Planning Out My First Studio Rack

[Randyisgod15]

So the time has come to stop dreaming and actually spring for a fundamental studio rack setup. I have the original Mac Pro and Mbox2 mini right now, and that's just not gonna cut it anymore. I will eventually build a new recording PC, but that's still in the future. I want to purchase the basic elements to get started on the path to having a legit studio rig. For right now I'm looking to get the rack itself, a power conditioner, recording interface, and preamp. I've been running countless combinations of gear and scenarios through my mind in the past few months, and now that I have about $2000 to spend on it with a pretty steady income for the time being, I'm ready to make the commitment.

Here's what I've compiled and thought on so far:
(Please be brutally honest and realistic with me here, tell me if I've got the concept all wrong or if my rack setup and/or gear choices are utter shit. It's still a learning process for me and I want to get it right. And this list is as per Sweetwater, any other gear outlet suggestions are welcomed)

Raxxess ERK-12B 12U Rack
Furman M-8Dx Power Conditioner
Presonus Firestudio Tube
ART Digital MPA II Preamp

This is what I'm learning towards while trying to balance quality and, as far as mic input capability and rack size goes, quantity, with my budget. I was originally considering the Presonus Studiolive 16, but was turned off by a bunch of complaints and limitations, as well as not even having enough mics to make use of all those inputs. My one concern with the Firestudio is only having 8 mic pres with mic'ing drums in mind (being I am OD when it comes to how many mics to throw on there), but I don't have enough mics nor the recording space at the moment to accommodate that at the moment anyhow. As far as the Rack and Power Conditioner go, I really have no personal preference or opinions on the matter, as I've never had to worry about it myself before. The Preamp choice has been maddening for me, given my budget limitation, numerous possibilities, and general fear of making a poor choice.

Any input, suggestions, criticism, or feedback is most appreciated, I trust nobody else as much as all of you guys to aid me in approving this setup which I will inevitably purchase and commit to. Please let me know any elements I have not taken into consideration, I would kick myself in the ass so hard if I sprung for this and it just wouldn't jive together or didn't have the resources to make it possible. Don't hold back, let me know what you think!

 

[MetalJonesy]

ive been told to stay clear of the Art digital pre, which is what i did, and just went for the Pro MPA II with mullard tubes, worked out great!

 

[Randyisgod15]

Thanks for the warning, especially since it will save me $100 ! Anything in particular you really like about it? I haven't heard too much about these Pres as opposed to others in the price range.

 

[Fragle]

focusrite octopre with adat. best thing for the money imho.

 

[MetalJonesy]

Its a nice solid mic pre, can be nice and clean with the high plate voltage and not much tube drive, or can add that nice amount of saturation, one of the nicest pres i've used for its price and i use it on everything (guitar amp micing, vox, overheads)

shanging the stock chineese tubes helps!

 

[aortizjr]

Cool! Welcome to the beginning of a huge money pit haha. Worth it if you love it though.

Well first I would drop the digital ART. The Presonus Firestudio Tube doesn't even have digital In's, so the SPDIF out's buy you nothing. If you want the ART, get the non-digital one. It ain't bad... but not all that great either.

The other thing to save some cash is the Furman. I know everybody has them and the lights are neat. But unless you get into the higher up models, they are pretty much worthless.

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/equipment/572051-new-power-conditioner.html#post8935708

I get by with a $50 battery backup system and a $25 power strip. Spec to spec it is way better than the Furman and I made sure to register it and hook it up properly so I can claim the damages up to $500K.

If you don't want battery back-up just go with a power strip. Look for a high Joule rating, good insurance and EMF/RFI suppression.

The racks are great for mobile systems and convenient if you want to turn off the whole rack at once with a reach from the front. Other than that, until you spend some bucks on them, not really worth it.

I guess from here what are your goals? Do you plan on expanding? Are you more interested in home recordings and demos or looking to do album pro quality work or work for hire?

Since you have an Mbox, are ok moving away from Pro Tools (you can only run Pro Tools with Digi/Avid interfaces)?

Personally I would rather have a killer recording chain from the get-go. And I have made this mistake myself and ended up loosing more money in the end.

The Presonus is hard to beat until you really spend some money. The Firestudio (vs. the Tube) has similar specs but you get ADAT and SPDIF I/O. Which means you can easily upgrade converters and such later. The Tube has better converter specs, but the analog sections are essentially the same, so I am not sure how much you would gain there.

The Presonus pres are actually decent, in the range of the ART. So I would drop some cash on a killer Mic pre that you can also use as a sweet DI. It is going to hurt, but I wouldn't spend any less than $700 a channel. Even if you have only 1 or 2 channels and you use the presonus for the rest, your main stuff will stack and sound so much better out the gate. It is amazing how even a 57 comes to life with a nice pre.

So try the next level API, Neve-esque (Great River, Vintech, GAP with mods, Chameleon labs with mods), Daking, UAD, Sebatron, Sytek, A-Designs, or go DIY with Five Fish or Seventh Circle Audio. They do pre-made too. Shop used to save and re-sale on these hold extremely well.

That will save you a LOT of fighting. Cheaper pres sound ok, but I don't think they stack well without lots of help.

