Personaly, I could really go for building somewhere nearby, a VERY BASIC - bare bones but large tracking studio.

Key features (or lack of them)

Great sounding 'tall' drum room
Booths off to the side for gtr stacks / a great vocal booth.
Ground floor access
Good control room accoustics
Basic midfield monitoring (no bigs)
24 tk Soundcraft Ghost desk - for monitor only
Neve BCM10 full of 1073's* or a cheaper but primo vintage Neve sidecar.

2 x DBX 160 VU
4 x Distressors
1 x UA 1176
1 x EMT plate?
1 x Roland / Bell digital delay
DAT/CDR unit

powerfull headphone amps + good cans
Cool wiring with comprehencive looms made up to handle most multitracks / DAW's
ADSL or firewire or ethernet link to my other studio
Basic rock n roll mic collection nothing fancy
Pay phone
pool table
Toilet
mini kitchen - microwave only
TV + Video games
junk furnature in rec room

NO big spend on decor or niceties it can look like a TOTAL PIT!
NO in house multitrack analog / digital Tape machine or DAW (rent in per project)
No Backline (rent in per project)
No mix toys - TRACK & GO!

Unique selling proposition

Baby 'real deal' Neve
The space to rock!
The ability to 'take it over' & slob out 24/7
Ability to cope with ANY recording medium
rough & ready rock no roll, more comfortable when working than when chilling!

With the exception of the Neve sidecar and the left out JH24 2" I may have just described THE classic US garage studio! HOWEVER! Here in London there is a definate LACK of cool budget tracking rooms....

A small PA in there would mean it could get rented out for rehersals, 'tour prep' or album 'pre prod' sessions with producers who might like the option of recording bits of the pre prod..

Missing from my plan is:

The $$ to do it right now!

:)

Mine would be a cheap small but nice studio where I could work with bands for a long time instead of having the most expensive gear and have them be rushed. This is what I have now but I would like to have a little more stuff. The main thing would be a comfortable BIG tracking room. The studio would consist of....
Some decent guitar/bass amps/cabinets
A good drumset with cymbals and a couple snares
A cranesong spider
2 distressors
a couple rnc's and speck eq's
a small mackie for extra mic inputs
Your basic mic collection with a couple royer 121's, a sf12 (?)and a soundelux 195.
All recording into a digi001 with the sony eq plug-in.
A pair of mackie nearfield monitors and loud big bassy mains (not for mixing just for overdubs and the "vibe")
Hopefully by april I should be there, then I'll just need to find a decent sized place. Its nice because I already have all my time booked for the next 3 months. Things are looking and feeling good.

I'm just finishing building - finally.
Sounds a bit like your "ideal" Julian, its a "dutch barn" type building. The main tracking room is 35 x 25 x 28 feet high, with variable acoustics. A large booth without any facing surfaces, and a drum booth lined with straw panels on 3 sides, variable acoustics at the front and a rubber floor. Control room is upstairs, lounge, reception, machine room and kitchen are downstairs, under the control room.

My current place is OK for now. I'd love to move into new digs sometime next year but I need the cash to make it happen. Gear wise I'd be happy with a few more pieces for now, just another Speck ASC and another Aphex Expressor. My plans for the 1st of the year are more business related. I'm going to start hitting indie labels for one thing.

I'm trying to decide on a small loan to by the studio I currently run and keep it where it is. Or a big loan and a totally new place that includes buying the gear from the place I run now.

If I go big I'm looking at around 2000-2500 sq. Feet. Float the floors 3-6 iso rooms and hopefully a real lounge with a pinball machine to go with my analog vibe.

:D

I am doing a couple of compilation Cd's below cost to get the studio name out there more. Been going for 4 years in this location, have better rooms and equipment then a lot of my competitors.
Just still trying to get my name around.

I would love a bigger space, not the rent though.
I have drum, vocal, 2 iso booths and a band area so space is cool.

I suffer from bad G.A.S. for those who do not know me. Have held out 2 weeks for the GML update for the Sony EQ.(which I was not menat to buy as well). Have to pay off the visa's.

Next purchase will be probably another good dual pre I need a better channel for kick.

Personally, my needs are minimal. I do 99.9% R&B, Gospel and HipHop. With the exception of recording solo horns ocasionally and live bass and guitar direct, it's all midi and vocals for me. I own 3 different samplers and a huge sample library so as far as sounds are concerned, I've got my bases covered. I would like to add the following to my studio though:
1. G4/800DP w/1 GB ram, dual 19" flat screens for running Digital Performer
2. UA1176
3. Radikal SAC-2K
4. MAS version of the UAD1 Powered Plug ins
That would do it ...
...for now.

OneMan

I need to put in a dedicated mastering room soon- fortunately, this is all on my land, so all I really need money for is a concrete slab and some lumber- after that it's just time.

Julian- for the big tracking room- I always thought it'd be cool to speak with a big local property management corporation, and see if I could work up a deal where I could rent weekly _whatever_ big commercial property was untenanted at the time, just so they'd have some income while it was empty.

I'd have a couple of road cases, half a van full of varied size rollaround gobos, and some decent nearfields.

