If you made a studio right now, how much would you spend?

[Mikaël-ange]

This thread is about studio construction or gear?
With construction, a 100K budget is a realistic answer (speaking about real studio, designed by great guys like Thomas from Northward).

For gear keep in mind a 1073 cost around 3200$, so that put close to 53K just for 16 great mic pre. Add to that AD converter, cable, monitor...etc.

When i think of building a studio i think of something proper, not a home setup or anything like that. First thing that would be on my list is construction, cabling and acoustic treatment. Once all the room are nice and ready to work in, that's when you start bringing in the equipment. I probably wouldn't start right off with a expensive money sink like a console, probably would grab a used C24 or just a Command 8 for control surface and get some nice preamps and outboard.

But you probably know that you can't put a LFAC in a room designed around a C24... So if you need a console, you need to have your room designed around that.

 

[nialldoran]

You can get a used ssl g for about 20 Grand,

THIS^^^

you could totally stretch a huge budget into a gigantic ones by picking up bargins like this, we have a 24 channel 4000g+ and it didnt cost more than 30k shipping was a different matter

 

[CubanDude]

since I'd like to have a nice arsenal of amps, 6k are far too less

 

[luismars]

Veeeeery basic and I'm letting things out like accoustic treatment.

Whatever it costs to rent or buy the place and:

~1000 pc
~500 interface
~400 1 (2?) mic pre
~100 Midi keyboard
~700 Drum mic kit
~ 90 SM57
~500 LDC
~450 SDC pair
~600 Monitors
~300 Various Headphones including mixing ones
~200 Desk
~300 Cables, stands, and stuff

4240€ + costs Aprox

 

[amarshism]

I'll let you know in 6 months

 

[Terminus]

Honestly I could make do with just a decent space and minimal acoustic treatment at the beginning and add on as needed. It's always going to be more than predicted.

 

[ForceTheTriggerSucks]

Probably like 80 grand haha. I would snag a couple pairs of Opals, mm27's, twins etc. A shit ton of quality hardware. Waves mercury, UA shit among various other awesome plug company bundles. Epic drum/live and control rooms built with OCD-like precision. A put-put golf course, a custom built KFC vending machine in every room and Scarlett Johansson to co-engineer every project. I know, a humble studio, but I'm a minimalist.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I could do it respectable for $20k if room considerations were not involved.

 

[Derykus]

You guys think all that nice gear is going to make a difference when your clients show up with shitty guitars and drumsets? I'd spend like $30k in instruments alone. Then at least another $50k for recording equipment. Then who knows how much a proper studio space will end up costing to buy or build.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

You guys think all that nice gear is going to make a difference when your clients show up with shitty guitars and drumsets? I'd spend like $30k in instruments alone. Then at least another $50k for recording equipment. Then who knows how much a proper studio space will end up costing to buy or build.

Yeah $20k includes buying all that shit again. I don't need $30k in instruments.

 

[crillemannen]

People seems to be exaggerate here haha. Of course if you want to build a studio aka 70-90's then of course you need to spend 500k-1million. But You could get away with a really nice pro studio for around 100-150k, studio construction included. And a small/medium sized pro studio for about 50-100k.

Could look like this:

50k on construction.
20k on preamps and conversion (2 Crane Song spiders and SSL alphalink)
10-15k on microphones
10k on outbords, 1176, Distressor etc.
10-15k on amps and equipment in general

So for about 100k you can get a really nice high-end setup, add an additional 50k and you got yourself a really really nice highend studio.

 

[Revson]

If someone said to me "Here's a blank check (within reason) to put together a studio" this is what I would get, with price estimates:

RME Fireface + ADI-8 expander ~$3500
2 SCA racks w/ 4 A12b's, 4 J99b's, 4 N72's, and 4 T15's ~$6600
2 Distressors ~$2200 used
4 DBX 160's ~$1000 used
Chameleon labs 7720 ~$500
ART Pro VLA II ~$250
GSSL Clone ~$1000
2 1176 clones ~$1500

D6 ~$150
6 sm57's ~$500
2 421's ~$500 used
2 ShinyBox 46MXC ribbons ~$900
sm7b ~$300 used
Oktavamod MK-012 pair ~$800
Peluso 2247 ~$1300

$2000 to build a badass computer with dual monitor setup
$1000 for PT10 and Cubase 6
$3000 for cables, patchbay, racks, and a desk
$2000 for a good monitoring setup
$1000 for stands
$1500 for some plugins (All of Slate's plugs and some Waves stuff)

5150 head ~$700 used
Marshall DSL 100 head ~$700 used
Mesa 2 channel Recto ~$1000 used
Vox AC30 handwired combo ~$1600
Mesa 412 ~$500 used
Marshall 212 ~$300 used

PRS SE 245 w/ upgraded pickups ~$800
American Telecaster ~$800
Fender 5-string Jazz bass ~$1000

$1500 for a quality drum set w/ cymbals and double-bass pedal
$1000 for odds and ends that aren't thought of yet

That puts me at ~$41,200 right now. Let's estimate another $10-20k for sound treatment and any construction costs if I lease out a warehouse, so now I'm looking at around $60,000 to start a mid-level studio with some decent gear but nothing overly amazing, and a couple of useable instruments/amps in case a client comes in with total shit. You may want to lessen the outboard compressors and spend more on plugins. I don't think I would, though.