$30,000 to Build a Studio. Need Opinions for Equipment.

[Tompkinzz]

Hello,
This is my first post on here and I'm hoping I can get some helpful advise and perhaps help others looking for similar opinions. I am currently Building a new studio for personal use. However I believe it may turn into a business at some point. I have a $30,000 budget. A nice sound proof room with a nice windowed control room. Its empty except for our stage gear. (Instruments and amps). So I pretty much have a blank canvus to work with. I have most of my gear picked out such as mics, preamps(if needed), headphone amps, monitors and the minor stuff. What I would like to know about is what would most of You choose for a interface, mixer,digital mixer, controller, mac, pc, input device, compressors, no compressors, and so on. I'm leaning toward Pro Tools 9 as my DAW but I,m open to suggestions. I picked out a package from sweetwater that included the digidesigns c|24 controller with their 003 input device and pro tools 9 for $13,000. it includes the cable kits needed and lots of extra plugins. But reading reviews I,ve noticed their preamps aren,t very impressive in the c24, and If I can save some money without having to buy a ton of extra preamps Id like to. I just want a simple analog tracking feel to the setup and motorized faders would be nice for mix down. I am worried however that I'm over spending on the digidesign product and not going to get as good a sound that I should with the budget. I want quality sound and many inputs and as much control over those inputs pre and post mix. So if You had $30,000 dropped in Your lap what would You do with it. Thanks to any advice.

[sdelsolray]

Could you provide some more of your design parameters? For example:

1) Maximum number of tracks you will be recording simultaneously.

2) Will you be mixing ITB, outboard though a mixer or hybrid (i.e., mostly ITB but outboard for some tracks and on the 2-bus)?

3) Styles of music you will be handling.

4) Monitoring chain.

[bigtree]

echo what sdelsolray said and to add, try not to get caught up in the hype... don't waste your money on the expensive shinny stuff that will be outdated and possibly worthless in 2 years. Just a hunch... anything hardware based made by Avid is overpriced and heading for a graveyard sooner than other gear. Invest your money in quality modular gear that you can swap out. Follow the hybrid crowd. That's where its heading otherwise you are in quagmire where there is no money for specialty. You are in the dime a dozen world and growing.

Buy Pro Tools 9 sure... or 5 other excellent DAW programs and then invest in a good boutique products that have meat.

I wouldn't touch Avid. Their best years are behind them.

My 2 cents

[Paul999]

This is a very personal decision indeed. The thing is that 30k sounds like a lot of money but really 100k min. is the entry fee into the big game. At $30k I would buy the biggest fastest computer I could find by that company that builds for studio's(I forget their Name.LOL). Get killer monitoring. I'd buy a UAD quad and get every plug they make. RME interfaces bottom line cut the mustard and I'd get 16 channels.

I'd get a used console for about 5k then take a second look at your mic's.

In time I'd convert to even more Hybrid.

[bicasaur]

Spend as much of the money as you need to on getting a REAL LIVE acoustic engineer to design your room and monitoring system. Best gear on earth won't help if you can't trust your ears in your room. I just got an estimate from Phillip Newell on my (hopefully) upcoming build, and his rates were suprisingly affordable. There's a few guys that haunt this site that would do a great job too.

I love Pro Tools. For tracking, editing and mixing audio there's nothin better. Other DAWs have them beat in sequencing and VI's though, I think. I think I agree with Bigtree about Avid's hardware being overpriced. You can do better. I am using the Lynx Aurora 16 with the firewire card as my conversion/interface (16 GREAT channels of i/o). I got the True Systems P8 for 8 channels of freakishly clean, Avalon-like mic pre's, and have added lots of fun pre's with more color and personality (UA 710, Pacifica, etc.) to fill in my rest of my 16, but much of the time I just use the True for everything, and color later with plugs from the aforementioned UAD card (awesome).

An Aurora 16 just sold on eBay for $2000, and I got my P8 there for $1400. Freakishly nice computer: $3000. UAD Quad: 1500. DAW: $600. So far that's only $8500, with $21500 left for more pre's, control surface, cables, and ROOM.

I've been thinking about the Euphonix MC control surfaces, but the price has been holding me back. Cool machine, though.

[natural]

What are you using to record with now?
What is your engineering background?
It sounds like you're just starting out.
I mean, who buys a whole studio of equipment all at once?

If you're just starting out, I would spend a hunk of that change on getting some engineering training, and to buy something modest in terms of software, because by the time you're ready to start getting quality results, all your software and half of your hardware will be obsolete.