Then all you'd need is a nice mix room in the den, and a decent booth.

"Julian- for the big tracking room- I always thought it'd be cool to speak with a big local property management corporation, and see if I could work up a deal where I could rent weekly _whatever_ big commercial property was untenanted at the time, just so they'd have some income while it was empty.
I'd have a couple of road cases, half a van full of varied size rollaround gobos, and some decent nearfields. Then all you'd need is a nice mix room in the den, and a decent booth."

Hmm - stability, security and preventing the noise disturbing local residents - are the problems faceing me with that idea in a big city... Still the lateral thinking is welcomed and is food for thought!

:)

I am in a 'promo' phase at the moment! See a new thread!

well, i add my 2 cents...

i've been playing in an indie/alternative rock band for about the past 10 years. i really love the technical and artistic aspects of getting our music recorded and to that end spent about 8 months building a meager home studio in my basement. it's been great so far - no where near the quality of a 'real studio' but it's always open and the clock isn't running ($$$).

that being said, i still would like to have the opportunity to get our music out to more people. i still hope that one day we'll 'get signed' - not necessarily with a major label, just a small firm with a positive attitude and one that believes in their artists. (hey, i might as well dream big ;) )
i love playing live and i love working in my little home studio. i guess really, i would want one shot at doing both for a living. even if it doesn't work out, at least i could say that i gave it a shot!

- neil

[[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.rosemary…"]band site[/]="http://www.rosemary…"]band site[/]

I'm currently building in my garage. It's not too large, only 20x11. A one car garage. The preexisting walls are cinder block, and the ceiling is just plaster on top of the studs. Unfortunately, the master bedroom for the house is right on top of the garage. I want to leave the garage door in place, and also the rails, because I might be adding onto my house later next year and don't want to have to reattach the door.

I'm building up a seperate frame along the walls in the garage. I'm going to make the walls "bass traps" by using varying thicknesses of plywood on the inner and outer side of the frames. I'm gonna liquid nails the bass trap frames to the cinder blocks. For the ceiling, I'm going to hang the bass trap frames from wires bolted into the studs. To connect the ceiling to the walls, I'll nail them together then caulk them.

I'll install some Hemholtz resonators to tune the room and also high frequency absorbers made of that markertek egg crate BS.

Well, the stuff I'm going to put in the room is:

(Currently Own)

- lot of keyboards
- G4-400 with 1.5GB ram (good for sampling) and Hammerfall card with Logic audio
- nice little RAID 0 SCSI array for recording
firewire drive chassis with removable drive storcase chassis inside for removable IDE storage
- Ecrix VXA tape backup
- 2 x Lucid 8824 (ADAT version), 1 RME ADI-8 Pro
- Mackie HR824 monitors
- 2 x distressor
- 2 x crane song trakker
- GML 8200
- GML 4 channel pre (forgot the number :)
- Neumann TLM 103
- Neumann UM57 SPA modified 1.5 diaphragm
- DBX subharmonic synth
- lo-fi tascam eq

(Going to get)

- 100+ points of Audio Accessories 1/4" patchbay
- Mackie Sub complement to HR824s
- Logic Control surface w/ extension
- Fatso
- AKG The Tube SPA modified w/ C-12 capsule SPA .9 diaphragm
- 2 x royer 121
- another TLM 103
- TC M3000
- Eventide H7000
- Manley Vari-Mu
- 1176 of some sort

I guess that's the -stuff- i am looking for.

I'm going to be using (and have been) my studio to record my music and my friends. Not commercial.

Next: Get the MCI JH600 board I just bought moved out of its current home and into mine. Came with 30+ wiring harnesses for I/O! Woo hoo! Saved me a few months right there. During/after that, get my pitiable 10 x 14 control room in useable condition acoustically. Then get some business. At the moment I'm just doing the groups I'm associated with. I need to try to get a little bit of cash coming in, and having a "real" board might help.

Originally posted by Julian Standen:
What are you planning scheming, dreaming of to do in the future?

:w:

i've just heard the good news from the accountant (ain't that a rare bird?), and it looks like i'm ready for the long awaited upgrade from the 7300/180 + inbuilt 16-bit a/d conversion to g3/400 powerbook + motu 828, my dream mobile studio (there might even be some money left for a ribbon mike or two)

cheers,
max

Well I've been a FOH Guy for 12 years now and one of the things I really want to do is stop. I have a small PA company so it gives me access to all the mics, DI's and standard live outboard (KT/Drawmer etc) that I need for recording. I am also a guitar player for 17+ years and am getting to the point where all I really want to do is play and record. A while ago I built a PC for audio and bought a digi 001 after playing with PT free (with a sound blaster live). Currently I have

PC with PTLE5.1.1
Pod Pro
Bass Pod Pro (play a bit of bass too)
S2000 sampler
TL Audio 5050 valve preamp compressor
about 5 blackface adats (none mine)
Samson line mixer (for my keys)
CS1x, Mu10
Fender Rhodes Stage Piano (on long term loan)
loads of guitars etc.
and a friends drumkit
Tannoy reveals( or should they be conceals)
Generally i track drums through an A&H gl330o onto ADAT in a venue where I work (onstage with curtains closed).. I only have one room for use in the house and have yet to try it at home.

