Question: Absolute MUST HAVE Outboard Gear to open a studio

[guitarguru777]

Reason I am asking is I am considering a move to a large studio here in town that used to do really well. It closed shop about 2 years ago and the building has just been sitting there. 98% of the sound treatment is still there, and all the rooms are built out and treated.

My current rig is pretty small but with some outboard and a control surface I think I can at least get started as upgrade as more business comes in.

That being said.....

What do you think is ABSOLUTE MUST HAVE Outboard gear to open a Pro Studio.

Im talking things like Comps, Mic Pres, Effects ....

What is ESSENTIAL to have?

 

[C_F_H_13]

Off the top of my head here's the priorities for me before any gear:

-at least 16 i/o and 16 pres
-ability to sum multiple microphones
-3-4 headphone sends
-decent isolation.

If you got all that covered the gear that I personally always want is:

1- 1176..1 is just fine
2- at least 2 channels of really good pre/eqs. Be it Neve 10-- s or API 512/550 combo
3- 1 solid stereo eq and 1 solid stereo comp. Generally speaking I love GML 8200 but something more reasonable would be one of those dual API ones. For comps, depends, but either SSL clone, or something like a summit is always good.

Apart from that it's all luxury (all of this is luxury actually but you know what I mean).

 

[MetalSound]

at least one sm 57 is all you need.

 

[Trevoire520]

I think to open a studio you've got to have something to offer that people don't have in their home setups.

Big things to me are:

The ability to record loud amps etc at any time of day
Nice drum room
Nice valve amps & cabs (preferably a few)
Nice vocal mic

Hardware comps, while technically something you can have in a home setup, are a more rare occurrence. So it certainly wouldn't hurt to have one or two (1176 can cover alot of ground here)
A nice pair of "money" channels (API/Neve/Whatever) would probably be a good shout too.


Really though at the end of the day all that really matters is that your stuff sounds great and you're in demand. If you've got that covered then it doesn't really matter what gear you do or don't have. Think of when Joey was getting popular and the only mic in the entire of some of his productions was for vocals.

 

[tempe]

To be honest, I would say you only really need 16 channels of nice sounding preamps with a bit of flavour, and 16 channels of nice i/o. Everything else is luxury to me, there's nothing wrong with being 100% ITB these days. I'd spend your money on making the rooms as nice sounding as possible, and investing in extremely high quality monitoring.

 

[guitarguru777]

What we currently have is 2 recording rigs. 1 for each room...

Studio A - Digi 02 with 16channels
Studio B - Focusrite Saffire pro 40 + Octopre 16 Channels

Amps we own:
Peavey 5150
Krank Krankenstien

Amps we have unlimited access too:
Marshall JCM 900
Marshall DSL 2000
Marshall TSL 2000
79′ Marshall JMP-2203 (pre JCM 800)
Mesa Boogie Dual Rectofier
Mesa Boogie Triple Rectofier
Mesa Boogie Lonestar
Mesa Boogie Road King
Mesa Boogie Stiletto Deuce
Vox AC-15
Vox AC-30

Cabs We Own:
Krank w/ Eminence Legends
Mesa Recto v30s
71 Marshall with v30s and GT65

Cabs we have unlimited access too:
Mesa Boogie 2×12
Marshall 1960A
Marshall 1960B
Marshall JCM900

Mics we own:
4x SM57
2x Audix i5
SM7B
2x AT2020
2x Audix D6
2x Sure Beta 52
2x Rhode NT5

I think with what we have its enough to get us a good start.

My plan was to work up the cash for the following within the first 6 months:
UA LA-2A
UA 1176N

Within the first year:
Empirical Distressor
Focusrite ISA
API Lunchbox with various goodies
Control Surface

 

[tempe]

I'd say from that list your biggest issue, although your mic locker is great, is that I'd be looking at getting a few more flavours of microphone. From there I'd say get a converter / DAW system your happy with using for the next 3-4 years. From there go to preamps / channel strips, then to outboard comps and EQ, then the control surface.

That being said my studio just went under so take my opinion with a grain of salt!

 

[crillemannen]

You got the guitar part covered for sure haha

You should treat your rooms profesiionally if you are really serious.

Ditch the 002 as fast as you can man, those stinks!!! Get an SSL alphalink or an Lynx.

