Post your Studio! <Talkbass Edition! v.01>

[Magikal]

Pictures by tomorrow...

Toshiba Laptop
Fl Studio
Mixcraft
Cubase 5 LE
Alesis Multimix 8 USB FX
House of Marley Positive Vibrations Headphones
Akai MPK Mini Controller
Akai RPM3 Studio Monitors
Hercules DJ Control Mp3 E2
..... The poor mans setup.

 

[CC7]

Nice and inspiring space EricF! Kudos

 

[EricF]

Nice and inspiring space EricF! Kudos

Thanks!

I've actually done some furniture revisions since I posted those pics. Here's the current setup...

 

[oerk]

Thanks!

I've actually done some furniture revisions since I posted those pics. Here's the current setup...

I like how you constructed your desk and rack with threaded rods. Nice idea with low WAF, as it should be for a man-cave.

 

[EricF]

I like how you constructed your desk and rack with threaded rods. Nice idea with low WAF, as it should be for a man-cave.

I borrowed the idea from gear racks commonly seen in the hi-fi/audiophile world. It's been a good solution for my needs.

 

[Spinal Tapper]

no joke. it gets DONE here

 

[mcrawfordmusic]

I've recently moved to a small apartment so i've down sized my recording rig due to lack of space to this:

I'm running Garageband and Logic Express 9 on the Macbook and also use Garageband on my iphone 4 with the JAM.

 

[Betrayer_Bass]

I moved to a bigger apartment and got almost a whole room to myself!

Macbook Pro 17" with Line 6 UX1 (for now), Axiom Pro 49 keyboard, Beyerdynamic DT 70 pro headphones, H&K Metal Shredder for that old school thrash sound, although it's remarkably good at getting some nice blues tones too. Got a small Line 6 spider 15. Does what I want for my needs playing guitar, the bass amp (ampeg SVT4-Pro + 8x10 cab) is in my friend's studio that's being re... developed right now. Try fitting an 8x10 in there!

I have a Yamaha RGX121s (my first guitar!), Washburn Taurus T12 (my first bass!), Ibanez RGA7bk (which I am selling), Jackson Kelly KE3 (bought for me by my fiancee), Jackson DKMGFF (with the flame marker fretboard), Jackson Kelly KE3 (to fix the one my fiancee bought me with) and my favourite and main instrument: the Warwick Corvette STD 5. It's on its own stand as it's my favorite

 

[Freight Train]

Hello all, if anyone looks at this thread any longer. I started DES Mastering in 1991. Even though the official website still says 3000, I've now mastered well over 3500 albums in the ensuing years. I spent 17 years prior to that working as a free-lance recording and mixing engineer, starting in 1974, as well as being a gigging and session bass player.
Of course being a real mastering room, my system is analog-based. Real mastering is rarely done in the digital domain, and even then is most often done with hardware pieces, not plug-ins.
My main system is based around a custom-built Crookwood mastering console. For monitoring I use Lipinski L-707 reference monitors powered by a Bryston 4B power amp with dual Velodyne DD-12 subwoofers, and Grado RS-1 headphones with a Grado HA-1 headphone amp. My main analog mastering gear consists of the Legendary Audio Masterpiece, which is a Rupert Neve designed mastering EQ and compression system with all manner of extra goodies that the mastering engineer would find use for, the Manley Massive Passive tube eq, Manley Mastering SLAM! combo electro-optical/FET limiter, Thermionic Culture Phoenix Master Compressor, TubeTech SMC-2B 3-band tube compressor, Thermionic Culture Mastering Culture Vulture tube distortion preamp, and my baby - a 1978 vintage Ampex ATR-102 1/2" 2-track. On the digital side I have the beautiful TC Electronic System 6000 mkII with the Icon mkII remote and all the mastering software including the George Massenburg digital eq, and I also have a hardware Waves L2 digital limiter. Converters for the analog loop by Metric Halo and United Audio, monitoring d-to-a converter is the Mytek Stereo-192 DSD.
The main mastering room has the SonicStudio (that's Sonic Solutions for you guys who've been around) SSHD high-density mastering workstation, in the production room is the SonicStudio soundBlade V2 high-density mastering workstation with iZotope Ozone 5 Advanced mastering plug-in suite and RX-2 Advanced restoration software. I use Weiss Saracon for sample rate conversion and bit reduction/dithering.
I have a blog that is full of all kinds of tips and tricks and info based on my decades of experience in audio production, and it's there for free for anyone to reference. There's also some great info on how to transform your computer into a true audiophile-quality music player using simple iTunes. www.desmastering.blogspot.com.
When I started DES I put my basses down out of respect for my ears, and that wasn't easy to do having started playing in 1965. Now that I see retirement coming up in a few years, I've started playing again. Regardless, I've made my living in music all of these years and Im blessed for that.
I'm always glad to answer questions regarding recording, mixing or mastering if you'll just message me. I'll also gladly give a special discount to any of my bass playing brethren if you decide to use me for mastering. The website is www.desmastering.com, which hasn't been updated in months now, but it's got years worth of album credits if you care to dig through that.
Please pardon the shoddy photography. I'm losing my vision so I can't really tell what's in focus. But it should give you an idea.

