My bandmates and I are starting a recording studio and I'm pretty new to the audio engineering world. We're really serious about it so if you guys don't mind helping me out that would be awesome. What gear do you guys recommend for a studio in general? We're looking mainly for metal recording gear. I've been looking around and i've seen a whole lot of recording equipment but i honestly dont know whats best for us. We have a $50,000 dollar budget so money isn't really an option. I don't even know where to start so please help me out.
All metal recording GODS help us out!
- Thread starter CRIMSON RECORDS
- Start date
here is a link with everything you need!!!!
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/andy-sneap/403462-lol-hello-i-am-new-help-me-____.html
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/andy-sneap/403462-lol-hello-i-am-new-help-me-____.html
egan.
daylightdies.com
Are you saying that you are going to introduce yourself to recording with a $50k investment? No offense, but that seems like a horrible business plan. You really need some experience to know what gear is going to best serve your purpose. I would also wager that 50k is more than 99% of the guys on this forum have spent on gear so you would be getting far more wish-lists than experienced insight. There is also the "Sneap is better on an mbox than I am on a 9000j factor."
like i said, money is not an option. i should have left the amount out so people wouldnt take shits on me about it but im just trying to find out what i should look for. thanks for the advice though, i really dont plan on spending even near all of it lol.
egan.
daylightdies.com
I'm definitely not trying to shit on your dreams. I'm actually trying to nicely convey that your question is so wide open that it almost can't be answered. And that w/ little experience you probably won't get great results even if you have a million to spend.
Does your budget need to include real estate? Acoustics?
Do you have any equipment, mics or software that you are starting with?
Do you want a console? Analog or digital?
What is your prefered DAW?
Do you want any outboard eq/comp/fx?
How many channels do you need to record simultaneously?
Do you need to buy amps/cabs as well?
The list goes on....
Does your budget need to include real estate? Acoustics?
Do you have any equipment, mics or software that you are starting with?
Do you want a console? Analog or digital?
What is your prefered DAW?
Do you want any outboard eq/comp/fx?
How many channels do you need to record simultaneously?
Do you need to buy amps/cabs as well?
The list goes on....
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
It's very common down here to spend $50,000 on acoustics/acoustician alone. Don't be overconfident about the amount of money you have to dish out. It can be drained out in a flash in the studio world. We all live above a very large funnel, and it's important to not let everything you have get sucked through.
I agree with egan, in regards to learning the business first before you make any substantial investments. As it stands, it sounds like a terrible business plan.
I agree with egan, in regards to learning the business first before you make any substantial investments. As it stands, it sounds like a terrible business plan.
It sounds like the first step you all should take is to make a rock solid business plan and a budget for different things in the studio.
yea, your right. im sorry dude i was way too vague, i dont have a business plan yet though that wasn't the question. i'm not looking for real estate, i'm not looking for a budget plan or a money spending scenarios i was just asking what equipment would be efficient for recording generally 5 man metal bands. i hear about the line 6 pod xt and xt pro, i dont know which sounds better for different situations. What kind of mics are good for recording guitar and vocals for screaming and distortion, etc.. i know your trying to help me out with my whole "business plan" but to me music isnt all about business, im just trying to learn and record right now because its a new concept to me.
again, the question is not about a business plan. im just asking you guys about some good equipment, thats all. sorry if it came off vague and random.
I think a big problem that you are going to face is that anyone can tell you a good piece of gear but if you dont listen to them all and gain a personal understanding of the equipment youll never get a grip on the recording process. My suggestion is that you go to all the guitar, bass, drum, and pro audio stores near you and try everything. See what you like. Ask the people there for some advice, and then come back here with a more solid understanding. The internet is a good place to find stuff, but being as impersonal as it is youll have a hard time getting the skills you need from a website alone. When youve got an idea on a few amps for example, then come back and ask what people think about your choices and youll get a way better response. This does not mean you have to go become a pro to gain access to the wealth of knowledge on this site. But i speak for myself and alot of others in saying, we in the audio world are very busy, and in order to be good you have to search and find things out for yourself. Good luck searching around. Dont put all your eggs in one basket (unless you really know what youre doing, or it has an epic resale value) Know every move youre going to make before you make it, and be prepared to join us over-worked, over-tired, under-paid people. 
Ermz
¯\(°_o)/¯
Well as a comprehensive package you could look at a ProTools HD or HD2 system, run by a reasonably powerful Mac. Beyond that, your options are huge. Whether you decide to go for 16 tracks of average preamps, a few tracks of really good preamps etc. You should spend some time reading about different preamps, what they do for the sound, then perhaps see if you can try some of them for yourself. After that consider which microphones you would need. 4 to 5 SM57s is almost mandatory. Maybe some Audix or Sennheiser mics on your drums. An SM7 for the extreme metal vocals. Maybe a nice clean condenser for the clean acoustic/vocal stuff.