The next thing i would recommend you to buy is a couple of highend preamps 4-8 API whatever flavour.
Then moving on to atleat one highend microphone. Pelsuo 2247,Peluso P12 or Neumann u87 for example.

If you would go for some hybrid mixing i can really recommend you getting a 1176 as your first comp. Works wonders for vocals.
Then a SSL for mixbus then moving on to a La2a-stereo for choirs etc (thats my next one)

 

[guitarguru777]

The rooms are about 90% treated already. Its a former studio here in Vegas that closed up shop in 2009. Its was sitting around till this guys bought it last year to use as a "music school" ...

Hes looking to get someone in there to get the studio back up and running so thats the deal. Here are some photos of the place:

https://picasaweb.google.com/jcohen...authkey=Gv1sRgCL-8l8r_xMzb7AE&feat=directlink

Im gong to need some bass traps and some more wall treatment but other then that its probably 80 to 90% there.

 

[mva801]

A good vocal chain is pretty critical I think. You could build a couple really nice neve/ api clone preamps for cheap, and pick up a distressor or 1176. That will give you pre's for kick, snare, guitar, vox (you know, the important stuff) (There are also good kits for 1176's. Hairball audio)

A good vocal condenser to go along with that sm7 would be rad to. Peluso has been mentioned. Mojave, an AT4050, or maybe a Joly modded mic can be had for not too much.

A lot of the other stuff can be dealt with ITB until you get some scratch.

 

[ahjteam]

What we currently have is 2 recording rigs. 1 for each room...

Studio A - Digi 02 with 16channels
Studio B - Focusrite Saffire pro 40 + Octopre 16 Channels

Mics we own:
4x SM57
2x Audix i5
SM7B
2x AT2020
2x Audix D6
2x Sure Beta 52
2x Rhode NT5

15 mics, 32 inputs. And where are the DI-boxes? I would start there, from mics and DI-boxes. Rather too many mics than not enough mics, like it is now. If one day you happen to get both rooms booked at the same time where one is doing drums, 15 mics just is not enough.

I even own like +30 mics myself (5 x SM57, 2 x Beyer handheld, 3 x e604, 1 x e901 1 x D6, 1 x B52, 2 x NT5, 1 x NT2A, 1 x M3, 1 x NTG2, 1 x SM7B, 7 x Karma Silver Bullet, 6 x ddrum triggers, 5 DI-boxes, I might've even forgot something) and I don't even have a decent recording rig.

But also a +1 for a good vocal chain (mic + pre + comp + eq or alternative a good channelstrip)

 

[superfreak]

Preamps:
API 500-6B 6-Slot 500 Series Lunchbox Chasis (you get this for free from VintageKing when you buy 4 modules)
x2 API 512C Preamp ($1,400)
x2 Vintech 573 Preamp ($1,200)

Compressors/EQs:
Chameleon Labs 7720 Stereo VCA Compressor ($500)
Chameleon Labs 7802 Stereo Opto Tube Compressor ($700)
JDK Audio R24 2-Channel 4-Band Parametric EQ ($1,000)


My 2c.

 

[greyskull]

Off the top of my head here's the priorities for me before any gear:

-at least 16 i/o and 16 pres
-ability to sum multiple microphones
-3-4 headphone sends
-decent isolation.

If you got all that covered the gear that I personally always want is:

1- 1176..1 is just fine
2- at least 2 channels of really good pre/eqs. Be it Neve 10-- s or API 512/550 combo
3- 1 solid stereo eq and 1 solid stereo comp. Generally speaking I love GML 8200 but something more reasonable would be one of those dual API ones. For comps, depends, but either SSL clone, or something like a summit is always good.

Apart from that it's all luxury (all of this is luxury actually but you know what I mean).

What he said.

 

[burst]

Don't forget good ol' dbx 160

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Depends on how pro an image you're aiming for. I've worked out of quite a bit of studios, and the gear list has never been a problem for me. I've worked with what the studio has, bringing some of my own stuff if needed and I've always been happy.