Then spend your money on good acoustics and monitoring ASAP.

But I would much rather have one or two killer channels than 8 or 16 of mediocrity.

 

[Randyisgod15]

Nice! Yeah if I spring for it I plan on throwing in some Telefunken tubes. I was checking out the OctoPre as well, and the sheer number of inputs is a huge plus, but at what cost of the quality of each individual pre? It would be excellent for mic'ing a kit, but I really don't have the capabilities to fully mic one up for the time being. I do plan on eventually expanding my mic collection and having the means and space to record a full kit, but right now I'm more focused on getting a good vocal and single instrument pre. This also crosses my dilemma of the interface selection, being that if I really had visions of recording drums in the near future, I usually use more than 8 mics (what can I say? I'm OCD and Excessive) and the Firestudio tube only has 8 mic inputs. So goes the never ending vicious cycle of paranoia that I'll regret my final decision down the line. Please, convince me otherwise, I like cross-referencing opinions and getting new suggestions. I'm leaning towards but not limited too what I've posted. Give me something to think about!

 

[Fragle]

fwiw, the octopre has lasse's seal of approval

 

[barricade]

focusrite octopre with adat. best thing for the money imho.

Thumbsup!

 

[ahjteam]

if the firestudio is as "reliable" as the fp10, stay away from it. I would rather suggest getting the profire 2626, as it is also expendable via adat

 

[Randyisgod15]

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/equipment/572051-new-power-conditioner.html#post8935708

Hmm, that is a good point. I guess I'm just held to the standard preconception of having the conditioner at the top of the rack. The one-reach turn on/off is nice though.

As far as my goals go, I am looking into doing some local artist recording and mixing for the time being, try to build a rep and get some invaluable hands on experience. Ultimately, I would absolutely love to do voice-over producing, recording, mixing, and writing. Nothing boils my blood more than bad voice acting and production for animated movies and video games alike. Right now, however, I'm just looking to get my feet wet until I can afford some higher end gear, get a taste for doing quasi-professional work, and find my niche. I also want to do some self-recording and producing for my various projects and ideas for which I have horrible procrastination and ADD, so spending some loot on gear might just motivate me to actually use it .

 

[Randyisgod15]

if the firestudio is as "reliable" as the fp10, stay away from it. I would rather suggest getting the profire 2626, as it is also expendable via adat

Yeah expandability would give it the edge in the long run for sure. I see it mentions running Pro Tools M-Powered sessions in LE, but how about as an interface with LE? I think I'll be set with Reaper for the time being, but it would be a plus, not getting my hopes up though, heh. Any other good words for the ProFire?

 

[aortizjr]

Yeah +1 for the Profire, and the Octane pres are nothing to laugh at either.

Then you have ADAT, SPDIF and such.

Pro Tools M-Powered to me is just Pro Tools LE but for M-Audio interfaces, otherwise they are the same. If you are fine with Reaper, then stick to it.

Even just starting out, I wish I would have gotten better gear earlier on. Especially today where every band and their brother has a home studio or knows someone who does. So by getting the very best you can afford will help give you that bit of an edge, and make your tones sound so much better right out of the gate.

Then your mixes come together with less fighting and allowing you to be more creative of a mixer and much faster. That makes everyone happy, you don't have to fight and the band gets their final product faster.

Plus if you get the next level of gear, you will likely never outgrow it. Which means you only make the investment once while you can.

 

[Randyisgod15]

So if I go with the Profire, would you still recommend the OctoPre, or spring for a higher end Single/Dual Channel pre? I'm trying not to break my $2000 budget, as I'm still keeping some money aside to build a monster of a recording PC, and the fact that I nabbed an SM7b and e906 recently on a whim makes my wallet hate me. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a used gem in my mindless perusing of the forums.

As far as this basic rack setup goes, is there anything else you would recommend to compliment any of the gear? I know Marcus swears by the Hum-x, you guys use anything along those lines to to tighten up your sound?

 

[aortizjr]

Personally, unless you have a drumset coming in sometime soon, I would go with a 1 or 2 channel high end pre.

The pisser about that is that $2000 really doesn't go far. I have almost $1k in cables!!!

The problem with the Profire is that stock, you get 8 channels in, period. Even with 2 nice pres, still only 8 at a time.. I would still try to make it work even if a drumkit was coming in.

But you will have to do scratch guitars to a click and then drums after would be tiiiight. But definitely doable. Actually at that point I would take half up front, then buy the Octopre. If you are doing mostly sound replacement anyway, then even a Behri ADA8000 will be good enough to trigger off of.

Then at least you again have 1 or 2 solid channels for doing guitars, bass, vocals, and important drums... like Overheads or snare.

The only time I need more than 3 or 4 channels is for drumkits which I only do maybe 10-20% of the time. And even then, 70% of it is sample replaced or blended. Especially with my 8ft cieling. Also with most home studios, carpeted floors.

Then even of the 3-4 channels, 1 or maybe 2 are actually money channels (ie. mics on the amp, acoustic guitar, vocals, etc.). The other two tend to be a DI and maybe a random room mic or experimental micing (back or side of cab or something weird) that I rarely end up using or just very very lightly. Vocals, guitars, bass... typically take way way longer than drums.