Best Recording Studio Equipment?

[NoFalsetto]

Do you love your NI Mashine?

BTW I agree. The U87 is highly over rated. All of them. Unless you really like an "anky" sound

Spend the most money on your Monitors and Microphones.
Event Opals or something akin to ADAMs. They will be the most important buy that you make.
Take you time and really listen to them. Perhaps rent each pair for a week or two to really get the "gist" of them. Listen to as many types of music through them as possible. Can you listen through and into your mix?
I can't stress this enough 'They will be the most important buy that you make."

[E Orjatsalo]

Originally Posted by tiny333

We keep on doing peoples homework for them dont we

I would fail you btw

I have seen this kind of a comment few times in similar threads. Do they really give this kind of assingments in schools somewhere?

[waldie wave]

$135K will get some great gear. I know you don't have $135K available but in 10 years you may have accumulated $135K worth of gear. I buy high end items but in small quantities at a time. When I first started out I had lots of mediocre compressors, preamps, noise gates, mics, etc. I realised that was wasteful. When you buy something think to yourself whether you would still want to be using the item in 10 years time. The Manley gear I purchased 15 years ago still is produced. Get hold of excellent gear that can be serviced. Great preamps, mics, reverb, eqs, multi-fix, monitors are needed.

[Jimbo]

There's not a single (moving-coil) dynamic mic on your list, and that beta 58 isn't going to get you that far.

You need at least one good LDD and a couple of SDDs.
LDD:
- Beyer M88
- EV RE20
- Shure SM7
SDD:
- Beyer M201
- EV RE10/11/15/16

Good luck.

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by Weezyanna

I have raised my monitor budget to 6000, I have gotten rid of the X-Desk, demoed a bunch of stuff from the list I have build up through the forum, replaced the euphonix, switched around mic choices, dropped the MPC, and my new gear list to pick from is this:

-Best monitors I can find under 6000 (anyone know about klien and hummels or mm35s?)
All but one of the following
-Neumann U87ai
-Wunder cm67
-Schoeps cm6 with mk21 capsule
-coles 4038
-Beesneez Arabella
-Brauner Phantom V
-Malnley Ref C

-Rockbox MC5x with only cuebase and fl studio
-Empirical Labs Distressor
-Prism Sound Orpheus
-Bricasti Model 7
-Slate Pro Audio Dragon
-Lynx Aurora 8 FW

Two of the following:
-Avalon 737
-Crane Song Flamingo
-UA 6176
-Presonus ADL 600
-Millenia STT1
-GML 2032
-Some other nice preamp or channel strip

Some nice EQ

A soundtoys bundle (Which one?)

Some sound samples

Still reads like a list to Santa to me.

You'll get much more out of it buy buying one new mic, one preamp, one compressor, learning those well, then buying more things when you know what you need.

Buy like this from a list, and you'll be the guy with all the gear, but no idea.

One concrete suggestion - don't buy the fw card for the lynx - its a dog. Get the USB option, or the pcie interface. I use the fw card at our production room, and it's more unstable than any other interface I've ever used.

[Oldone]

Originally Posted by psycho_monkey

don't buy the fw card for the lynx - its a dog. Get the USB option, or the pcie interface. I use the fw card at our production room, and it's more unstable than any other interface I've ever used.

Good tip, I've been wondering which way to go on that.

[SteelyDani]

Originally Posted by baskervils

I love this mic.

Have a look at the biggest recording studios mic locker and then decide whether you want Neumann, Peluso or Wunder. For example Abbey Road has 39 units of U87i and U87Ai. Avatar Studios only 14. It’s hard to find one of these big studios without U87’s.

Concerning the difference between the U87i and the U87Ai: Neumann Microphone Shootout, U87i vs. U87Ai | recording hacks

[Ryan Gregory]

Originally Posted by E Orjatsalo

I have seen this kind of a comment few times in similar threads. Do they really give this kind of assingments in schools somewhere?

they gave me this assignment when I went to Fullsail.

[Ryan Gregory]

Originally Posted by SteelyDani

Have a look at the biggest recording studios mic locker and then decide whether you want Neumann, Peluso or Wunder. For example Abbey Road has 39 units of U87i and U87Ai. Avatar Studios only 14. It’s hard to find one of these big studios without U87’s.

Concerning the difference between the U87i and the U87Ai: Neumann Microphone Shootout, U87i vs. U87Ai | recording hacks

very interesting, I preferred the ai in that test.

[Weezyanna]

Answering an earlier question, yes, I love my maschine, one of my best purchases.

This is not a list where I will buy all at once, but I will try this and I don't want to spend a whole week in the store trying stuff out so I want to know exactly what to try when I walk in.

[AllAboutTone]

You guys are telling him to drop a u87ai but it's ok that he owns a 103 and a Avalon 737.

Yes I own a 103 and it's really great on acoustic guitar and some other instruments, but the u87ai is fine if he finds a good deal on one.

[Dr.Frank]

Originally Posted by Weezyanna

Answering an earlier question, yes, I love my maschine, one of my best purchases.

This is not a list where I will buy all at once, but I will try this and I don't want to spend a whole week in the store trying stuff out so I want to know exactly what to try when I walk in.

Do you have Komplete too? Maschine and Komplete are such a perfect match.