However, for a 250€+/24h lockout, commercial studio I pretty much expect the following:
- A real interface. I'm doing fine with my 2626, but that's all I need in my setup, since no-one sees it. I don't use the conversion on it, either. Grab a real sound card and pair it with some standard converters. Lynx Aurora, Apogee AD/DA and so on.
- Good monitors. And I mean good, not "pretty good for the price." If I'm working outside my comfort zone (ie. the monitoring setup I'm used to), I need to be able to rely on the monitoring.
- Mac and ProTools or Cubase. Industry standard, everyone knows how to operate etc.
- Good preamps, preferably several flavors. API, SSL, UA, Neve, the good stuff.
- A good, extensive collection of mics. 57's, 421's, several kick mics, good condensers (both LDC and SDC, standard stuff like KM184's), U87 is a huge plus, some nice ribbons (actually, T.Bones are just fine if the rest is taken care of). I want to keep the drums miced when we're working on other instruments, so there should be enough mics available.
- Several flavors of industry standard compression: 1176, Distressor, LA2A, DBX 160.

That's pretty much it. But like I said, if you're not offering lock-outs, you really might not need anything more than good monitoring, enough decent mics, enough decent preamps and converters and a DAW.

 

[gabriel g.]

Depends on how pro an image you're aiming for. I've worked out of quite a bit of studios, and the gear list has never been a problem for me. I've worked with what the studio has, bringing some of my own stuff if needed and I've always been happy.

However, for a 250€+/24h lockout, commercial studio I pretty much expect the following:
- A real interface. I'm doing fine with my 2626, but that's all I need in my setup, since no-one sees it. I don't use the conversion on it, either. Grab a real sound card and pair it with some standard converters. Lynx Aurora, Apogee AD/DA and so on.
- Good monitors. And I mean good, not "pretty good for the price." If I'm working outside my comfort zone (ie. the monitoring setup I'm used to), I need to be able to rely on the monitoring.
- Mac and ProTools or Cubase. Industry standard, everyone knows how to operate etc.
- Good preamps, preferably several flavors. API, SSL, UA, Neve, the good stuff.
- A good, extensive collection of mics. 57's, 421's, several kick mics, good condensers (both LDC and SDC, standard stuff like KM184's), U87 is a huge plus, some nice ribbons (actually, T.Bones are just fine if the rest is taken care of). I want to keep the drums miced when we're working on other instruments, so there should be enough mics available.
- Several flavors of industry standard compression: 1176, Distressor, LA2A, DBX 160.

That's pretty much it. But like I said, if you're not offering lock-outs, you really might not need anything more than good monitoring, enough decent mics, enough decent preamps and converters and a DAW.

realy good points but two things I would change:
SSL is not known for their great preamps, only for their great 2bus and consoles
Cubase is no studio standard, its Logic and Protools

other points are dead on IMO

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

realy good points but two things I would change:
SSL is not known for their great preamps, only for their great 2bus and consoles
Cubase is no studio standard, its Logic and Protools

other points are dead on IMO

SSL might be a bit of a personal preference, since I've had good experiences with the Alpha Channel, so yeah, you might want to disregard that one.

About Cubase, it's a regional thing. I know only a handful of studios in my country that run Logic. I know it's hugely popular in Sweden, for example, but around here, not at all.

I think I've worked out of two studios that offered Logic, one of which I actually got home from two hours ago (fucking excellent session, I'm still all cheerful and stuff). The other had Nuendo as a primary DAW, and in the studio I just worked at, I used ProTools.

 

[gabriel g.]

SSL might be a bit of a personal preference, since I've had good experiences with the Alpha Channel, so yeah, you might want to disregard that one.

About Cubase, it's a regional thing. I know only a handful of studios in my country that run Logic. I know it's hugely popular in Sweden, for example, but around here, not at all.

I think I've worked out of two studios that offered Logic, one of which I actually got home from two hours ago (fucking excellent session, I'm still all cheerful and stuff). The other had Nuendo as a primary DAW, and in the studio I just worked at, I used ProTools.

fair enough
and I only heard good things about the ssl VHD preamps

 

[Erik Monsonis]

Whatever you spend your money on, make sure is going to pay back! Don't spend a huge amount of money right away, I'd say rather add gear eventually based on your future needs.

If you have enough gear to record a full band, go for whatever you need and if the studio works nicely, and you have a nice client base, more or less regular income, then you can be safe buying lots of expensive gear.

I hope everything works awesome for you, but if it doesn't, it's not that easy to sell ALL the costly gear!