Main vocal mic is a Nuemann KMS105 But i have Crowns, shure Beta's if i wanted to go that way.

what's my next move?
tomorrow I buy a parker fly guitar
then hopefuly

Genelec 1029a's (should I get the sub too?)
New processor
Guitar Midi interface
I was thinking of a Digimax but I might be better off with a good 2 channel unit. any suggestions?

I have an old AMEK X series desk I was going to gut and reackmount channels. It has discrete preamps with soweter transformers. How would these be?

I'm rambling now :)
so I'll stop

Sean McC

"Genelec 1029a's (should I get the sub too?)"

YES

:)

Great to hear everyones plans keep em coming!

:w:

Jules

After I figure out how to pay rent in November, I will try to buy food for my wife and 2 kids and start worrying about rent for December.

I would also like to set up a deal with a local studio to put my 2" and some outboard in there in exchange for some free time every month.

Sound like a good swap - keep the gear, get studio time. No facility overhead risk.

Maybe do up a contract.

My plans are to finally finish my new studio space by Xmas! Nearly 1 1/2 yrs later, the to do list only includes wiring and custom furniture to complete it. Forget about all the new gear I want/need, it's finally time to get this space up and running, and have it attached to a much larger studio with more gear and space than I could ever afford on my own dime!

Jay
PlugHead Productions

amog the things I bought once was studio furniture. 2 14 u racks under a large desktop with a gap the then video monitor with 2 4U sapces and then shelves for montiors. these were IR£400 with antoher £80 carriage( from Music Store Koln). They no longer suit my needs so I'm selling for IR£250 + carriage.
I've 2 potential buyers so hopefully one will come through and I can change my current setup! Everyone mentions cable costs but don't forget the cost of racking your stuff...

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Lord Alvin:
[QB]After I figure out how to pay rent in November, I will try to buy food for my wife and 2 kids and start worrying about rent for December.

I'm in almost the same boat; except s follows:
Wife, and four kids: two boys, age 8 and 4 and one year old twin daughters. Just finnished an album on spec that's bein' shopped in Nashville rightnow(already got the high five...first label pres. that heard them, wants to sign them). Got another album I did earlier this year coming out in Jan. (really proud of that one...it got some great feedback on my sounds from Andy Johns-one of my engineer hero's-among others). getting by doing the odd trash-for-cash and TV thing while waiting for the next album.
I'm also in the beginnig stages of picking gear for one of two studio's that I'll be designing. My choice of which one I want to be chief of; if not both. The first is music based(my love), the second is TV(gaurantee of work).
I STILL have faith...and am only the one right album away from a good ride....but it is tough with a wife(who doesn't have a job that pays money , but sure does her share!) AND four little ones.
Oh! and I saw Mixerman the other night...@ a suprise B-day party for a mutual friend of ours. He's doing fine.

kids/family are the absolute best...

immediate focus here is on xmas gifts, prep'ing for relatives, etc. next year hope to improve the friend/freebie to paying job ratio for the home rig. tv certainly does come in handy for paying bills though...

I'm set to wrap up six months of construction on the new studio and DO SOME MUSIC again. Sheesh. I've added quite a few items to my list of things I'll never do again. I'm still hackin' up drywall dust and feeberglass. Maybe I'll be able to pull off that Peter Gabriel vocal tone finally. I put off wiring ANYTHING for the last few weeks 'cuz I knew that when I gits the gear up and running all the little finishing touches will fall by the wayside. Well, all the finals are done and the only wiring left is the midi stuff. 1st recording in 6 months is sceduled for this weekend! Yee-Haaaaa! My 15 year old son doesn't know it yet but his Saturday morning will be spent beatin' on the skins whilst daddy goes for a drum sound.
I've got 3-4 local teen bands set up for one song each for free to get up to speed on the new room and GEAR. Somehow the construction budget kept getting funneled to new gear. How iz dat possible?
Looking SO forward to gettin' back to makin' music, man.
This studio is a long held dream come true. When I look and listen around me, I realize just how fortunate I really am to be able to keep a toe in the water of this lake we call music. Jeez that was a pathetic turn of the word, eh? But you know what I mean. There is nothing that gets me off like doin' tunes under the light of the lava lamp.
Bottom line: my plans are complete (for the moment)
"Nothin' over 90 in the turns"
Rob Cathcart
Random Reason Recording
Now Open!!

pay off credit cards. Pay down loans on equipment. Stop buying more equipment.

"There is nothing that gets me off like doin' tunes under the light of the lava lamp."

Congrats Bump.

btw, where is Auburn, CA near?

-recorderman

Auburn is up in them byootiful golden hills of NoCal! One of my fave spots in the world... plus I used to have a girlfriend there! :D

Ahh, misspent youth. Anyway, congrats Bump! I can appreciate how you must be feeling right now! We completed a major studio overhaul about 2 months ago, and guess who spend the majority of time inhaling lead fumes and scorching his fingertips with a hot soldering iron! :D

How sweet it is to be back to musicmaking....