Help Me Build A Studio!, I need your help.. I am new at this! Options

[maarons]

Hey Guys -
So here's the deal. I have heard a million different advice about what I should invest it. I don't know if I should go the ProTools route or Logic. My budget is $10,000 - and I just bought a G5, so I guess not my remaining budget is $7000 - $7500. Here is what I plan on doing in my home studio - or what I would like to do:
I would like to record alot of midi but also a lot of vocals, live bass and lots guitar. As for drums, I was contemplating a V-Drum kit (I live in an apartment), for less noise. On the whole, I am interested in getting great quality recordings also, I am interested in getting into jingles and film scoring. I would like to ultimiately invest in a situation that would set me up in a way that I would be able to build off of it, and not have to replace everything one day. For example, if I cannot afford Protools now, should I get a Digi001 interface and use it in Logic for now to set me up towards one day working into a Protools situation? See what I mean, I need advice. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I have a budget and am very open to any ideas you guys have. Helpl me build a home studio!!!

This post has been edited by maarons: Tue 23 Sep 2003, 16:57

[wizars]

hi maroons

first of all it appears in some postings as if some of the mentioned music-apps weren't capable of the one or the other thing to do: e. g. it is said that pro tools was the better audio sequencer and if one was planning to edit audio tracks, pro tool was the better solution. to me this sounds like the other apps weren't able to edit audio at all or at least in a minor quality (whaterver stupid thing that means...).

here's what i would do if i were you:

1. got the computer, good. rest 7 grant.
2. get logic gold or platinum VERSION 6! (platinum if you ever want to use pro tool hardware). rest 6 grant.
3. get propellerheads reason. rest 5.5 grant.
4. get a USB midi master keyboard (a small one is enough). rest 5 grant.
5. get a recording system with good preamps and a decent A/D-converter (i hear the M-Box does a great job for the buck? Or some MOTU thing?). rest 4 grant.
6. Get a good DI-Box (or build one yourself, check the Jensen webpage for the DI-part and a plan on how to assemble itand buy some plugs and a metall case). rest 3.8 grant.
7. get some virtual amplifier guitar-plugin. maybe Amplitube or so. rest 3. grant.
8. get a GOOD microphone for the vocals (maybe the RODE tube thing or the equivalent from Audio Technica? be most carefull about this issue!). rest 1 grant
9. get some decent monitors (active? the tannoy reveal series? some mackie-thing? the Alesis One with an amp?). rest 0.
10. if there's any money left, get the Waves plugins. the renaissance plugins sound great (good compressor, eq and reverb, especially on vocals). about 1 to 1.5 grant.

here's why:
if you're planning to work with midi, logic is famous for its midi sequencer. it is rewire ready which means it can route reason sounds directly into the sequencer. reason is a good app that lets you add a drum machine (a CD with professional drum sounds might be required, such as the BOB CLEARMOUNTAIN DRUMS), bass and several other instruments, i. e. strings, piano, etc. to experiment with. Only buy a V-Drum if you are an exceptional drummer or know s.b. who is. otherwise, you have to quantize and clean up the drums anyways which ends up to be even more work than a wisely programmed drum.

but here's the main reason to go for logic: version 6 offers a knob called "track freeze" which lets you literally freeze a track including all of the plugins you've used. the effect is you don't have to bounce your tracks 2 million times only to figure a little more reverb would have done a better job and so on... track freeze is non destructive and always redoable, thus saving you a lot of processor resources and time. with that, you dont' need additional DSP-hardware like a powercore or the pro tools cards (which by the way cost 10 to 15 grant alone). that's basically the reason why i am saving up to get me logic 6...

get the USB master keyboard to quickly play some of reasons virtual instruments (by far more comfortable than clicking notes with a mouse...) plus having an additional midi-interface. I only use a small mdiman oxygen keyboard - works perfect for me.

since you can never add anything you've lost on the way to your harddisc, get a great mic and good preamps with AD-converters. as far as vocals are concerned, nothing is more important tahn getting a clean, noiseless sound on your HD!!! you will never be able to fix something non existant with eqs or anything. go for the best gear you can afford here!!!

about guitars: the DI-box lets you have a proper signal on your HD. this goes for bass, acoustic and (yes!) electric guitars. run the electric guitars through a v-amp-plugin to get them rocking. or buy a POD or anything alike. doing it pluginwise, you experience the advantage of not having to decide what sound you wanna use at the very beginning, you can always adjust the sounds later on (in fact that's the way e. g. coldplay did their latest record...).

the monitor thing i don't think needs to be explained.

if you want good sounding plugins get the waves bundle. they are well worth the price (see other reviews available on the internet).

with a setup like that, you can almost record anything you want. i actually do think a disussion about what sequencer to use is bullshit as long as you don't know how to equalize or compress a certain audio track the pro-way (a friend of mine worked at the cello studio for some years - he was able to get me a better sounding mix on my cubase-VST-no-additional-plugin thing with 200 $ computer speakers than I could have ever done it on his pro tools HD system with hi end monitors!).

i suggest logic because of its rewire capability, the track freeze button and its midi sequencer (see "drums" above). also i think its audio functions are absolutely sufficient, they are in fact more than you will ever need (Coldplay work with TiBooks and Logic, by the way, and this is no faggot techno-combo).

also, if you ever want to expand your system, you can get some pro tools dsp cards and still use the app you grew up with (platinum only). on the other hand, pro tools and logic work good together.

hope this helps.

good luck.

wiz.

[berglyd]

Hi. I have almost the same studio facilities as you are planning to buy: Mac G5 with a RME 9632 card, Logic Platinum 6.2, Yamaha 03D (instead of 02R), some synth´s and Roland TD-6 V-drums. I have been working with this gear for many years now (except for the G5), and it plays beautiful! I would strongly recommend the V-drums, even if you are not a drummer. I hadde never played drums before, but after I got the V-drums I soon become a pro. Before this I programmed the drums (for the last 15 years), but now the drums sound like real drums. You play different when using real drums!

Good luck!

[chivitopelon]

i have a month to score a 10 minute film which will be making the festival circuit.

i eagerly await my dual g5 and need to piece together the rest.
i have a roland a-90 controller, 2x da78, avalon 737sp, and plan to buy logic plat 6.

my experience is recording direct to da78 and now i need to dive into midi orchestration for picture.

what else must i buy this week to get going next week?

thinking about the tascam fw-1884.
any suggestions on string and woodwind sample sets? external hard drives for audio only?

what else should i get?
thanks everyone for your help!

[kevindetroit]

I've just finished scoring a 15 minute movie and found working with Pro Tools 6.1.1 to be very rewarding. But I didn't use midi with Pro Tools just used it as a recorder, did all my midi on my hardware gear. I can move around blocks of sound around I can match things up to the picture. I'm kinda new to using my mac to make music so forgive me if I sound ignorant. I can compose to picture without SMPTE and make a quicktime or bounce it to DV tape. But I hear Logic is great for it also. Both let you use a thumbnail of the movie.