Home Recording Gear List - Comments PLZ

[Dee Wurthy]

My friend and I are going to create a studio for our band in the next few months to come...Here is a list of the gear we are thinking about going with:​

​

(1) Dual 1.8Ghz Mac G5​

(1) Mark of the Unicorn 896HD​

(1) Mark of the Unicorn Digital Performer 4 Upgrade​

(1) Glyph netDrive 120GB FireWire​

(1) Audix D4 Dynamic Drum Microphone (Bass Drum / Bass Cab)​

(2) Sennheiser e604 3-Pack (Toms)​

(1) Shure Beta-57 (Snare / Guitar)​

(2) Shure SM81LC Cardioid Condenser Microphone (Overheads)​

(1) Neumann TLM 103 Anniversary Edition (Vocals)​

(1) Shure PS-6 Popper Stopper​

(10) Monster Cable S100M20 Mic Cables​

(1) Alesis M1 Active Mk2 Powered Monitors (Pair)​

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Any input on this would be great (ie. alternate mic choices, anything that seems to be missing, anything we probably don't need...)​

I'd like to get some quasi-pro recordings out of this set-up....Help me get there!​

Thanks!​

​

 

[Wrong Robot]

You can get quasi pro recordings out of Garageband and some skill with mixing and effects.

What you are aiming for could easily yield terrific recordings, if you know what you are doing with all that gear.

 

[Dee Wurthy]

And that will require a lot of practice and experimenting with mixing and acoustical environments (which I am getting familiar with in what I'm using now at my school - a slightly older version of what I have listed above, without all the awesome mics...) I'm also doing a crap load of research in mic placement, acoustics, and mixing so that I can have a good idea as to how to approach it when we get there...

I just want some suggestions on the equipment I'm looking at, specifically the microphones...

 

[chump stain]

I would recommend the Shure Beta 52 kick drum mic for the kick and bass cab. We've use them at my church, and they're really good.

click the link in my sig to hear.

 

[supermonkey]

A good kick drum alternative is the Audio Technica ATM 25 (NOT the ATM PRO 25 which sucks). Although I applaud your choice of the Audix over the ubiquitous and very highly overrated AKG D112.

The Senn e604s rock for toms -- and mic'd guitar amp, BTW.

I praise the Rode NT2 highly for vox. And much cheaper than the Neumann.

The Alesis M1 Actives are good, but double-check your mixes for funky bass response issues.

More than 1 SM57 is just a good plan, if you can afford the minor cost. You'll end up using them, I promise.

For in-room sound handling/bleed issues, build or buy some good gobos. It makes a huge diff.

 

[rubo]

I'm with Bassart1 on this one, get an analog mixer, which will also give you some pre-amps and EQ to avoided using DP4 EQ - less latency. Also major consideration should go for room acoustics and monitors, this is where you cant cut any corners. I think best bang for trey buck monitors are Sequerra Met 7.7 MK5 passives or Dynaudio BM6 passive and get a cheap Alesis RA-150 Amp for another $150. About he mixer I'd look into a small Allen & Heath Mixwizard series or Soundcraft M12.

Cheers


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[Dee Wurthy]

Wow!

Thanks for all of the excellent ideas and comments.

I will definately take a look at the Rode microphones. (I plan on staying with MOTU DP4 because of my familiarity with it...Its just my preference...).

As far as the mixing board....Instead of going with the rack-mount 896, what about buying a firewire mixing board such as the Mackie Onyx (a new product - I don't even think it's out yet...) which allows that out-of-software flexability...(Much like the Digi002)

 

[rubo]

Stay away from Firewire, it's technology is still can't compete with PCI speeds. The only solid Firewire unit I can think off is Metric Halo one, the rest including Digi 002 has too much latency and other bugs, that's why I'm still using my Digi 001 on OSX 10.3.2 with great success.

Cheers

P.S. Also stay way form Firewire hard drives, well only for back up purposes not as your main audio drive.

 

[Droog]

I would say the list looks pretty good. The one thing I would not buy is the monster cables. Save your money and either make your own or find somebody that is selling Canare LE-46S with Neutrik XLR's. If you can get Monster at whole sale, but there is such a mark up, its apealing to consumers, but its not that great.

Mics look good, but be carefully everyone and their brother will tell you which mic the the best in ther world. Start off with solid stuff (which you are) then as you develope your own taste and style, buy what sounds good to you. This goes for all gear.

I definately agree with working on your acoustic space. If the room sounds like ass, then its gonna sound like ass on tape (er.. hard drive). Bass traps and GOBO's can do wonders, in the main room and where you mix.

At this point I would not split hairs over gear, get a working studio and then learn to be an engineer. Gear does not make great recordings, people do. If you have your chops and have solid gear that you understand and know how to use then you can't miss. Hope this helps.

 

[Dee Wurthy]

Well, I'm kinda settling on the Tascam FW-1884...With firewire800 and a dual G5, there should be no problem recording 8-16 tracks to digital performer with minumum latency @96K after adjusting buffer...It's a lot easier and less costly to deal with firewire. I think its technology is to a point where it is a solid contender to PCI (especially when cost is a factor)......
As far as the Tascam there seems to be a great level of awesome features in this unit...It's a bit strange that for the same price as the 896HD, I can get the tascam as an audio interface AND a control surface...Hmmm....

As for the solid gear...That is exactly what I was thinking when I started looking around...I know I don't have the experience for microphone preferences, so I've been taking advice and am going to buy good, standard stuff that I can use to educate myself in the engineering side of recording...I'm really excited to become knowledgable in that area.

Thanks again for the comments and suggestions.

 

[Dee Wurthy]

Well, let's make that a Tascam DM-24 with a firewire card...More I/O, EQ, and effects for the $$$.