you could check out the alesis qs 6.2 or 8.2 as far as keyboards go. i don't know a whole lot about them but i'm sure they would have plenty of usuable patches. they are about 600 or 1000 dollars depending on which model you want.

also, for hip hop do you really need 8 pres? you could save that money and buy one high end pre to use for your vocals.

yeah i could but i think im going pro tools on this

is that not a good idea?

or are you talking about the focusrite?

also i heard the blue mics are not good for rap hip hop vocals?

do you know anything about that?

i meant the focusrite. if you want to go pro tools i'm not going to try and talk you out of it. i would suggest digital performer but if you're a pc user that is out of the question. so pro tools is fine.

with the focusrite i think you're paying around 600 or 700 for 8 decent pre amps. are you really going to mic that many instruments at once? you could spent 400 on a GT brick which has been getting a good buzz around here and save the other 200 to upgrade your mic.

all i know about the blue mics for sure is that they are pretty applitcation specific. they aren't one trick ponies. maybe you could consider a 40 series audio technica or something along those lines?

yeah im short on cash!

do you think it would be a good idea just to hold of on a mic pre (just use the ones in the 002)and get a better mic?

i would say you should spend as much as you can on a single high quality mic pre for your vocals and spend what you have left on the microphone. in the long run the pre will be more important.

the gt brick is a basic tube pre-amp for $400 that will outperform the digi's pres with ease. and if you're not buying the octopre, which was 600, you have 200 more dollars to put toward a mic. the blue mic is 600 by itself, with the extra 200 you saved on the pre you have $800 to play with. like i said, look into a high end audio technica or maybe the rode k2. you'd have one solid pre and one solid mic that you would probably still use years down the road.

If you aren't live tracking full bands, you could ditch the PT and go for Cubase and choose the interface. Then you could buy less interface and more mic pre and mic....

I would recommend saving some money on that Avid HD and getting a firewire drive or two from [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.pacificp…"]Pacific Pro Audio[/]="http://www.pacificp…"]Pacific Pro Audio[/]. A lot of studios in the seattle area use them since the store is there, and I'm up in Alaska and have one.

I'd drop the mic and the pre and get yourself into some better stuff for cheaper.

pre: find a nice one channel pre. For about that price, a Presonus Eureka would do fine from what I've heard.

mic: ADK TC, excellent mic that is great on vocals and instruments.

these two will get you a very competitive sound and will bring the quality level up on all your recordings.

stop me if i wronge here but with the octapre and the 002 arnt you getting 16 inputs? i track live full bands and i rarly use more than 8. i would say go with cubace (SX3 has added support for acid a fantascit looping program) and buy a good streio converter and a good two chanel Pre and one good mic. almost any good hard drive will do if you just build a good PC then you sould just buy a hard drive, since you doing hiphop i would say about any HHD with 7200rpm and a 8MB buffer would do fine.

save you monney, and put it where it will do the most for you. i said go with cubase, but if you know PT and like PT stay with PT its fine, but i would not go with 002, dont they have a two chanel one that is desent? i havent looked at PT hardware in about a year, but there are plenty of PT lover here that can shove you in the right direction.

my opinion...

PT :roll: >Cubase SX 3 8-)
M Audio monitors :( invest in better monitors if you can It's extremely important that you don't skimp in this area.at least check out KRK Rokits.If your on a budget...
BLUE mics = Great...imo better suited for singers (just look at the thing can you see DMX or any rapper actually in front of it? 8)
There's most def no point in getting that mic pre strip like the others hinted why have 6-8 ok/substandard pre's when you can have one really good one?If your dong hip hop you'll never need more than 1 two at the most...If you need to preamplify other things such as guitars and what not a small mixer will do.

AND if you plan on making beats you can go the software route if you can't afford a workstation right now....A 61 key midi keyboard =$300 Reason 3.0 =$500ish or FL :roll: =$100-300
with that kind of set up youv'e basicly turned your pc into a workstation.

Reason 3.0 =Drum machine,Dr Rex player,2 sound modules /sampler hybrids,2 synths,the new combinator that allows for easy layering of the devices listed so that when you press a key you can trigger all sounds routed to the combi to play at once making super phat basses or layering completly different instruments to make your own creation.It also ofers a mastering suite,plenty of effects and other nifty features.

you owe it to yourself to check it out. 8-)

i would drop this stuff:

600 blue baby
1300 digi 002R
600 focusrite octo
--------------------
2500

and get this instead:

650 RME adi-2 (converter)
400 groove tubes brick (preamp)
450 digi mbox (interface)
500 rode ntk (mic)
200 fmr audio RNP (compressor)
40 mogami 15' cable
60 2x 6' mogami trs patch cables
------------------------------------
2300

now you have 200 to buy some weed and booze for your clients.

or you could replace the rode ntk with a different mic and you have $700 total to spend.

you can now record 1 channel well and get a good sound. you don't need a 002R if your only gonna be recording vocals.
and you still have the protools to brag about.

my $.02

steve

My two cents ... it's rap. Doesn't need to sound good or even nice. The 002 will do it all ... get some monitors that have big woofers like the Event Precision 8's.

