Basic equipment....Newbie needs HELP!...

Basic equipment....Newbie needs HELP!!!

Posted on May 17, 2006 05:54 pm
Josh
Member Since: May 17, 2006

Hi there.

I have just finished my first year at uni studying Music Technology and found it pretty tough. I now want to start building my own studio in me and my bands house.

Basically what I need to know is what I will need to record good quality material. We have all our instruments obviously but we will need computers, mixers, mics, programmes etc etc. What is the best value for money? I have been using Pro Tools all year and am still pretty rough with it. What about Homestudio? Apparently thats pretty good or Cubase?

We have around £1500-£2000 to play with.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Barcode

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colonel_sanders
edit0r
Member
Since: Aug 17, 2004

May 17, 2006 09:04 pm

You'll need at least 7 tracks to record drums, so look for a big soundcard. You might want to look for a soundcard with pre amps. Could be cheaper?

With mics I would go:

2 Rode NT1a's - 160 pounds each
4 Sm57's - 75-90 pounds each
1 AKG D112 - 140 pounds each?

The Sm 57's and rode NT1a's can double as guitar and vocal mics.

The D112 can double as a bass mic.

I run cubase, but its all up to what feels more comfortable to you. See if programs have trial versions, and try as many as you can.

I would also suggest investing in a drum replacement plug in such as 'drumagog'. Fantastic wee thing.

pjk
Prince CZAR-ming
Member
Since: Apr 08, 2004

May 18, 2006 11:57 am

Look heavily into how to build a room (or rooms) that can be used well for recording.

If you have the ability, get large rooms, and build them up to suit your needs. Soundproofing may be an issue, and sound treatment will definately be an issue.

there's lots of spots on the internet that'll give advice on studio building, www.johnlsayers.com/ being one of them.

You'll need to decide on what platform - PC or Mac. Both have their pluses and minuses. Most people here are on PC, but higher end studios / musicians tend to use Mac, i'm thinking.

Software is certainly a loose area. Maybe see if there's people at Uni that have studios set up and can show you what they're using.

Also, look through people's profiles on here, you'll see what people are using, and with what equipment. It's a good resource.

I'm using Ntrack 3.3 btw, on PC.

be warned: it's not a small undertaking =).