There's a huge scale out there, and only you know your own needs, and how much you can budget towards each element. I'd say sort out the recording system first. For that money my bet is on a ProTools HD system. After that sort out your microphones and microphone preamps. Start to think about the acoustics in your studio space. Is it a completely untreated room? Do you already have it acoustically treated? Are you gonna need to drill holes to route the multicore? Headphone amps, headphones, patchbay etc. etc.
It's huge, so you really need to get a lot more specific to get any useful suggestions.
There's a huge scale out there, and only you know your own needs, and how much you can budget towards each element. I'd say sort out the recording system first. For that money my bet is on a ProTools HD system. After that sort out your microphones and microphone preamps. Start to think about the acoustics in your studio space. Is it a completely untreated room? Do you already have it acoustically treated? Are you gonna need to drill holes to route the multicore? Headphone amps, headphones, patchbay etc. etc.
It's huge, so you really need to get a lot more specific to get any useful suggestions.
Kazrog
Kazrog, Inc.
Spend as little as you need. Save the rest and invest it into something that returns. A Mac-based setup will run the most smoothly, and I would choose Cubase, Logic, or Pro Tools (in that order) but definitely NOT Digital Performer as your DAW. Room treatment is going to be the most critical thing if you're miking real drums and amps, and I'm not an expert with this, so I defer to anyone with wisdom/experience in this. Remember generally that your drum room doesn't need to sound amazing, and it can even sound dead, because it's easy to build a room in the box with impulse reverb such as Altiverb 6.
RME, Presonus, and Digidesign make quality interfaces. Remember that a lot of things can be miked up nicely with basic mics like SM57s and i5s. You don't have to spend a lot to get great condenser mics either, go with Audio Technica and Røde for these. As for mic preamps, the pres on the interfaces I mentioned are great but won't get you much color. Go with some Vintech Neve clones if you need some extra mic preamp sauce.
But whatever you do, don't blow the budget!
RME, Presonus, and Digidesign make quality interfaces. Remember that a lot of things can be miked up nicely with basic mics like SM57s and i5s. You don't have to spend a lot to get great condenser mics either, go with Audio Technica and Røde for these. As for mic preamps, the pres on the interfaces I mentioned are great but won't get you much color. Go with some Vintech Neve clones if you need some extra mic preamp sauce.
But whatever you do, don't blow the budget!
garry666
Member
- Oct 17, 2007
- 388
- 0
- 16
k dude ill be nice cuz everyone here is on abit of a newb hating theme (im in the mob as well so im not castin any stones people) an not really in the mood to help but il give you my ideas on what id spend it on.
First youve got to get a good sounding room. this means isolating the live room from the control room. you may have to put some walls up and you havent specified wether you already have a place but il asume you do so yeh seperate two rooms for yer shit and try and be smart about he building of it search some of the construction threads as to what you should be doing. youll also want to do some acoustic treatment im not gona tell you what to do cuz im not that nice an if you can figure out the search function then your a little bitch an should stop tryin to pretend to be a big boy and go back to yer huggies.
then id say decide on what daw you are gona be using(this is the audio recording software like cubase or pro tools) now if you have no experience with any i would recomend pro tools (many people may sugest another but the truth is its very easy to learn and IS the industrustry standard which most clients will expect).
Then you will need an interface (if youve gone with pro tools youll need something like a digi 003... pro tools has to have digidesign software to work that or maudio but its the same shit dif pile) such as a mackie 1200r which if you can find i would go with(granted your not pro tools) acording to forbiden it kicks some ass. the 1200r has 12 mic pre amps that are fairly good (if yer a newb i doubt youll be able to tell the dif between it and a neve anyways).
IF you have gone with pro tools you will need another mic pre because its interface(the 003) only has four mic pre and you couldnt properly mic up a fart with that(if your wondering id use two 451s in stereo as well as a sm7 pointed straight at the ass and a u87 by your balls as well as 3 or four ambience mics). now because the interface has 8 instrument ins( sorry if wrong terminology) you either have to get a pre with mic/line outs that you can plug into the interface or what you could do is get something liuke the mackie 800 which has an adat out (adat meaning light cable that magically transforms electrical information into rays of sunshine and happiness.) you can then pulg the adat out into the pro tools interface and you know have 12 mic pres.