[SteelyDani]

Originally Posted by Ryan Gregory

very interesting, I preferred the ai in that test.

Me too though to be frank I can not find a big difference.

[Salty James]

Originally Posted by Mojo Man

I'll second that!

I'll triple it.

[anthonythecat]

How are your clients going to hear themselves? I don't see any headphone monitoring system in your wishlist. How are you going to get separate mixes to the clients (ie keyboardist will want more keys, bassist will want more bass, drummer will want more drum and bass, guitarist will want only the guitarist) ?

[automatom]

Don't need the controllers, don't need the x-desk. They are not gonna massively improve your results. Most pro's end up using their mouse a lot anyway. And as for summing, you can achieve very similar results by running otb into preamps or compressors and then back into your prism.

The Prism and good speakers will have a huge effect on your outcome. I recommend the focal solo 6be.

It's about effectiveness of your spending not the total amount. Look for versatility in your compressor (tracking and bussing), maybe go for channel strips rather than preamps and seperate eq's and compressors. Most bang for buck.

I love my RND portico II strip. I don't LOVE the preamp in it, but the eq and compressor and silk functions get used everyday, plus I have another pre lying around when I need it. Retro powerstrip, Pendulum Quartet, portico II all great options. `You can also link some of them and have buss compression and eq on the way out.

As for the monitoring/talkback at home, I've opted for the Kush Gain Train. Relatively cheap but is clean and gets the job done. If it's more than a project studio you're gonna have to look at the monitoring more seriously.

If you need multiple preamps, look at the API 3124 or anything that gets you the most pro results for as little as possible.

The number of times I've bought something then realised it did more or less the same thing as other boxes, but had it in my head that I needed 'something else.'

Choice is an illusion, it usually gets in the way of being decisive.

[automatom]

I should have added that the Prism has four AMAZING pre-amps in it anyway, so build that into your plans.

[Resonance5]

yes the prism is great but to record drums you'll have to use the internal overkillers or external mic pres.

if i were in you (being 2011) i would not move too much away from itb, adding outboard will considerably increase mixing time.

and the results will end up at 95% on laptops, cheap 2.1 systems and earbuds.

i would spend the money on great conversion and "real" monitoring. the arguement where people say : ha i got those speakers and i can hear stuff in music i couldn't hear before is fair.

if you can't hear them on other systems though it means those sounds actually don't exist for 99% of listeners, why waste time taking care of it.

i moved from adams x art tweeter to regular silk dome cause i would get lost in the detail of the adams, now days mixing has to be very pragmatic

i would invest in tracking gear, and then get a master bus compressor like the maselec mla3. thats' it.

1 pair of flat monitors and 1 pair of coloured monitors, room treatment.

only after this you might want to add other 8 channels of DA and a 16 ch summing mixer

just my 2 cents...

[sergiupianist]

Hi,

I saw you're trying to find new gears for your studio. I want to sell my Prism Orpheus and Brauner Phanthera V mic, so if you are interested in, we can discuss. I used both of them just in my home studio in Romania, but I moved to London and I don't have space anymore for the set-up.

Cheers,
Sergiu

My e-mail is sergiupianist@yahoo.com

[Weezyanna]

I have an update on the progress,

Still going to places and trying things out and I found out financial times will be better and I am changing my budget from $35k to $75k max.
Thanks for all the suggestions, please keep em coming!

PS I am getting komplete ultimate to go along with the setup.

[shortstory]

Originally Posted by Weezyanna

This is my first post on gearslutz, so I hope I did this correct...
I am looking to upgrade my studio from a home to a professional level.

My budget for the extra stuff is no more than $35000
Thanks

What's the difference between home & professional in your mind?

$35k is not a whole lot.

If pro means getting paid for it- you'd be better off getting a laptop and a bunch of plugins and a good pair of monitors. The business of recording is over. Anyone can do it now. Even me!

If you wanna go hardware you need more than $35k. Add a zero and divide by two. Then use the other half for some real estate to put it in.

[Bubbakron]

Buy everything used!!! Better yet , go rent a recording studio to do what you want and take the rest of that money and go on a trip around the world!!! Dont waste it!!!

[Dr.Frank]

Originally Posted by Weezyanna

I have an update on the progress,

Still going to places and trying things out and I found out financial times will be better and I am changing my budget from $35k to $75k max.
Thanks for all the suggestions, please keep em coming!

PS I am getting komplete ultimate to go along with the setup.

Awesome on getting Komplete. With a budget of 75k, why not devise a business plan and go to a bank to get a loan so that you can do a full out studio (i.e. convert an existing structure or buy a studio closing down etc.) For an awesome business model, you may want to check out what the Madison Music Foundry is doing up in Wisconsin: Madison Music Foundry - Home They have multiple streams of income and have quickly become a fixture in a thriving music scene.

[Ward Pike]

Yes on the vintage U87, or buy a pair if you can!

As for your budget, the problem many may be having is the same one I'm having... 35k isn't a big budget. I have over 50k in cabling alone... that's not unusual.

[Weezyanna]

For monitoring, I am thinking about a pair of barefoot mm27s and a pair of klein and hummel o 300 and a crane song avocet to control it all. I am also looking for a place to buy vintage gear, anyone have any suggestions for places to locate outboard gear, mics, etc.
Thanks

[Weezyanna]

Does anyone have any suggestions?