plugins

IKMULTIMEDIA T-racks
http://www.t-racks.com/

WAVES Platinum Bundle, or WAVES Gold Bundle or WAVES Diamond Bundle
http://www.waves.com/

BBE Sonic Maximizer
http://

PSP Vintage Warmer
http://www.pspaudioware.com/

likegluelikecrew wrote: Ok, I've got my Pro Tools Digi 002 coming in the mail any day now, plus I ordered a 2nd internal hard drive for my G4. I'm raring to go and really want to set up the best home studio I can for making professional sounding demos and even recording CD's for my band (hard rock leaning towards punk). So here's my quesion for you established home studio users out there...

What else do I need?

...

Wow, you need everything! the bad news first: The most important thing you need to do is to develop your overall recording chops. And your recording ears. That only happens when you put in your time. You need protool chops, mic placement chops, signal flow chops, eq chps, overall mixing chos, the list is endless...Do not expect, (unless you are a natural born genious) that you will be able to record a Cd for your band any time soon and sound like a pro. And your ears will discern the difference only when you train them and this takes time.

the good news: You can get there if you put in your time and persevere. The equipment you have now is a good start- mind you, not enough for pro results but good enough to start developing your chops. You do need mics and I agree that a 57 is a good start. Are you going to record live drums? If you are, an audix fusion kit, 6 mics for about $300, is a good place to start. If you want better results, get an akg d112 for kick, a pair of SP C4's or rode nt5's for overheads and as many 57's as you need for snare and toms. This will set you back at least $7-800, so you need to think about it, allocate your resources wisely. A decent LD mic is also nice to record vocals, though a 57 or 58 will do if you have to. two nice Ld mics for about $200 ea are the SP C1 and the rode nt1.

bear in mind that you will have to buy decent equipment eventually if you want to record that CD and get pro (or at least semi-pro) results. Your stereo is ok for monitoring for now but eventually you will want to spring for a pair of good near field monitors. This will set you back anywhere from about $600 into the thousands, you decide. (actually, let your ears and wallet decide). We also didn't get in the subject of preamps. I believe that the digi 002 only has 2. That's not enough to record a full kit of drums (well, you could use 2 mics, if you place then perfectly!) I say that the bare minimum of preamps you need to record a live band is eight.
16 is more like it. If you have a mackie board that's a good place to start as the preamps are decent enough. You might also later want to get at least one channel of good preamps for vocals and here we are talking anywhere from $600- $1500.

Don't mean to discourage you here but this is reality. As I said already, the most important element here is developing your ears and recording chops. Depending on how much time you put in you will get better and better as time goes on. No amount of money spent on equipment can replace experience. It will also help you inmensly if you have a friend who already has recording experience and lets you spend time in his studio. Recording is not an easy craft to learn. It takes time, money and above all a lotta effort and dedication if you are aiming for results that are close to the pro range. It is also very rewarding and can bring meaning into your life. There's nothing better in my book. I can't think of many things better than listening to an album you recorded and say, wow, that's hot! It gives you a great feeling. But it also takes a heck of a lotta work!! :D