And it's just like burning a CDR. Good drives are only about $125 nowadays (assuming your Mac didn't already come with one.) Redundant backup is the key, especially for stuff you've spend weeks working on.

Oh, one more thing...UPS!!! Get an Uninterruptable Power Supply for your computer! It doesn't necessarily have to have a one-hour run time or anything. But in the event the power goes out and you're working on something important, your data will be hosed! For about $99 for a nice unit with about 10 minutes of battery time, it's well worth the piece of mind (don't ever daisy-chain UPS's either, it actually counteracts the the way the system works.) You don't need to plug everything into it, just your computer and monitor (and external drive if it's got it's own powersupply.) Ten minutes should give you more than enough time to save whatever you're working on, but you can always spend more to get a longer battery time if you want. APC and Tripplite are both excellent brands (I use Tripplite surge protectors.) Look for the highest Joule rating for surge/spike protection. And don't buy cheap UPS's, they almost never work properly (same with surge protectors. For a $3000 computer, $1250 mixer and thousands of dollars worth of other musical equipment, $75-80 on a good surge protector is cheap insurance. And you can't replace the material you've recorded.)

Whew! Sorry for the novel of a post, but after selling recording gear and living in a house with a substantial home studio, I've learned a lot (mostly the hard way.) I don't want others to go through some of the annoying (or downright depressing) situations I've had to go through.

Oh, and have fun wiring everything up...trust me, make a big pot of coffee and be prepaired to crawl on your hands and knees a lot:D

[javashred]

Great info! Thanks echotest