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Adding to a fledgling rig

R

r05c03

Jul 21, 2005
403
1
Lafayette, IN
#1
Hola,

I am opening up a music studio in an old bank vault complex. The studio is primarily for providing private lessons and Kindermusik (during the morning hours), but will have one full volume, fully equipped (drum kit, back line, guitard amp, pa etc) multi-function for practicing, rehearsing, and recording demo type work. I do not have an extensive recording rig. I have new Intel Imac with plenty of ram and memory, a Presonus firepod, 8 x 8 snake, chords, monitors, power conditioners, mics, stands etc. However I have no out board equipment save for a Peavey Kosmos Pro (which BTW is kick ass in my bass rig for dub or way down synthy stuff) and a Mackie DFX6 mixer. I run Logic Express on the Imac, and to be honest, I think the pluggins will suffice for alot of what I need to do. For the moment, I cannot invest much more in it. However, I am wondering if there is any outboard equipment that is a MUST. I am thinking maybe a compressor? Opinions welcome. Thanks. BTW we open in January, and will have an open house in Feb, so if any of you live in the area cruise by and see my wife's "little idea" gone mad.
 
#2
I would think what you have described will be great for a demo studio. If you wanted more i spose you could get another firepod or something for more inputs. A great compressor is a good idea, but so are better pres. If your only using the firepod pres a plugin compressor will probably be fine. You dont see many studios without an imperial labs distressor or 2. An LA-2A would be nice also, but pricey. What about microphones? Do you have enough to do the band "live"?
 
#3
I have a 3 Shure SM57s, a Shure Beta 52, a Audio Technica condensor mic (forget the exact model), and a radom Peavey dynamic mic, the bass rig amp has DI, so does the guitar amp, and I also have a Berhinger G412 DI box (4x12 simulator), Sansamp Pardriver, and an LR Baggs DI, so if I DI the intruments....Well no, not quite enough, I guess, to record a band all at once with a fully miced drum set, but certainly enough to do a scratch track with the whole band w/ vocals miced pretty extensively assuming that I DI the amps. Suppose I could use a few more condensor mics.

Yeah, after checking out the equipment you suggested, I will need to save up a bit to add something like that....
 
#4
I think that you have stuff to buy that's more important than outboard compression or better mic preamps. The Presonus preamps aren't bad at all, and with the bit depth you can get with that setup you can afford to do all of your compression in software. If you absolutely must get outboard compression for some reason, your best bet is probably an FMR RNC (under $200).

I'd suggest doing some saving for now and try to get the best recordings with the mics you have. You will almost certainly want more inputs or better mics before anything else, but what in particular you will need beyond what you already have depends on how you record and how your mixing process goes. A lot of people who jump headfirst into "having a studio" make the mistake of buying a lot of shiny stuff without really realizing why they need it, only to wish they had something simpler, more complex, or altogether different later on. Don't let the money burn a hole in your pocket.

Do some browsing and searching on Invalid Link Removed for more low budget studio ideas. There are a lot of people there who have gone your route and a lot more who are currently doing it.
 
#6
Monitors - Tascam VLX5 - Don't know of a better deal for low cost monitors. Sounds really good. Bought mine from fullcompass

Mic - Heil PR-40 from Universal radio (cheapest place I found). Very good mic you can use for a lot of stuff.

I have an alto rack effects unit I would sell cheap if you want. I bought a tc electronics konnect 24d with dsp and no longer need the outboard effects.
You can do a whole lot with plug-ins.
 
#8
I have M-audio DX 5 monitors ATM. Cheap, I know but suitable for now. You can do more with mixing on cans than a lot of people think. As far as room treatment is an acoustical nightmare from the stand point that it is 8.5x12x16 and cement and brick (is great because not much noise gets out, but very bouncy. I am in the process of making wrapping a bunch of Corning 703 in burlap. These 2x4 panels will be used liberally to treat the control area. They will be mounted 4 inches from the wall to increase low end effectivness. I will also mount them in corners, ceiling wall corners, and the ceiling. It will be hard to make the room too dead given the brick and cement, but I will treat the control area more heavily and the rest of the room more lightly so that some of the brick livelyness is maintained. I will hang several panels today. Treatment is a trail and error thing so it may take some tweaking.

As a side note, one of the rooms where music lessons will be held is an old safety deposit room and had a 8 x 8 mirror. This mirror produces some crazy wah-wah-wah reverb, which may actually be a unique recording freature at some point.

At any rate these suggestions have been great.
 

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