
#1
New Studio Setup - Under $15k
I did music production as a hobby 10+ years ago but stopped and am now looking to get back into it for fun.
I know how to use Pro Tools but have not kept up with developments in gear over the last decade.
I'd like to start a home studio and would love to have you guys critique my thought process and buying list.
I'd like to spend less than $15k in total.
I'm interested in buying items that I can buy once and not have to worry about upgrading later.
Music would be in the pop, rock, and electronic realms. I would be recording vocals, guitar, and keyboard. No drums or live bands.
I currently have:
Here is what I had come up with for gear I need:
That gets me to $9,394.80 pre tax and about $10,300 post-tax
What items am I missing?
Are there any areas above where I'm allocating too much compared to other areas?
Any items you would not buy?
What are the best items in the categories I touched on?
Any where it's best value to buy used? I.e. decent discount and little chance of issue with the gear and no huge value from manufacturer warranty on new items
Any help is super appreciated. Thank you
I know how to use Pro Tools but have not kept up with developments in gear over the last decade.
I'd like to start a home studio and would love to have you guys critique my thought process and buying list.
I'd like to spend less than $15k in total.
I'm interested in buying items that I can buy once and not have to worry about upgrading later.
Music would be in the pop, rock, and electronic realms. I would be recording vocals, guitar, and keyboard. No drums or live bands.
I currently have:
- Korg Kronos 88
- Two Yamaha HS7s
- 1 Large Computer Monitor
- Acoustic and Electric Guitar
- Some 1/4 inch cables
Here is what I had come up with for gear I need:
- ThinkPad Extreme Generation 2 ($3,747.80)
- 2.30 GHz, 8 Core (Better to have higher clock speed or more cores for Pro Tools / Ableton / plugins?)
- 64 GB of RAM
- 1 TB SSD (perhaps makes sense to go lower and buy a separate drive for cheaper?)
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q 4GB
- I'd like the option to be able to turn this into a hackintosh to use Logic at some point if that's doable - not sure whether the specs align
- Pro Tools ($599 for perpetual)
- Ableton Live ($749)
- Audio Interface (budgeting $1,200)
- I want something that has at least one XLR for vocals and two 1/4 inch inputs. I hear good things about Apollo but would like your take on whether it's better to just get a straight interface without the DSP stuff - and if so what interface is recommended?
- Plugins (budgeting $1k for this)
- I know Pro Tools doesn't have great plugins off the rack so I'd like to have a good basic set to work with. I like Guitar Rig 5 and also was thinking of getting Waves Diamond, plus a few synth plugins. But I'm still very early in my research here
- I'm interested to understand if going down the UAD rabbit hole makes sense given I'll be getting a high powered PC. It sounds like the plugins are well regarded but I would want to be able to use the plugins on the road and also have them leverage the power of my CPU rather than just relying on having to buy DSP that isn't leveragable for other plugins. But let me know if I'm thinking about this the wrong way
- SM58 Mic ($99)
- Should I go more expensive here? This would be for recording vocals primarily but may occasionally want to mic up the acoustic
- Headphones (budgeting $300)
- What studio headphones are best under $300?
- Extra Computer Monitor (budgeting $400)
- Cables and Unforeseen Small Things (budgeting $1000)
- I think I just need an XLR for the mic and a midi cable. My 1/4 inch cables aren't super luxurious but unsure whether it's important to go premium here. Do I need pre-amp or any other random gear?
- Backup Harddrive ($300)
That gets me to $9,394.80 pre tax and about $10,300 post-tax
What items am I missing?
Are there any areas above where I'm allocating too much compared to other areas?
Any items you would not buy?
What are the best items in the categories I touched on?
Any where it's best value to buy used? I.e. decent discount and little chance of issue with the gear and no huge value from manufacturer warranty on new items
Any help is super appreciated. Thank you