Here's my main room, which was designed by English studio builder Bob Suffolk.

Legendary Audio Masterpiece, Thermionic Culture Mastering Culture Vulture and TC Electronic Icon MkII remote for the System 6000 mkII.

Dorroughs Loudness Meters, Manley Massive Passive and Crookwood mastering console.

TubeTech SMC-2B, TT patch bay and Thermionic Culture Phoenix Master Compressor.

Manley Mastering SLAM!, Mytek Stereo-192 DSD d/a converter and DD-12 digital meters, hardware Waves L2 digital limiter, United Audio 2192 d-a/a-d converter, TC Electronic System 6000 mkII.

Kinda impossible to get a shot with an iPhone, but this is the production room/machine room with soundBlade running on the iMac, SSHD on the Mac tower, Tascam DA-45HR and JVC DAT machines, Metric Halo 304 convertors for the main mastering room.

 

[gscroggin]

Wow, you my friend have taken this thread to a whole new level! I've been fortunate enough to experience the TubeTech and Phoenix on a session in the past...I can't image owning gear of that caliber though! I guess when you're in the business it's a different story

Thanks for the link to your site as well! It's always great to have new mastering references and avenues to check out.

 

[Freight Train]

Wow, you my friend have taken this thread to a whole new level! I've been fortunate enough to experience the TubeTech and Phoenix on a session in the past...I can't image owning gear of that caliber though! I guess when you're in the business it's a different story

Thanks for the link to your site as well! It's always great to have new mastering references and avenues to check out.

Well, thanks, but I gotta say it took me 20 years to build that rig up, so it's not like I just bought all that gear and ran with it. I've done what I always recommend - suck it up and buy one really good piece at a time for the budget you have, and then be patient and wait until you can afford the next. People get hasty and try to buy a whole system and wind up with a bunch of mediocre crap that they're throwing rocks at in six months. It takes patience, but you wind up with gear you can use your entire career, then sell it and retire on it. My ace-in-the-hole in that respect is the Manley Mastering SLAM!. Any piece of Manley gear of any type that is single digit serial # or maybe under 15 is very sought after, as that pretty much ensures that Hutch hand-wired it himself, and probably hand-wound the transformers. My SLAM! is serial #001A, which means it's the prototype. Didn't know when I was ordering it that i was getting the first one, and then some. But I was the one at the AES show, after he'd shown a mock-up a couple years before, that squeaked enough at him to get him to finally come across and start building them, so that's what I got.
Glad you found the blog informative. Like I said, message me with any questions.

 

[mdjuszyn]

VERY low budget, learning as I go, currently getting the job done with no complaints:

Dell Latitude D620 laptop, 1.83 GHz, 1 MB ram
Roland Tri-Capture Interface
Sonar X1 LE software (was included with Tri-Capture)
Toshiba 500 GB external hard drive
Shure Beta 57A mic
Sony headphones
Boston Acoustics cube speakers and sub
Also have a Behringer Xenyx 802 mixer

I'm recording sax (Selmer) and bass (Fender Jazz) instrumentals with some occasional hand percussion thrown in.

 

[Standalone]

Loving all these studios. From the mastering room to the corner with a bass and a laptop. So many ways to create. Keep it up, people!

 

[SquierJazz72]

Mine's not fancy, but works for a recording virgin's needs.

All computer based.

I repurposed one of my old Linux machines.

I have Audacity for basic recording.
Ardour as a DAW
Hydrogen drum machine for making drum patterns
A few other small programs that might be useful at some point.

I bought a decent multi speaker system for playback/monitoring

I run a mic straight off my amp to the PC.
I invested in one good dynamic mic with a detachable cable and have another dynamic USB mic.

That's about it, for now.

 

[SquierJazz72]

Got some pictures now, as I took them for another thread, so here it is:

 

[Edubagio]

 

[Bill Walker]

I keep it fancy

 

[SquierJazz72]

New stuff. Pretty much replaced everything but monitor, amp, and microphones. Gotta love second hand shops and surplus stores! Basic software is Audacity with extra plugins and Hydrogen drum machine. I am also exploring a package called DarkWave Studio.

2.6 Ghz PC, 1 GB Ram w/Altec Lansing speaker system, WinXP, and CD burner. Also added a MIDI capable keyboard.

 

[billostech]

Good day, everyone. Your studios are very inspiring.
I am just starting out and learning as I go. Grabbed some books and took a class in Logic Pro locally.

This is what I have to start out:

Mac Mini, MacBook Pro, and IPad
DAWs: Logic Pro 9 and GarageBand
Focusrite Saffire Pro 24
Yahama HS80M Powered Monitors
Yamaha HS10W Powered Sub
Radial PRO 48 Active DB
M-Audio Keystation 32 for Ipad & MacBook
Roland Fanthom-G8 Workstation

 

[staindbass]

i got a major record deal in 1991 with a tascam 4 track, i figured i would double my chances with 8