Buying everything all at once is a nightmare. Unless you're a professional, you'll probably never figure out how to assemble it all, much less learn it all, much less be able to get anything useful out of it for several years.
Usually, you buy a small core of equipment, and add to it as your needs and capability increase. At which point, you will know exactly what kind of equipment, compressors, software, mics etc you're looking for.

For example- There's not much point in having a C24 if you don't have a handle on PT. And no point in jumping into a massive program like PT if you don't have any engineering experience.

On the other hand, you did post this in the Pro Recording forum, so maybe you are an experienced engineer. But then again, if you were, I don't think you would be asking the questions your asking.

Maybe we need more info from you regarding background, experience etc.

[Davedog]

If you're going to go full-blown right out of the box, you're going to find that cabling is going to be a good sized four figure number for a two room studio.

This is a good hypothetical question to ponder, and I'm sure that all of us here would love to have that 30K number sitting in the bank account ready to make our dreams a reality.

The bundled packages from the big stores look so nice, and they are, to a point....A good exercise in cost value is to price these pieces as used and see just exactly how each piece holds its value. You'll find a lot of loss-leaders in the bundles. And gear which has gone its way and is no-longer the shiny got-to-have it once was.

I'm in the school of more info here as the choices are myriad regarding what direction to go. The main style of music will dictate some of pieces you're going to want as well as workflow. Since you've already mentioned PT9 then a big-assed 'puter is really very necessary. For ANY DAW based studio.

I recently put 12K in my already established studio and will upgrade the computer this week. I did get a nice Mac for free, but its just not fast enough for my needs so theres another couple of bills going in soon. Another Mac for me.....

It sounds like, from your post, that you already have the room. It doesnt say that it is already sound controlled, but lets assume it is. Thats a big number right there....AND the most important one.
Mics are subjective. You can record with just one. Or forty at a time......This is what I'm talking about when I say, More Info....

Your needs to an end will determine the path you'll take to realize this set-up.

[Tompkinzz]

Ok, getting some great feedback. Heres some extra info about my situation and needs. I'm in a five piece rock/metal/alternative. One lead singer, two guitars, one bass, drums, and a guitarist sings backup. I sing lead but double as the bands live sound engineer. I have a decent background in live sound production and have recorded in several small studios. I sell high end stereo and pro audio equipment for a living as well as build and fix computers. So, I don't think i'll struggle to hook any of this prfeeloduct up. I want to get as much bang for my buck and that's mostly why I'm struggling with this decision. If I had a million dollars I feel the decision would be much easier. But with such a limited budget I have to bed careful what I buy. I would like to have at least 8 tracks of simultaneous recording. But more would be better. This space may very well become our rehearsal space, so it would be nice to be able to record a session if needed on the fly. I already have the room built and engineered by an expert with proper sound . I already have more than enough instruments and amps. I've selected my mics and will be using a seven piece kit for the drums. And I have a variety of mics picked out for amps and vocals. I've researched preamps and probably will be purchasing some even if my mixer or controller has good ones. How many is dependent on how good the preamps are on the board. All in all my confusion is about wether I should get a digital mixer or controller and what input device to get to connect to the daw. Out of the 30,000 I'd say at least 15000 will be used for these main components. Hope thats a little more help to you guys. And thanks again for your wisdom and help.

[bigtree]

No brainer then... PreSonus StudioLive 24.4.2 is all you need. 24 tracks, you get Studio One and Capture with it. You can record 24 tracks on the fly. This thing cost $3300.00! Killer. Done. Money left over for better things...
Or wait until the new Mackie comes out for a choice.
If you get a serious contract, then spend 100 grand.



http://recording.org/content/614-studiolive-24-4-2.html

StudioLive 24.4.2 Reviews

[Davedog]

I'm going to agree about the StudioLive. This is new generation of digital I/O and its great sounding as well as easy to use and it packs the features into a nice compact format. Its pres are quite a bit better than the C24.

However, if you want impressive for future clients....and I mean this with all due respect....people want to SEE a console.

This where the decision gets hairy. You know you want preamps that really kick butt. But you want ease of operation as well as integration into a workflow BUT you want something large and in charge for the walking tours.

This can be as simple as excellent FURNITURE! Housing your digital heart of the studio in quality built and stylish console furniture allows you to really concentrate on the functionality while at the same time expressing the quality of the room build out.

Or you can simply buy a big old console, get high-end conversion, and get on with making records old school.

I forgot to echo the several remarks about monitoring. DO NOT go cheap!!!!

Genelec or better(subjective....I personally think they're the best!) Focal. If you built soffitts in your room, Westlakes....etc.etc.etc.