£30,000/$60,000 to spend on a mastering studio?

[johnashmore]

OK, so this is a theoretical question because it's for a college paper, but what would you spend £30,000/$60,000 on building a mastering studio.

I've done research so before I get wasted by everyone, I know some of the big boys in the states are dropping more than $60,000 just on monitors, and of course, after ears and skill the monitors and the room are key right.

So the the budget is to cover everything, tight I know, covering room treatment, monitors, computer system and DAW and then processing. So how would people split up this budget.

Also where do you spend the money in terms of processing, bundles of ITB gear like UAD and TC or a few great pieces of outboard hardware like the Vari-Mu say?

I'm getting some ideas of what I'd like to do, working out the pros and cons but just wondered if anyone else would like to express a few ideas or give some guidance.

I wish I really had the £30,000, but it's all theoretical,

Thanks in advance,

John

[Riccardo]

You would spend that amount of money on the room alone.
There are quite a few rooms that cost more than that.
It really depends on where are you positioning the business.
IMHO you should consider allocating 2/3 of that budget to the room and go for basic processing capabilities.
Others might think differently.

[Gravity8058]

Originally Posted by Riccardo

You would spend that amount of money on the room alone.
There are quite a few rooms that cost more than that.
It really depends on where are you positioning the business.
IMHO you should consider allocating 2/3 of that budget to the room and go for basic processing capabilities.
Others might think differently.

I tend to agree, although - do you own the space your building in? If not then
it may make less sense to sink most of your money in construction.

[johnashmore]

OK thanks for the feedback guys.

Just to clear up though, this is not a real project and is just theoretical for a college paper, so it's not a real business venture.

Secondly, the budget does not include construction costs, it is assumed that a "good" room has been built properly with an architect and acoustician, but the acoustic treatment (like diffusion and absorbtion) must be considered in the budget.

Thanks,

John

[lucey]

Originally Posted by johnashmore

Secondly, the budget does not include construction costs, it is assumed that a "good" room has been built properly with an architect and acoustician, but the acoustic treatment (like diffusion and absorbtion) must be considered in the budget.

That makes it a little confusing ...

[tomdarude]

a good mastering room built out by an acoustician won´t need anymore acoustic treatment !!! that´s why you integrate them into the building/planning process!!

have you ever seen a mastering room full of panels or with foam all over the wall ??


It can be done for 25.000,- € or less (with some panels, near/midfields, plugins & few bit´s outboard) IF you have an engineer with GOLDEN EARS, TASTE & EXPERIENCE...I´ve seen it.

so here´s what i´d tell your teacher´s:

This paper is bullshit!!!!

The built out of a studio mastering studio will be focused on the room acoustics!!!
heck, they even might incorporate the choice of monitors into the design, go figure.

the eqipment list will be a VERY PERSONAL decision of the mastering engineer. ALWAYS !
how the hell could a college teacher judge your choices of mastering equipment ?? it´s personal preference!!
how much does he know about building a mastering room?? (has he built 20+ highend rooms in the last 30 years of his life??...no? ...so how can he judge your decisions)

what´s the sense in this kind of paper?
doin a mastering suite from the ground up I´d do 3 things:

1) if I want acoustic advice I´d ask different studio-designers, compare them and make a (rather subjective) choice

2) if I want plugin/hardware processing, I only can try as much stuff myself as I can..no other way round...and make a subjective choice. same with monitors...

3) if I want a mastering/transfer console & the set-up, wiring, etc. I´ll ask Chris Muth.period.

bottom-line: It will be a LOT more than 60k in the end.