If you had $12,000...

[AdamWathan]

This relates back to the original topic I posted a couple of months ago about putting together my project studio setup... Basically, I'm starting from scratch here as I have nothing at home but an M-Audio Fast Track Pro, a V-Amp and my software haha... I've got myself a good new job and I'm planning on putting this together over the course of the next year or so with $12 grand as my maximum starting budget...

So, if you had $12,000 to buy all the necessary gear you would need to have a decent project studio setup, what would you buy? Don't forget the small minor things like stands and cables! Also, power conditioners, headphone amps, etc.

Should be cool to see what everyone has to say!

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Well assuming I had a decent sized room and I wanted to track drums etc to me would be:

Sound treatment (I'm gonna go with a budget of at least $1.5k here for both fixed treatment and gobos)
Mac pro quad core (The one I looked at was $4k)
2 18" monitors ($400?)
Presonus HP60 ($300)
Pair of KRK VXT 8s ($1.2K)
RME Fireface 800 ($1.5K)
1 Presonus DigiMax FS ($600)
3 sm57 mics ($300)
Bulk mic cable: ($200)
Pack of onstage mic stands ($100)
Audix D6 ($200)
Audix i5 ($100)
Sure KSM 137 pair ($599)
Audix D4 mic ($169)
Audio Technica 4050 ($599)
Bunch of just good enough to track with headphones ($100-200)

Total cost: $11,968

Gross.

Edit: woops forgot the digital cable that would go between the digimax and rme. All well maybe another $20.

 

[JBroll]

Jesus... 4 grand on a computer that you'll need to upgrade again in a few years? That's probably the main thing I would change in that list.

Jeff

 

[crosstalk]

Jesus... 4 grand on a computer that you'll need to upgrade again in a few years? That's probably the main thing I would change in that list.

Jeff

Yeah... I would build a very sweet PC for less than 1 grand. Depends on what you're running now. Might not be necessary. Might be very necessary. Oh, and if you were to go PC, fuck Vista.

My nice 22" LCD wide screen monitor was $250. I'd love to have a 2nd.

Another good idea might be to get a good external hard drive.

 

[EerieVon]

You can build a WinXP 64 bit system with 3 ghz dual core AMD with 3-4 gigs of ram for far less than 1k

 

[LSD-Studio]

the computer is the HEART of your homestudio!
I as well think its not necessairy to shell out 4 grand though.
I really don't wanna start the Mac vs. PC debate again though..

(just get a used G5 PPC or so, will be way longer of use than any PC you can buy today).

then I'd get 1 VERY good preamp (like SSL, NEVE, API) and 16 decent ones
good converters (about 2000 for 16 channels),....my list would probably be like:

used G5: 1000
Awesome Pre: 1500
16 decent pres: 1500
16 channels od A/D D/A: 2000
14 Stands: 300
cables: 500
software: 1500 (depending on what you wanna get)
room treatment: 2000
Mics:
2x km184
1x sm7
2x sm57
2x d2
1x d6 :around 2100 or so in total

nearfields (like adam or so) : 1500


k, that's more like 14000 now, but that's still a pretty tight budget

there will be tons of shit you'll not be thinking about in the first place anyway, so there'll be at least like 2000 hidden costs coming as well...

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Yeah, four grand on a computer is way overkill with that budget, at least in my opinion. You could build a kickass PC with just a grand to spend, or if you want to go the Mac way, get a decent used G5 like LSD-Studio said. The remaining three grand you could spend on lots of useful shit that doesn't occur to you right away, like plugins, DI boxes and so on.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Okay okay powermac dual 2Ghz G5 it is then ($1.2K)

I knew there was going to be disagreements over what I listed.

Oh and fuck me running I forgot software, and plug ins.

 

[crosstalk]

Okay okay powermac dual 2Ghz G5 it is then ($1.2K)

I knew there was going to be disagreements over what I listed.

Oh and fuck me running I forgot software, and plug ins.

Haha, I was trying to think of what important things needed to be added. Totally missed software and plugins too.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Yup, but he mentioned having the software, so I figured a DAW was already covered And if it wasn't, I would've recommend Reaper anyway...

 

[Sloan]

Lots of coke and a bunch of those sweet dj lights with the fucking lazers man!

:danceboy:

 

[DivisionByZero]

Approx. $50.