Help setting up a studio

[TheIllusionist]

Going to be around 6 months down the line when I need all the gear but:

I've got a budget for gear of around £2000 - £3000 for an initial setup. Obviously i'll expand it if all goes well. The rest of the money is going on soundproofing.

I've already got an 8 Core mac so i'm good with the machine, and happy with my KRK Rokit 8's.

I have pro tools 9 LE with an mbox so that has to change. I can't afford HD at this point so:

My initial thoughts are to get a 003 and expand the inputs by using something like a "Presonus Firestudio lightpipe 32".

To be quite honest gear isn't my strong point. Give me pro tools and my plugins and i'm away, but gear... lol.

I want 2 good microphones to use for overheads, a good vocal microphone (I have an SM58 and SM7). If an overhead mic could double as a vocal mic at this point that would be amazing. The drum mic's aren't a problem other than that.

I just want to get the best out of my budget really. I'm not expecting a miracle sound but I'd like to expand to using an AMS Neve 8816 in a year or so which should help the sound out. There must be loads of people on this forum who have fairly budget setups in this range. I'd hate to spend my money on something and have somebody say "i've got that, it's terrible"

Any recommendations would be awesome. I obviously need enough inputs for a drum kit.

 

[guitarguru777]

You can get quality pres for a decent amount of money if you look at Focusrite. Since you are running Protools 9 this is an option.

You can get :
2 Saffire pro 40s - $700 (16 ins, Clean Pres, Great Converters)
Rhode NT5's - $500 (OH's)
Audix D6 - $200 (kick, double this if you need 2 kick mics)
Audix i5 - $100 (snare, guitar, toms, vocals , as versatile as 57 if not more so)
SM7B - $349 (Vocals)
3 x SM57 $300 - (Toms, Snare, Vocals, Kick)

Total = $2150

This is the way I would go personally. Its $150 over your budget but the ability to do Anything well with this setup is pretty much unsurpassed. You would be hard pressed to find a better setup I think. I guess if you want to save a few bucks you could get MXL 601's but I would personally go with the Rode's as you will use those for a longer period of time before feeling you need to upgrade, if you do at all.

Oh and this is almost my exact setup sans a few mics and the 2nd Saffire, but I will have the 2nd Saffire in the next month or so expanding myself to 24 ins. Currently I use a Saffire Pro 40 and an ADA8000

 

[TheIllusionist]

Thanks so much for your reply. I'll definitely check into everything you've said in the morning. And it's actually way under budget I believe as i'm dealing with British Pounds (£) therefore I've probably around $3500 to allocate.

This sounds great tho man, I really appreciate it. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[TheIllusionist]

Also, just had a quick look at this setup, have you seen the "octopre"? It seems to be an 8 channel upgrade by focusrite. Might save you buying another pro 40.

Definitely what I'm looking for (saffire) i was worried about cheap pre's but these seem good, especially for the price.

Thanks again

 

[guitarguru777]

Also, just had a quick look at this setup, have you seen the "octopre"? It seems to be an 8 channel upgrade by focusrite. Might save you buying another pro 40.

Definitely what I'm looking for (saffire) i was worried about cheap pre's but these seem good, especially for the price.

Thanks again

Its the same price as the pro 40 Might as well have the extra headphone outs

 

[Dollarosa]

Wow, I always mic kits and never used more that say 10 inputs. I have a studio doing my drum tracking so I downgraded to a fireface 400 (getting alpha channel soon) so no need for more than two

shit wrong thread, I am drunk

 

[TheIllusionist]

Good point, have you seen this one? - liquid saffire 56

 

[Noumenon]

I recently got the Saffire 56, loving it so far.

 

[jipchen]

2 Saffire pro 40s - $700 (16 ins, Clean Pres, Great Converters)
Rhode NT5's - $500 (OH's)
Audix D6 - $200 (kick, double this if you need 2 kick mics)
Audix i5 - $100 (snare, guitar, toms, vocals , as versatile as 57 if not more so)
SM7B - $349 (Vocals)
3 x SM57 $300 - (Toms, Snare, Vocals, Kick)

Total = $2150

This is the way I would go personally. Its $150 over your budget but the ability to do Anything well with this setup is pretty much unsurpassed. You would be hard pressed to find a better setup I think. I guess if you want to save a few bucks you could get MXL 601's but I would personally go with the Rode's as you will use those for a longer period of time before feeling you need to upgrade, if you do at all.

+1

Allthough I see you already have a Sm58 and SM7? The SM57 and 58 are essentially the same so you'd even have some spare money.
If you have some money left you want to spend, I'd strongly suggest to invest it in aocustics, and build some basstraps and broadbandabsorbers.
You can make a lot of panels for about 200 pounds already. There are threads and instructions on it all over the internet (gearslutz.com, johnlsayers forum, etc):
http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10297
http://www.johnlsayers.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10304
It's really easy and will improve your monitoring very effectively. More than better speakers or better conversion etc.

Also, a nice bonus mic like the Beyerdynamic M201 (i.e. on the snare) or good plugins are a wise investment imo

 

[guitarguru777]

Good point, have you seen this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuVOYrjeOBw - liquid saffire 56

Yep but the pro 40 is better value for the money. the DSP is useless to me, the liquid pres aren't much better then the ones in the pro 40.

Value for the money you cant beat the pro 40,....

Oh and rackspace is pretty hard to find in my place, so haivng a 2U unit is bad

 

[DEFIED]

Its the same price as the pro 40 Might as well have the extra headphone outs

That's a great point, I have the pro 40 as well and was thinking about getting the octopre dynamic. But the extra headphone ports are kind of a good thing too.

 

[Tevebob]

I'm currently planning my home studio too with same budget, though I will need monitors too.
I've read really good revirews about Oktava MK-012 for overheads too, maybe you can check them out, you can get them in a pair for 350 EUR: http://www.oktava-online.com/mk012.htm They are in the same price and quality. Just take care about chineese counterfeits on the market.
Compare:
http://www.gearslutz.com/board/so-much-gear-so-little-time/41605-oktava-mk012-rode-nt5.html
Listen:
http://www.sound-patterns.com/mk012/

This is my studio plan now:
- Adam A7
- Focusrite Saffire Pro 40
- Audio-Technica AT4040
- Audio-Technica MBDK5 or T. Bone DC1000 cheap drum mic set (1kick+4for snare+toms)
- Oktava MK012 2x
- Trigger

I would totally replace the drums with Trigger and would use only the overheads, so thats why I don't want expensive mics for drums.
Good luck! And let me know your experiences, I think I'll have enough money for this only next year!

 

[TheIllusionist]

Thanks a lot guys. Loads of info for me to check out there!