I made a real mess.... Studio Equipment for Dance Music

[just_manu]

Originally Posted by kraku

But if I had to buy as minimal and pro sounding setup as possible right now, it would probably be something like this:
- good monitors like Genelec 8250A's
- some acoustic treatment to the room
- a powerful computer with lots of memory
- some pretty decent audio interface like Apogee Duet or RME Fireface 400
- Logic Pro (DAW software)
- Native Instruments Battery (for drums, but you can also use it as a more traditional sampler)
- LennarDigital Sylenth1 (for those super-digital crispy clear VA sounds)
- DCAM SynthSquad (for those more analogue character VA sounds)
- SoundToys EchoBoy (delay)
- Lexicon PCM Native Reverb
- Cytomic Glue (compressor)
- some good mastering limiter plugin

.

Hi !

About the Monitors.... I will make you the same... do you think the difference between the Mackie and, for example, the ones you recommend, the Genelec 8250A, will give me so huge difference?

thank you !!!

[just_manu]

Originally Posted by SWAN808

Bass Traps

Great Link. Thanks !!!!!

[just_manu]

Wich compressor would you chain after a Thermionic Culture Vulture?

API 2500, Brawmer 1968.........?

[Karloff70]

Originally Posted by just_manu

Hi !

About the Monitors.... I will make you the same... do you think the difference between the Mackie and, for example, the ones you recommend, the Genelec 8250A, will give me so huge difference?

thank you !!!

I'm not kraku, but just to say that monitors are about two things, quality and preference. Quality can be recommended, preference can only be found out by trial and error.....

[tobiasvangils]

about the monitors:
I would just recommend a very true sound, less coloured as possible.

That's why I've chosen the passive monitor controller, you can connect both speakers, and make the mix on both of them.

The event Opals are really great. I don't know how your room is, but they also work great in smaller rooms.
haven't tried the PCM or PCi or however they are called. They must be great though, but I don't know.

The Adam A7's are good, but they lack a lot in the low end.

And the Event Opals are used by many great tech-house/progressive-house/deep-house(electro-house etc. musicians. So Im sure you will be good there.

And once again really put a lot of effort in the acoustics. That's the most imporant thing

[kraku]

Originally Posted by just_manu

Hi !

About the Monitors.... I will make you the same... do you think the difference between the Mackie and, for example, the ones you recommend, the Genelec 8250A, will give me so huge difference?

thank you !!!

In one word: yes, if you want as neutral and uncolored sound as possible, which should help you out when mixing your tracks.

You should also keep in mind that if you work in a reverb chamber, it doesn't matter what monitors you have; they all sound the same. So get your room acoustics sorted out and then buy quality monitoring system. It'll be the best investment in music gear you'll ever make.

[ArisA]

Originally Posted by just_manu

I've heard that the PMC are more a mid-field monitors than near-field. My studio has the tipical bedroom size :-/

my room is 4mx3m

[mrkaizen]

did anyone mention hookers and blow already ? absolutely essential

also a book on mixing

[once a roadie]

Look for good deals on used versatile gear.

API a2d (especially good if your interface has spdif in)
Charter oak 538
Drawmer 1968
Tk bc1
Radial di
Juno 106
Korg dw8000

Etc






Posted via the Gearslutz iPhone app

[Purple]

My two thoughts...

Don't blow all of your money in one go. Pick up gear when you feel you need it, one piece at a time. You will learn to appreciate each piece a lot more and learn the subtle characteristics of each piece.

Consider trying to stick to industry standard stuff, especially when you aren't sure what you want and/or need. It is more often than not industry standard for a good reason. And if you buy used, you are essentially making an investment. Eg Buy a used 1176, and in 3 years time you decide you don't want it anymore, piece of piss to sell it again for a similar price. Buy a brand new gearslutz-flavour-of-the-month piece, and in 3 years it will have depreciated considerably, and will potentially be more difficult to sell.

