Hello everyone,
long time user here, albeit very inactive for the last couple of years...
After using pretty much the same equipment for the last 5-10yrs (except for guitars/basses/amps, the addiction is strong here
), I'm in the middle of a massive studio upgrade.
I am mainly using my project studio for songwriting and preproduction purposes, with the occasional full album production - mainly my own bands, but also a few local customers/bands. Until now, I've recorded guitars, bass, and vocals at my place, outsourcing the drum recordings to other studios. However, I want to expand my possibilities and be able to record drums, too. The main reason is that recording drums in a rented space (especially my own bands) always has that "the clock is ticking" vibe going on. I want to be able to spend more time on getting things right and not shooting for a "good enough" solution, both regarding sound and performances. At the same time, I want to upgrade my signal chain for vocals, too, as well as getting some outboard stuff for mixing purposes.
Budget for the whole thing is around 10k€.
I've already upgraded my studio PC (coming from an intel core2duo 4gb ram setup, now using an i7 7700k with 32gb) and I'm in the middle of rebuilding and treating my room, so there's around 5-6k left for gear, both hard- and software.
My main interface is an RME fireface 400, which I'd like to keep, as it's been rock solid and sounds good.
In terms of mics, I'm using sm57, md421, and re-20 for guitars; vocals are mainly done through a brauner phantom, sm7b, nt1a (still quite good imho, esp. for the price tag) or again the re-20.
Long story short, here's what I'm planning to do - any input highly appreciated, especially regarding the 2ch preamp part!
focusrite clarett octopre via adat for the bulk of drum stuff
behringer ada8200 for trigger signals and the additional AD/DA capabilities, again via adat
fireface 400 for 2 more mic in and the additional line IO
all hooked up via adat, either through a RME digiface usb or the hdspe raydat (still haven't quite decided on either one, liking the portability of the digiface though)
fmr rnc and rnla as my first outboard compressors (both for vocals on the way in as well as outboard 2bus compression)
elysia xfilter stereo eq (possibly a later purchase, i don't quite see the need for outboard eq (yet) )
Additionally I was thinking about getting a 1-2ch preamp (preferably 2ch), too.I've narrowed it down to the following choices:
- fmr rnp
- art pro mpa II
- spl goldmike 9844
- BLA auteur
- warm audio wa12or BLA b12a would be 1ch options
Main usage: vocals, snare top&bottom, overheads (in that order of preference). I am quite content with the rme pres for guitars, but wouldn't mind some options there, too.
The thing is, both the RME and the focusrite pres are rather neutral. I'd like to add some color to the mix (no pun intended), too. This does not mean that I'm looking for the most colorful preamps possible; much rather, I'd like to have a different flavor of preamp coloration, which should still be usable for a rather wide range of sources (see above), but I'm very open to suggestions here.
So, to finally get to the point: What would you guys recommend?
Oh, style-wise I'm mostly recording (melodic) death and black metal, sometimes more powermetal-ish stuff, too.
Thanks in advance for the input!
Best regards
long time user here, albeit very inactive for the last couple of years...
After using pretty much the same equipment for the last 5-10yrs (except for guitars/basses/amps, the addiction is strong here
), I'm in the middle of a massive studio upgrade. I am mainly using my project studio for songwriting and preproduction purposes, with the occasional full album production - mainly my own bands, but also a few local customers/bands. Until now, I've recorded guitars, bass, and vocals at my place, outsourcing the drum recordings to other studios. However, I want to expand my possibilities and be able to record drums, too. The main reason is that recording drums in a rented space (especially my own bands) always has that "the clock is ticking" vibe going on. I want to be able to spend more time on getting things right and not shooting for a "good enough" solution, both regarding sound and performances. At the same time, I want to upgrade my signal chain for vocals, too, as well as getting some outboard stuff for mixing purposes.
Budget for the whole thing is around 10k€.
I've already upgraded my studio PC (coming from an intel core2duo 4gb ram setup, now using an i7 7700k with 32gb) and I'm in the middle of rebuilding and treating my room, so there's around 5-6k left for gear, both hard- and software.
My main interface is an RME fireface 400, which I'd like to keep, as it's been rock solid and sounds good.
In terms of mics, I'm using sm57, md421, and re-20 for guitars; vocals are mainly done through a brauner phantom, sm7b, nt1a (still quite good imho, esp. for the price tag) or again the re-20.
Long story short, here's what I'm planning to do - any input highly appreciated, especially regarding the 2ch preamp part!
focusrite clarett octopre via adat for the bulk of drum stuff
behringer ada8200 for trigger signals and the additional AD/DA capabilities, again via adat
fireface 400 for 2 more mic in and the additional line IO
all hooked up via adat, either through a RME digiface usb or the hdspe raydat (still haven't quite decided on either one, liking the portability of the digiface though)
fmr rnc and rnla as my first outboard compressors (both for vocals on the way in as well as outboard 2bus compression)
elysia xfilter stereo eq (possibly a later purchase, i don't quite see the need for outboard eq (yet) )
Additionally I was thinking about getting a 1-2ch preamp (preferably 2ch), too.I've narrowed it down to the following choices:
- fmr rnp
- art pro mpa II
- spl goldmike 9844
- BLA auteur
- warm audio wa12or BLA b12a would be 1ch options
Main usage: vocals, snare top&bottom, overheads (in that order of preference). I am quite content with the rme pres for guitars, but wouldn't mind some options there, too.
The thing is, both the RME and the focusrite pres are rather neutral. I'd like to add some color to the mix (no pun intended), too. This does not mean that I'm looking for the most colorful preamps possible; much rather, I'd like to have a different flavor of preamp coloration, which should still be usable for a rather wide range of sources (see above), but I'm very open to suggestions here.
So, to finally get to the point: What would you guys recommend?
Oh, style-wise I'm mostly recording (melodic) death and black metal, sometimes more powermetal-ish stuff, too.
Thanks in advance for the input!
Best regards