Now you are gona need some mics, I would recomend getting the audix pack that includes the d6(for the kick drum) an i5 (for snare an guitar) and 3 other mics for toms (cant remeber the names of them and cant be arsed to look them up) now you are also gona need some overhead mics i would go with the oktava mk 012as (i think thats what OZ is using if i got some numbers mixed up then fuck it use whatever shit he is using cuz they are cheap and sound good as hell. You are also gona want to get an sm57( maybe more) and a beta58 (57 for guitar an top snare 58 for vox and bottom snare) as well you might wanna get a shure sm7b (for vox and hihat). prbally a few other but im a little drunk so fuck it figure it out.
then youl want some good plug ins id go with the waves something or other musicina starter thingy as well as something like the api collection (something with a bit o flavour)
theres alot of other stuf youll need like cables and stand an shit but thats a no brainer chances are ive missed some important detail so somebopdy figure it out im drunk an gona go to bed so yeh. (please jus my opinion dont g back an forth for ages there a a million and one agruments for one or the other against my suggestions but let the dude suck his own cock im sure hell do jus fine without ye given him a starter tug. lol god ims tierd.
edit: thats for a rig that wont blow all your cash and youll have the chance to realise the quality of your gear before you go spend cash on something without realising its true value
oh and you could also jus hire me hahaha i kid i kid.
god dont drink and post this was a fukin bitch to figure out
First youve got to get a good sounding room. this means isolating the live room from the control room. you may have to put some walls up and you havent specified wether you already have a place but il asume you do so yeh seperate two rooms for yer shit and try and be smart about he building of it search some of the construction threads as to what you should be doing. youll also want to do some acoustic treatment im not gona tell you what to do cuz im not that nice an if you can figure out the search function then your a little bitch an should stop tryin to pretend to be a big boy and go back to yer huggies.
then id say decide on what daw you are gona be using(this is the audio recording software like cubase or pro tools) now if you have no experience with any i would recomend pro tools (many people may sugest another but the truth is its very easy to learn and IS the industrustry standard which most clients will expect).
Then you will need an interface (if youve gone with pro tools youll need something like a digi 003... pro tools has to have digidesign software to work that or maudio but its the same shit dif pile) such as a mackie 1200r which if you can find i would go with(granted your not pro tools) acording to forbiden it kicks some ass. the 1200r has 12 mic pre amps that are fairly good (if yer a newb i doubt youll be able to tell the dif between it and a neve anyways).
IF you have gone with pro tools you will need another mic pre because its interface(the 003) only has four mic pre and you couldnt properly mic up a fart with that(if your wondering id use two 451s in stereo as well as a sm7 pointed straight at the ass and a u87 by your balls as well as 3 or four ambience mics). now because the interface has 8 instrument ins( sorry if wrong terminology) you either have to get a pre with mic/line outs that you can plug into the interface or what you could do is get something liuke the mackie 800 which has an adat out (adat meaning light cable that magically transforms electrical information into rays of sunshine and happiness.) you can then pulg the adat out into the pro tools interface and you know have 12 mic pres.
Now you are gona need some mics, I would recomend getting the audix pack that includes the d6(for the kick drum) an i5 (for snare an guitar) and 3 other mics for toms (cant remeber the names of them and cant be arsed to look them up) now you are also gona need some overhead mics i would go with the oktava mk 012as (i think thats what OZ is using if i got some numbers mixed up then fuck it use whatever shit he is using cuz they are cheap and sound good as hell. You are also gona want to get an sm57( maybe more) and a beta58 (57 for guitar an top snare 58 for vox and bottom snare) as well you might wanna get a shure sm7b (for vox and hihat). prbally a few other but im a little drunk so fuck it figure it out.
then youl want some good plug ins id go with the waves something or other musicina starter thingy as well as something like the api collection (something with a bit o flavour)
theres alot of other stuf youll need like cables and stand an shit but thats a no brainer chances are ive missed some important detail so somebopdy figure it out im drunk an gona go to bed so yeh. (please jus my opinion dont g back an forth for ages there a a million and one agruments for one or the other against my suggestions but let the dude suck his own cock im sure hell do jus fine without ye given him a starter tug. lol god ims tierd.
edit: thats for a rig that wont blow all your cash and youll have the chance to realise the quality of your gear before you go spend cash on something without realising its true value
oh and you could also jus hire me hahaha i kid i kid.
god dont drink and post this was a fukin bitch to figure out
Actually, no one has really tried to help you with a business plan - what they're saying is this:
Investing $50K in something you know very little about is madly short-sighted.
No one on here has just got up one day and decided to build a studio - everyone has started off watching their own CD get recorded and asking too many questions, or recording in their bedroom with a godawful £3 mic and spending hours on getting rubbish tones.
You can't just jump in and expect (or even hope) to make good sounding recordings - you have to learn how to, and that doesn't come easily or quickly. If you buy a shitload of great equipment and then try and learn how it works, you'll never get anywhere - if you record other people it'll sound awful, if you just record yourself you've wasted a lot of cash.
You might as well be putting it on a roulette wheel if you don't have some kind of knowledge to back up your wallet - if you went out and spent $50K on medical equipment, it wouldn't make you a surgeon; it'd make you an idiot with an operating theatre.