Just my opinion. Watch as the gear pimps slay my second point though Take everything on GS with a grain of salt, my advice included, and you should be good.

[walth]

Originally Posted by just_manu

I've posted two threads before this one...... but unfortunately, the more I search through the web, the more I get disoriented :-/

I have about 10K € to spend on outboard for my studio. I must say I have no hardware now, only a Pc, two Mackie's Hr 824,a Tc Konnekt 6 and a SE2200a mic.

I want to buy a pair of synths such as Slim Phatty and Nord Lead Rack.

But farther than that, I have NO IDEA of what to buy.

First, I'll need a good preamp for vocals, and a good mic. (Avalon, Neumann, etc...)

Second, I need some hardware to run my different tracks (percussion, bass, synths, etc... through it, to give them warmth and phatness. (I don't know if Valve Preamp + Compressor, or just a Valve compressor, or a Culture Vulture + a Compressor).

I've been trying to know what pro's have in their studios, but I have found anything :(.

What would be your best buy for making a good studio for ONLY electronic music (house music)????

Please, I need a lot of helpful answers from people who produces this kind of music.

There are some good interviews with Kaskade, Deadmau5, Theivery Corporation etc on the Web

A lot of those guys are using macs or customized PCs from PC audio labs for example with Logic Pro or pro tools 9.

thievery corporation for example made a record with an MPC3000, a PC, or Cakewalk Studio Pro, a rhodes and they said under $7k worth of gear.

i'd get a

Macbook Pro, or Mac Pro with a Monitor
a Glyph Hard Drive
A good DAW like Pro Tools 9 or Logic Studio 9, Cubase

a Apogee Duet/Apogee Rosetta 800 or Lynx Aurora 8 or 16

for synths maybe NAtive Instruments Komplete7. you get samplers, drum machines, Rhodes, everything you’d need to make electronic music, Nexus is cool for pads, or Spectrasonics has really great synths.

I'd also invest in some drum libraries.
If you get hardware look at the Access Virus, a Nord Synth, maybe an old novation synth and studio electronics has awesome synths for bass.

For preamps
API has some good 4 channel pramps.
Neve and BAE Neve Moduls are good. (1081/1084/1073/33114/33115)
Avalon and Telefunken Have great tube pres
Get a few radial Dis
GML and Daking have good pres
The Focusrite ISA-828 has 8 channels of pres for about $2300.

[Marogru]

+1 on Event Opals, I mix n them electronic music every day.

[Fezzle]

Right if your producing electronic music get ureslef the DAW/s you need, that might mean getting a mac. I would sell the mackies n get a pair of genelec 8040's or some PMC Tb2's , I use the pmc's however its very critical with them that your room is treated coz theyre rear ported nearfields so placement is essential too. The Genelecs are probably a good bet if your room isnt treated much. Heres what I reckon for your budget

Your PC youve already got (As long as its fast enough)
An RME Fireface 800 , (8 in 8 out , which will really come in handy at some point or another)
Cubase 6
Another Platform if like fruityloops etc for skatching ideas if you like. I use fruity as a sketchpad and I really feel its more useful for finding great ideas quickly
A plugin bundle, like the Sonnox or a Waves bundle, this i feel is really important coz its useful to have a really quality EQ and a few other tools like reverbs that will eat the Cubases stock ones for breakfast.
A couple of synths ...? OK here I think its wise to get 1 really decent VCA ALL ANALOGUE synthesizer.. and leave the rest for software.. NI do great softsynths, and ARTURIA!! I honestly think this because you can get so many amazing sounds from soft synths these days , so youll save money for more variety. BUT , youll still have one , decent analogue synth that can do that little extra software synths cant IMO.. Really fat and basic round sounds that CUT way better and have a great density.
Microphone, I reckon if its mainly vocals your doing.... A Shure SM7b
Preamp - Great River , or Cranesong Flamingo .. theyve got nice tone and can definately do warm
A Radial passive DI for your synth/bass players etc
MIDI keyboard/control + something with beat pads for SURE.. much more fun n quicker than the bloody mouse
Thats it!!! you may have some left to spend.. and if I were you keep it to essentials like quality cabling/room treatment , coz that will be far more imortant than some outboard unit that i think under your budget + for what your doing wont be worth it, like someone else said above they wont bring as much to the table as you first think.. like a decent pre and analogue synth will.. + with the DI box you can always run your drum tracks through the Mic Pre if you want a little extra tone.
If you really wanted an outboard unit maybe the Culture Vulture or indeed the EL Fatso! but seriously spend wisely BEFORE going n getting expensive dynamics processing that wont do as much for you as the other stuff