They have a reflective speaker baffel that looks real cool and they "thump".

MXL makes a LD mic that has a gold plated windscreen the MXL V67G.

A gold plated mic is a "must" for rap vocals. Just check the videos and pics in the mags if you don't believe meeeeee ...

:roll: :lol:

keepin' it "Ghetto" ... in th' woods. KF

you could check out the alesis qs 6.2 or 8.2 as far as keyboards go. -- andrew

Don't buy those. Those keys are not for hiphop bros. No sequencer,
no sampler. It's sort of live performance keys, as I see it, very simple.
Get a KORG Triton as sampling key, and a Nord as analog synth.
Something of that sort...

pro tools has sequencing in it. why would he need the keyboard to sequence?

it was just a suggestion.
and as you failed to point out, i did mention that i don't know much about them.

"it's rap. Doesn't need to sound good or even nice. "
Kurt im gonna have to dissagree on this one.Obviously no matter what genre we all strive for great quality to say that rap doesn't need to sound good is pretty stupid for a smart guy like your self.
Also gold plated mic's don't mean shyt,gold plated connections are good tho but the grill could be green and it wouldn't be any different.
bang on bout them 8 inch woofers tho,those are a must in the woods,lol.

187 wrote: "it's rap. Doesn't need to sound good or even nice. "
Kurt im gonna have to dissagree on this one.Obviously no matter what genre we all strive for great quality to say that rap doesn't need to sound good is pretty stupid for a smart guy like your self.
Also gold plated mic's don't mean shyt,gold plated connections are good tho but the grill could be green and it wouldn't be any different.
bang on bout them 8 inch woofers tho,those are a must in the woods,lol.

No sense of humor I guess ...

Com'on, can't you tell when someone is yanking your chain? I have never recommended MXL mics or Event monitors. Anyone who is familiar with my prefrences would get that.

At least my spelling is correct.

At least my spelling is correct. -- Kurt

Maybe that's why they didn't get it ... :roll:

...as you failed to point out, i did mention that i don't know
much about them. -- andrew

That's right. I didn't need to - you did it (twice) yourself. As for the
sequencer - one thing is to work with keys and another with
ProTools (very different).

why are you guys rambling on in my s*%$. kurt you seem like a knowledgable guy so if you dont like events or mxl maybe you could steer me in the right direction.

is the only thing diff between the 002 and mbox # of inputs?

002 and mbox have a different # of ins and outs and the 002 is a firewire interface where as the mbox is a usb interface.

as other have mentioned, you could go the cubase route and find some middle ground between the prices of the mbox and the 002.

CRSBEATZ36 wrote: kurt you seem like a knowledgable guy so if you dont like events or mxl maybe you could steer me in the right direction.

Thanks, for your confidence.
I had a job engineering in a studio in the Late 80's and early 90's that specialized in recording RAP and other midi based recordings. Occasionally I would land in a "real band" project. I did that for about 5 years until I just couldn't stand it any longer and quit to start my own studio.

To be completely honest with you, I actually think that RAP and HIP HOP is the one place where the quality of the gear really makes no difference, as long as the people who are working in the studio feel the gear they are working with is good enough. MC Hammer and Felton Pilate recorded the biggest records he did like "Can't Touch This", in the back of the tour bus with a Tascam 1/2" 8 track. Once Stanley moved into the big studio with the AMEK Big and the AMPEX 24, his records like "Hammer Don' Hurt Them", started going down hill. That is a perfect example of "whut I'm sayin' "

Usually a set of slammin' speakers and a monster power amp are necessary. A large control room is manditory as rapper always show up with about 20 people who usually have nothing to do with the session. You will need a fridge to keep the Krystal and the 40's in and a lot of ashtrays. Nyquil for the "bitches" to give to thier babies to keep them quiet.

A large mic that makes the rapper feel like they are livin' large inspires attitude. It really doesn't make any difference what it is, if the client doesn't know just as long as it looks impressive. Gold plated is good. A high quality compressor is in order .. like an 1176 or a LA2a. I once bought a used LA2a from MC Hammers Studio which was right next door to mine in Fremont CA. I was actually doing some "overflow" recording for acts he had in development.

The standard mic for RAP is the AKG C12VR (gold plated) ... the standard mic pre / recording channel is the Avalon 737.