I don't mean to sound like an arsehole (I just do, all the time) - basically, what I'm trying to say is: Learn the ropes, and then you'll know what questions you should be asking.
Steve
dontletmedrown
Producer/Composer
- Jul 8, 2006
- 259
- 0
- 16
I'm just going to throw this out there...
Do you really REALLY want to get into recording? REALLY? It seriously takes a long time to learn. Also everyone and their grandma is doing recording nowadays, so if yer shit doesn't sound better than theirs after spending 50k I guarantee you will be one pissed off dude. If you have a 50k budget to spend here and now, maybe it would be smarter to pay Andy Sneap to record and mix your stuff. I'm sure one of the many talented dudes on here would do it for even less and make it sound KILLER. I know everyone wants to DIY, but I'm just offering a different perspective. Also, you will probably have a lot more FUN making the album if you are not stressing about all the sonic bullshit.
Do you really REALLY want to get into recording? REALLY? It seriously takes a long time to learn. Also everyone and their grandma is doing recording nowadays, so if yer shit doesn't sound better than theirs after spending 50k I guarantee you will be one pissed off dude. If you have a 50k budget to spend here and now, maybe it would be smarter to pay Andy Sneap to record and mix your stuff. I'm sure one of the many talented dudes on here would do it for even less and make it sound KILLER. I know everyone wants to DIY, but I'm just offering a different perspective. Also, you will probably have a lot more FUN making the album if you are not stressing about all the sonic bullshit.
Loren Littlejohn
Lover of all boobage.
Spend as MUCH money as you can on things that will retain value, if you have any respect for money at all.
As in... NOT computers, NOT cheap interfaces and monitors, NOT shit cables (hell, don't even buy cables - go to RedCo and get Mogami Cable and Neutrik plugs...), NOT FUCKING COMPUTERS, NOT a 64" LCD from hell, NOT blow...
Also, tip the JBroll. He's an odd bugger, doesn't work well with jobs and whatnot, almost ate a table the other day...
Jeff
As in... NOT computers, NOT cheap interfaces and monitors, NOT shit cables (hell, don't even buy cables - go to RedCo and get Mogami Cable and Neutrik plugs...), NOT FUCKING COMPUTERS, NOT a 64" LCD from hell, NOT blow...
Also, tip the JBroll. He's an odd bugger, doesn't work well with jobs and whatnot, almost ate a table the other day...
Jeff
StefTD
Member
Yeah, sorry, but If you're not sure what is better, pod xt or pod xt pro and so on I wouldn't recommend to spend that amount of money.
If you know what to do and what you want, ok, but you have to learn that stuff and I think you shouldn't start at a 50,000$ level.
If you want stuff that isn't that bad and good for beginners, 5,000$ are totally enough in my opinion.
I know, my recordings aren't that good and almost everybody here knows like 10000% more about that stuff, but I think you should start with less money.
A nice multichannel interface, a few mics, preamps, good cables and the DAW you want, if you know what to do you can get great sounds out of almost everything.
But if you don't know what to do, 50,000$ won't make it better.
Sorry for my bad English, just got up.
If you know what to do and what you want, ok, but you have to learn that stuff and I think you shouldn't start at a 50,000$ level.
If you want stuff that isn't that bad and good for beginners, 5,000$ are totally enough in my opinion.
I know, my recordings aren't that good and almost everybody here knows like 10000% more about that stuff, but I think you should start with less money.
A nice multichannel interface, a few mics, preamps, good cables and the DAW you want, if you know what to do you can get great sounds out of almost everything.
But if you don't know what to do, 50,000$ won't make it better.
Sorry for my bad English, just got up.
gorath23
Member
- Feb 6, 2008
- 652
- 0
- 16
In the nicest possible way, this has instant fail written all over it. I am slightly disbelieving that you are coming into this so blindly. $50k to start a venture in which you obviously have absolutely no knowledge or experience?!
I am trying to be realistic here rather than flaming, hell I'd love to do this myself as well but the chances of making any kind of business out of this is ZERO. The chances of squandering $50k = pretty certain.
My advice. Take $100 of this cash and buy as many books about recording/ producing/ mixing etc as you can. Read like fuck. Then take another $500-1000, Buy a used Macbook with Garageband or similar (A Windows PC with Reaper would also be good) and get a used Presonus Firepod. Get a cheap but effective set of Drum Mics (not sure which as I don't record live drums), an SM57, a cheap Condenser like an Audio Technica AT3035 or an AKG Perception, Rode NT-1A etc. If your serious about doing this, use this rig for the next year or two and just record as many people as you can, get as much experience under your belt as time allows.
I'm sorry, but there is absolutely no conceivable way in which throwing $50k at a studio as a total novice is anything other than naive and pointless to the extreme.
Again, please do not construe this as flaming, but I think you maybe need to radically reassess your situation.