Good Luck!

[WunderBro Flo]

My suggestions:

Get monitors that extend down low and suit your taste, the choice is very personal.

Get basic room treatment (4 bass traps & 8-10 mid/high absorbers) and place it effectively (!)

Spend a big chunk of your budget for a powerful DAW and software, not too much on hardware. There are fantastic soft synths and sample packs out there and fantastic mixing plugins. you get way more on return than when spending 80% of your budget on hardware and the rest on software.

Software for EDM:
DAW Sequencer of your choice, I prefer Cubase, it includes many essential tools already like melodyne-like pitch editing, transient shaping, impulse reverb plugins, sidechain compression, external hardware plugin setup with full delay compensation. make sure it supports plugin sidechaining for today's pumping craze.

NI Komplete, Nexus, Sylenth.

a bunch of drumsamples, sfx and add-on loops. for example from mutekki, wave alchemy, vengeance.

mixing:
Waves Platinum or at least some bundle that includes maxxbass and RBass, essential EDM plugins.
UAD2 Quad or at least Duo card, giving you highclass plugins while taking stress off the CPU which handles the softsynths. I would buy the massive passive and Studer A800, precision enhancer khz with it, fantastic tools for EDM.
Other fantastic plugins:
Stillwell BadBussMojo, Duende native, the glue, equality, cableguys Volumeshaper (!!!) and filtershaper, mpressor, Sonnox transmod, altiverb, lexicon PCM, SPL vitalizer, Decapitator, FabFilter Pro-L brickwall as the last stage.

IMHO you can save money by not buying much or crazy expensive hardware. I would get a workhorse mic like AT4050 and a cheap pre like a DAV, plus a used o FATSO. with this combo you can record, saturate and compress for both tracking and mixdown in stereo. You can produce
fantastic sounding EDM with these software tools and an analog fatso&compression on the 2buss. even better if you run some main soft ware instruments through it as well and print it back on a new track.

But having a huge choice of fantastic preset sounds to start with isost important. they are the source, and no analog highend eq or compressor will make a lesser source sound better than a better source in the first place. more sounds to choose from means better choices. this will affect your music most.

Best,
Flo

[mmplisskin]

Originally Posted by Purple

My two thoughts...

Don't blow all of your money in one go. Pick up gear when you feel you need it, one piece at a time. You will learn to appreciate each piece a lot more and learn the subtle characteristics of each piece.

Consider trying to stick to industry standard stuff, especially when you aren't sure what you want and/or need. It is more often than not industry standard for a good reason. And if you buy used, you are essentially making an investment. Eg Buy a used 1176, and in 3 years time you decide you don't want it anymore, piece of piss to sell it again for a similar price. Buy a brand new gearslutz-flavour-of-the-month piece, and in 3 years it will have depreciated considerably, and will potentially be more difficult to sell.

Just my opinion. Watch as the gear pimps slay my second point though Take everything on GS with a grain of salt, my advice included, and you should be good.

This. Treatment is key, and maybe start with a mid price hardware compressor... The Nail actually has alot of functionality and with the filter you can have more control over compressing 4 on the floor material.