OK so I'm graduating from Trebas this fall and have learned a ton of stuff about gear. I have got recommendations from teachers and read reviews now I'm curious to know what you all think. Here is a list of some products I am considering and why I want them. Please let me know of comparable products and which ones of these might be foolish purchases!
Im going for a professional competatice home quality studio mainly for me at first but in time for demoing and whatever other work I can get. I want to keep building on what I got. Basically I dont want to buy some card and a year later go "damn" this really isn't that good. I should of went a step up. Of course money is the only set back for me but thats why we got financing!
Basically I start out with sound card. This is the main part where I am a little confused. I was told that RME Hammerfall is a gread card but was also wondering what else might be good. MOTU seems to have some great stuff. Plus they have meters on some of their racks. and thats always handy. Also there are quite a few differnt hammerfalls. which one would you recommend? Oh yah also important to note is that I want to use this sound card for MIDI too, so it needs to have low latency with software sounds. It also doesnt need A/D converters because thats what my mic preamp is for. I like the idea of not buying an all in one. More of buying a card that is good at one thing and then building on top. instead of getting an all in one Jack of all trades master of non card. I want to pass that stage and go professional.
Mic PRE A/D
For this I was looking at the personas DigiMAX 96k. Why? because its getting great reviews, has a lot of features and apparently great sound making it a good competatice professional card.
http://www.PreSonus.com/html/products/digimax_96k.html
Monitors
Tannoy Reveal Active Monitors. Why? Not to expensive and everyone seems to love them.
Software Wise I was thinking Cubase. Pro Tools is great but then I'm limited to other hardware.
Remember this is just to start. So I can start recording some demos for friends and write some music.
(also to note is I also have a bunch of 58s already and I think those will do fine until I can afford better mics.)
ANd yes I am aware acoustical treatment is nescessary. But that is all part of the future. Right now just the basics.
Comments
hehehe. dont worry. Im a graphics designer in the side. I know m
hehehe. dont worry. Im a graphics designer in the side. I know my priorities. I work in graphics until I can make it in audio. and if I never do then its back to graphics. Although this audio school cost 15 grand.... I better get something out of that :)
So far it seems Ive made fairly good choices on what to buy. I checked in another forum and they all seem to be big fans of the Mackie monitors. any comment on that?
Hi and welcome to RO. First of all I'd like to say that I think
Hi and welcome to RO. First of all I'd like to say that I think it's a wise decision to get separate soundcard , AD/DA-converter and mic. pre's... Then it's easier to upgrade.... and when you finally want the best gear you will go that way. You can spend a fortune on AD/DA-converters and twice as much on pre's, so I won't give any advice about that... there are others here that really knows a lot more about that.
But I will give tell you that I think that RME Hammerfall is a great soundcard. I have the Hammerfall LE (9636)... can be upgraded to 9652 if I need extra ADAT-lightpipes and wordclock.
I think the stability and the low latency of this card makes it such a joy to work with.
I really don't feel any latency when I work it... If I use tons of plugins and 20 software synths I can run it safe with 12 ms latency.... and that is
really not a disturbing latency.
I also think that going for Cubase SX is a very good choice... It's so easy to work with and still very powreful.... editing audio is like a dream.
About monitors.... Reveals are nice...but i would go for KRK V4 since you can get them for 600 USD/pair in the states... ( here in Sweden they go for over 1000 USD/pair) I think that they are lovely project-studio monitors and you can always upgrade and buy the sub later.... or if you have more money go for KRK V6.
Finally a good mic. for vocals would be something to consider.
I think you will get more ideas fromn the "gurus" here... many opinions about all this. I bet they will say: Spend most of your money on pres and monitors.... :D
Good Luck