Some good headphones like SONYs and a high power headphone amp is good too. For speakers, the Events are enjoying a lot of success as are Mackie HR 824s. I hate 'em both but your clients will love them ... A Rane HP6 phone amp will do the trick. There are a lot of mics to choose from ... I suggest a Neumann U87 for a LD condenser or a Shure SM 7a for a dynamic. Both would be good.

For the most part, the recording of keyboard patches and samplers don't require much more than a 1/4" guitar cable that doesn't short out. Mic pres aren't necessary to get line level to the recorder so the mixer line ins will work perfectly. Plug it in, set the level ... there you are. It takes about 0 engineering talent. (god I hate sample and midi production)

I have seen RAP production facillities that were built around a Soundcraft Spirit, or a Mackie mixer and one decent LD condenser mic and a crap load of keyboards a couple turntables and some sound modules. I really don't think a good mic pre amp makes any difference ... it's not like RAP vocals exhibit a lot of depth or dimension. It's all pretty flat and un exciting to my ear.

My expierence is that a big console like a Spirit is a good thing, so about four people can sit there and hit the mutes while the mix goes down. For some reason, instead of just recording loops at the places they want them to come up or using automation, rap producers like to run the loops and samples from the top to the end, and then perform a mix with the mutes. I guess this is so they can do alternate mix's or hope for mistakes that sound good rather than making a plan before they start.

So in a way, while my first post was a bit tounge in cheek, the crux of what I said was pretty close to my true feelings. All that is going to matter is if your clients are happy with the recordings you produce. 8-)

Yo! I'm down wit Kurt, you know what I mean...

Oh, Sh..t, the N....z wanna popp back...!

are you f@#%ing kiding me!

i dont have clients nor do i want them there is no body good enough out here for me to waste my time!

i PRODUCE AND MY BRO IS THE ARTIST HE IS WHITE!(by the way)

We are not making rap crap

this is true hip hop (maybe some slight rap influence) but its not bang your head in the club shit like a f@#et!

my influences are not lil john and the east side boys is what im saying ! they may sell alot of records but i wouldnt even let them into my home studio!

you need to take your replys somewhere else!

mc hammer? are you joking or what man

R-CITY

i PRODUCE AND MY BRO IS THE ARTIST HE IS WHITE!(by the way)

Hey dude, I didn't say a word about white black pink or green. Most of what I produce is blues and R&B oriented (real R&B, not this Usher / Mary K Blige midi based sh*t). I am not racist.

It has nothing to do with color, it is how people act that makes an impression on me.

If you don't like the answers you get from others and myself, you shouldn't ask the questions ... and ... if you are soooo freakin' good that you wouldn't have anything to do with them wtf do you have ask questions like, "What do I need to produce rap?" Yeah MC Hammer .... he sold a lot more records than either you or I. When you've done as well as he did, you have room to criticize.

WHATEVER I NEVER ASKED ANYTHING LIKE WHAT SHOULD I BUY THAT LOOKS GHETTO & SOUNDS LIKE SHIT. SO WHY WOULD YOU HAVE RECCOMENDED PRODUCTS YOU DONT EVEN LIKE? THATS ALL MAN. I DONT HATE ON ANYONE THATS ENVOLVED IN MUSIC.I DONT LIKE SOME STYLES OF MUSIC"country"but i have respect for the people that do!

your prior posts were pretty damn funny though! :lol:

i think you jst got carried away!

R-CITY

creatzbeatz,
I just want to point out that I did give you some suggestions on all the gear I think you would need and like ... not the stuff I need, use or like.

What I like and use, would not make you happy. Ya gotta trust me. You'll thank me later.

BTW, I really am curious about this, not making a joke. What is the difference between RAP and HIP HOP. I have worked with a lot of people who said they do RAP and others who say it's HIP HOP .. It all seems pretty much the same stuff to meeeee.

I don't listen to it either. But my impression of Rap is more of an "in your face" kind of feel. More freedom to cuss and to run your mouth about whatever. Kind of like Harder Rock and Heavy Metal.
But Hip Hop dudes, and chicks are more pretty. Kind of like Kelly "My milkshake brings all the boys..."
You mostly need to have a real pretty image, and you gotta sing about love songs, or sex. Maybe about how much you get it, or want it , or need it.
Hip Hop also sometimes is like country music, sometimes they have a story to tell.
My 2cents

the way ivealways seen it is hip hop is more dance oriantaded and rap is more like a good rant or poem not geard tward if people like it or not just there. at least any thing with any lyricle value.

most artist have songs that fall into bolth. most track to be sound like they should be Besides, though there are a few artist with real talent.

my rapper friend says this:

"hip-hop is an attitude, rap is a music genre"