so, 5k for top tier mac, 10k c24, 20k (new) pt accel 3. that's 35k. that leaves 5k to build a room, or treat one. 5-57's, 2- 414's, and like 4- 421's, up to 40k.
I think you should start over.
w/ 40k i'd put at least 25-30k into the room(s). Granted i can build it myself, but you have a grant so you may have volunteers. I always make the best rooms i can because, equipment can be rented/purchased more easily/econimically than an awsome room can.
If you reconstruct/redesign a Room, it will cost quite a bit more than redesigning a rack. Moving walls/ceilings is hard/expensive. moving rack gear less so.
w/ 40k, i'd quickly say 25k-room(s) (good listening, good tracking), 10k computer/interface, 1k main voc mic,4k digital mixer (tascam?). still need basic drum miking, so figure 45k.
That quick suggestion leaves you with nice sounding set of rooms, a very capable computer/interface, a nice main mic, and a hui capable, 24 motorized fader mixer, with usable dsp.
You can't buy a nice room from a magazine. Spend all you can (time/money) getting the room to work. good equipment will only compliment nice rooms, or expose bad rooms.

check out the construction forum

Hello Dreamz

Welcome to our Recording.org forum.

Just a short note,..I have some wild rockers on my back who want to go on recording..;-)
Why Mac and why Protools? Especially PT with hardware...
Get the boss audiokid going on this topic..lol... He is s true fan, as well...not.

+1 for room, monitoring, softwares... Now, no secrete that I am a Nuendo user...lol...
There are differences between PT and Nuendo, but otherwise they are pretty much on par ( with a slight + for N, of course ;-)
Over the last years I had spent 10.000s of $ more for PT compared to Nuendo.

Anyway, look through the various DAWs quite carefully. It is THE major tool in your setup when you go the DAW way.
An analog / console setup would make your 40 grand melt away like ice in a mammoths arsch..lol...

Keep asking...

CYA

You might get better advice if you'd fill out your profile to include at least your location and give a little more info on your market and business plans.

And if you would give us a link to the agency that gives $40K recording studio grants to 21-year-olds who don't know much about mics I think a lot of people around here would appreciate it.

It's best to work backwards.
- what does your competition use? /charge?
- create a business model - do some market research.
- Build/treat the room (as suggested)
- Put speakers in the room.
- Mics/preamps
- peripherals - (gtrs, amps, keys, midi items, cables, headphones, mic stands, wind screens, advertising, .....etc- it's these little things that soak up the budget when you're not looking)
- computer system/monitors
- DAW and related hardware/software.

Oh, and don't forget what the wise man said:
A carelessly planned project takes 3 times longer to complete than expected,
whereas a carefully planned project only takes twice as long.

I'm planning to open up in Baltimore

Competition uses primarily PT, Nuendo, and Mixcraft....TASCAM X-48..Yamaha 02R96VCM.. C24..
charge roughly 30-60 a hour session
depending on quality of studio and location

My father owns his own contracting business so if i had a build plan of what i wanted for the room he would be able to do it at cost which is a major plus

I also already have 60 sq ft of 2 inch thick studio foam fro and a maxwall

BobRogers

I know about what i was able to afford i have used shure, MXL, ST audio and the m-audio sputnik but i know nothing about the 1k and up microphones of course i researched about them and read reviews...etc but i want to hear opinions from people that actually use them on a regular basis.. and know what the microphones are actually capable of

and the grant is through the office of veterans affairs.. i served active duty air-force for 3 years got honorable discharge after being shot in Iraq and Uncle sam is more than willing to shell out cash to it's veterans...

And it's a grant that is well deserved. I'm grateful for your service. Please forgive my skepticism. We get some tall tales around here.

Given your advantages with construction help, I'd definitely follow the advice kmetal and BigK. Get over to the studio construction forum and get some ideas about fixing up a recording space. "http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/143545717X/?tag=r06fa-20"]Get Rod's book. Do you have a space already?

Dial back the notions of the big HD system. If you want to go PT on your budget start with PT9 LE and a good interface. Add 8 channels of good preamps and some good mics. (You really need to identify the type of things you are aiming to record if you are going to be well targeted in your mic purchases.)

dreamz, Thanks for your service. My best friend is in iraq now serving infantry.

+1 on rods book. Don't let the construction crew sway from anything in the book, if you come up to a question RO will help (after you search it). The knowledge i gained from the book, and this site, and a couple others, has led me into my third pro studio build in three years. I'm not boasting, just saying that i learned the hard (expensive) way, what works in the specialized field of sound construction/acoustics works, what i thought might, didn't.
There's a music retailer, i think out of New York, that post youtube videos of their vast inventory. While it's degraded quality, it can give you some idea of mic tonality on different singers. i think they compared a sputnik to an 87 and c12.
At the studio for LDC's we use ksm 32's an 87, a c17, 414's, AT 3035, rode nt1. For dynamics md421's, sm57's, sm58, sm7, sennheisser 441, D112's, sm91. SDC's rode (dunno model) akg 451's and sm81's. Pretty standard fare.
The singer/instrument determines what goes on what. I was surprised how often i pick a $400 mic, over a 4k mic on lead vocals.
My bedroom studio uses 2 57's a 414, a 3035, and an nt1a, and a peavey pv.1 (which i ended used live on a national hip hop artist in a pinch)
I use PT m-powered 7x at home, i like the streamlined windows, not the sound of the plugings, or the lack of reliability on my average dual core laptop. I get twice as many tracks/efx on adobe audition 1.2, and zero crashes.
The studio uses 2 motu 2408's the mk/mk2 the old ones, and digital performer, which offers some cool PT compatibilities. I have just been learning DP and got the basics down after a few sessions. DP 7x has crashed a few times tho, costing me hours of time. Were sorting it out.
We use a D8B for a mixer/control surface. i feel like the tascam dm, or yamaha equivalent are up to more modern demands.

Thanks Guys.. Rod's book def gave me a lot of insight to things that i didn't even know mattered in construction a room, and i haven't even finished it yet.

I intend to Record primarily Vocals.

Studio Dreamz, post: 365354 wrote: Thanks Guys.. Rod's book def gave me a lot of insight to things that i didn't even know mattered in construction a room, and i haven't even finished it yet.

Be sure to get your father to read it. As Rod says, it's a very different kind of construction than most contractors do. You really want to leverage this advantage as much as you can.

I intend to Record primarily Vocals.

All the more reason not to invest in a big control surface like the C24. $40K is going to get eaten up pretty quickly, but you'd like it to leave you with a few advantages. You need a few great channels not 24 good ones. A good tracking/mixing combo room and a couple of top quality mics (U87 + good dynamics like RE20) and pres (lunchbox?) would give you outstanding facilities for voiceover and lead vocal work. You'd want to be able to do more than that, but you could cut some corners in making yourself a "full featured" studio.