Moving back to Nashville next year and need studio advice

[chupplelan]

I'm moving back to Nashville next year and need some advice on putting together my project studio. I'm a guitarist/songwriter that lived and played around town for about 10 years doing some session work and recording and touring. I've been out of town for about 4 years now and am putting together my studio to take back to town with me.

My focus is on songwriting and session work which I already have a killer guitar rig and guitar collection so I'm all set there. I currently have a nice home studio built around Sonar using an Echo Layla 24/96 along with some basic mic pre's and various compressors and other outboard gear. My studio currently works great for me as a writer and a player to export tracks and mix for other projects but right now it's just me recording one track at a time and sending tracks around. When I get back to town, I'll be using it for my writing projects and session work along with other's projects that I'm working with.

I'm not looking to compete with Blackbird or Soundkitchen obviiously but work more as a demo studio for myself and others as I network and grow as a writer and player. I need to be able to track multiple musicians at one time and run mulitple cue mixes without latency issues when I host sessions. I also, need to be able to network with others easily.

I've looked at going to one of the newer MOTU firewire boxes (which sound like it might work for the cue mixes) and adding two of the digimax lts to give me an additional 16 mic pre's. I thought about adding a few of the mackie fader packs for mixing as one option.

The second option that I looked at was picking up a used console such as an Amek Big or DDA or Soundcraft and going that route and still using sonar.

The third option was picking up a Tascam 4800 and using that with Sonar.

The last option that I came up with was going to a used protools rig but I'm not sure on that one as I've spent a lot on VST instruments and effects.

My budget for my studio will be around $10k this year. This way, I can pay it off and go back to town with no debts.

Any ideas and input are welcome.

Thanks in advance.
Derek

[Herman Munster]

Don't move back to Nashville. Can someone say saturated???

[Mike Brown]

Originally Posted by Herman Munster

Don't move back to Nashville. Can someone say saturated???

There are always opportunities for passionate talented people.

Never forget that.

[musicjon]

Originally Posted by Herman Munster

Don't move back to Nashville. Can someone say saturated???

The original poster obviously has a network of friends in Nashville. He couldn't have worked here for ten years without establishing connections. He'll be fine.