Home Studio

[luap]

Well, thanks to this great forum I have just about made up my mind on my home studio rig.I like to record on my own, some rock and roll, but I do like high quality recordings. I usually put down the drums and keyboards using Reason 2.5. Bass and guitar I play myself also vocals I do myself. I like to keep things simple.
So this could be it.

Samplitude 7
Pentium 4 3.00GHz XP Pro 512 MB ram 60 Gb HD IBM thinkpad mobile PC
Shure SM57 x 2
Apogee mini-me
Apogee mini-dac
Genelec 1029a
Genelec 7050A Active Subwoofer

Can anybody, please give your comments.
Thank you in Advance

[frist44]

sounds like a pretty good setup. Software usually ends up being a personal preference once you're used to something. It seems like the people who use samplitude only have positive things to say about it. That computer will be more than enough for what you're doing. Before I built my audio computer, I had a 400 Mhz that I was able to get 12 tracks through with plug ins. It was pretty slow towards the end, but with the speeds now, it's usually not something you have to worry about.

I built my computer based around an athlon xp processor. I saved a lot of money and it actually runs a lot faster than more intels twice the speed I've used. I think there's some discrepancy between the speed deisgnations between intel and amd.

good luck,
Brandon

[doorknocker]

I bought the Genelec 1029As mainly out of budget considerations but they have served me extremely well over the last 2 years. I would skip the subwoofer though, IMHO it nullifies what the 1029As are good for: Great detail, lets you concentrate on the midrange where the mixes stand or fall usually. A subwoofer will most likely mess up your room response, I use my living room stereo system as a second (or third) opinion and especially to check the bass. You'll learn to read the bass response of the 1029As, I guess it's the same thing a lotta folks still do with Yamaha NS-10s.

Andi

[toledo3]

For a home studio, that is a decent setup. You might want to pick up a crown or shure pzm in addition- it would help you out in areas where condensers would traditionally be used- like acoustic instrumentation, percussion, drum kit overheads, and room tones.

Using a pzm for room tone on vocs, and using the sm57 up close, can yeild some very good vocal sounds, but you have to have the patience to find the sweetspot.

[CV7]

Thought Atticus would chime in and rescue you from the evil Apogee.

[Jay Kahrs]

Originally posted by doorknocker
I bought the Genelec 1029As mainly out of budget considerations but they have served me extremely well over the last 2 years. I would skip the subwoofer though, IMHO it nullifies what the 1029As are good for: Great detail, lets you concentrate on the midrange where the mixes stand or fall usually. A subwoofer will most likely mess up your room response

Don't the Genelec subs have a footswitchable bypass on them? Or is that only the bigger models?

[luap]

CV7
I thought about the benchmark adpre1 and the dac1,but the apogee mini series, seems to be easy, connecting to usb and very portable.I cant see how you can connect a adpre1 to a laptop.

[cominginsecond]

I don't understand why you'll shell out a couple thousand on a mic pre and converters, but you're unwilling to spend a little dough on some decent mics. Why not skip the DAC and get a Blue Dragonfly or a Soundelux U195 or an SM7 or something? The SM57 is great on amps and snares, but on everything else it pretty much stinks, IMO.

[luap]

Yes you are right cominginsecond. But my vocals are the poor imput on my recordings, I am mainly a guitarist and I will update the microphones at a later stage.
Thanks for your comments and I will have a look at the mics you mentioned.

[peterr]

Maybe you could think about getting one of those Mini-PC's (Mini ATX - 1 PCI and 1 AGP slot) and a 15in TFT monitor - might be cheaper than a laptop, faster, more expandable and only slightly less portable. You could get something like a Lynx L22 ($675) PCI soundcard for conversion then - save you a bit of dough for some better mics and maybe a FMR RNC/RNP combo.

The lynx conversion may not be quite as good as the apogee but its reputed to be well above that of any other "soundcard" stuff.

From the people I've spoken to (people I trust with good reputations and credits here in Aus) - the priority of AD/DA conversion comes after Source, Room, Mics and Pre's.

for the mini-pcs check out Soltek and Shuttle barebones systems.

Peter

edited to add: digital equipment becomes obsolete long before analogue equipment.

[cominginsecond]

Originally posted by luap
Yes you are right cominginsecond. But my vocals are the poor imput on my recordings, I am mainly a guitarist and I will update the microphones at a later stage.
Thanks for your comments and I will have a look at the mics you mentioned.

Even so, I think if you got a better guitar microphone even, it would improve your recordings much more than a really nice A/D/A converter. What about a nice Royer or something? 57s are so limited in their uses, and even what they're good at, they're not great at, IMO.

[dlmorley]

I really didn´t like the Genelec 1029a and Sub. I went for Dynaudio BM6a and it´s a WORLD of difference.
Of course monitors are v personal....

[Lon]

You should check out the K&H (Klein + Hummel) O300D speakers! (www.klein-hummel.com) WOW! Awesome speakers!!!!!

I recently bought and set up a 5.1 with those and the K&H sub O800 and couldn't be happier!

I had worked with a pair of K+H O198 and a pair of O100 before. Feel in love with them form the first moment I heard them. I was looking forward to buying my own K&Hs. They are great! I think they are the best and recommend them to anyone.

Lon

[Jay Kahrs]

Originally posted by cominginsecond
Even so, I think if you got a better guitar microphone even, it would improve your recordings much more than a really nice A/D/A converter. What about a nice Royer or something? 57s are so limited in their uses, and even what they're good at, they're not great at, IMO.

I'd kind of agree with that. Adding something like a 421, Baby Bottle or R-121 to the mic locker would be way cooler then a high end ADC.

[luap]

Ok I have changed my setup too.

Samplitude 7
Pentium 4 3.00GHz XP Pro 512 MB ram 60 Gb HD IBM thinkpad mobile PC
BLUE Dragonfly x 2
Apogee mini-me
Genelec 1029a

I want to keep the laptop, so I can play DVD movies in the back of the X5 to keep the kids quiet on long journeys. thanks Peterr for a great suggestion in the barbones idea but not so portable. I want to keep the Mini-Me, what can give you great converters a compressor limiter, line in,mic pre's and UV22 for dithering when I burn my songs to CD in one package and for that price! and it connects to USB.

Gone is the SM57
Gone is the Apogee mini-dac
Gone is the Genelec 7050A Active Subwoofer
for now anyway.

[DigiDutch]

Dude, how will you be connecting the monitors? To the unbalanced audio output on your IBM?

Ditch the Blue's, get a Royer and a DAC.



Or sell the X5 and drive Toyota and get loads more shit!

[luap]

DigiDutch
A quote from mini-me user manual. "Direct/Return Mix Monitor
A comprehensive mono/stereo monitor section allows you to balance the direct sound you’re recording with audio returned via the USB port."
Also I think you can run a connection from the headphone plug to powered monitors. If not it looks like the mini-dac is back on the list,which I want anyway for listening to CD's in my lounge room As for the mics, I am getting a bit confused as I don't know that much about then. But I will check out the Royer you mentioned.

[Jay Kahrs]

Originally posted by luap
Ok I have changed my setup too.

BLUE Dragonfly x 2

Gone is the SM57

Why?

Why get a pair of the same mics? For about $1500 you can get 4-6 mics that will give you lots of options. Personally I like having SM57's around to combine with other mics on guitar, but they aren't the be-all end-all. No mic is.