looks ok..... but

the m-audio monitors are simply not good enough for this kind of setup....

use a couple of k's on hifi speakers+amp instead....

and digi mic-pre's..... :oops:

and ditch the big knob..... it's very poorly built....

and last i would replace the akg phones with sennheiser 265.... less leakage and better sound....

I would allocate much more of your budget to monitors. As iznogood said, those are way behind the rest of the gear you are proposing. I would replace the Big knob with a Presonus Central Station (it smokes the Big Knob IMO).

SHURE DYNAMIC KICK DRUM MICROPHONEHIGH OUTPUT

Beta 52 maybe? I wouldn't get anything less than a Beta 52 or an AKG D112. Also, I don't know what you are recording but if acoustic instruments are involved (I'm guessing so because of the kick drum mic) I would pick up a couple of Shure SM57s. The can be used on so many things (especially paired up with a nice LDC).

Good Luck!
Wes

PS. I wish my high school would have had a $50,000 recording studio!

Sorry, I just noticed you already have 57s!

Wes

If you are recording a drum kit often, and have kids as involved as it seems, the your best bet for the kit is the Audix D5(?) drum pak. This will include a D1 (2) D2's a D4 and a D6 model mics. These are basically set-and-forget mics.Easily placed ,able to attain high quality sound and are virtually indestructable.

The monitors you list are a weak spot.As was mentioned. Depends on the control room size to determine what would be best. Self powered though is the way to go in this case as there is one less component and cabling to worry about.(power amp etc)

Recently I heard a pair of the new Samson monitors with the new ribbon tweeters. I was taken aback by the accuracy of the high-end in these. Not quite ready to recommend, but they aint bad!

Dont worry too much about the mic pres in the Digi system.They're very accurate, a bit boring, but will do the job. Get a good set of plugs for this system. The UA stuff has come very close in sonics to the classic hardware they emulate and do so without the noise.

Buget for cables. And get real good ones. For all of the yeahs and nays surrounding the high-end cables, there are subcontractors out there that will custom build your cables for less than you might pay for the 'Monster' and other brands.

http://www.hotwiredcables.com/

^Not too bad on pre-built cable prices.

Since this is for a school, I would recommend sqeezing in a better pair of condensors in case there ends up being a lot of orchestra/recital recordings. AKG 414's sound pretty good for this, as can Neumann KM183 - 184's. Haven't tried Earthworks, but peaple say good things about them.
And yeah, monitors.

Nay to the digidesign pre and m-audio monitors. You'll need a bigger external Hard Drive or get the glyphs that allow you to switch out the HDs. I agree, you'll need drum mics. The Audix DP5 is a nice package...covers a lot of ground.

a mistake i made uilding my studoi was not leaving enough money for installation if i ever build a stiudo again i will hire the installer before i buy the equipment

At the risk of being beaten half to death twice, I would ditch the ProTools HD...

The reason is purely economics:
- How many times will the school be willing to fork over money to upgrade? Would that money be better spent on actual theory books, acoustic physics training, etc?

- PTHD may not be the best teaching tool (if indeed teaching is the purpose of having all this in a high school...)

- Has a high learning curve (perhaps a good thing perhaps a bad thing)... but which is more important: learning what plug in to use or knowing how to apply EQ/compresion/etc?

- Just my opinion, but I think this money (taxpayer based or privately funded, either way) would be MUCH better spent in teaching kids the basics of audio, and not just how to operate a specific program...there are other options out there.

Sorry if this was out of line...but I think there's a certain obligation by any community to ensure money dedicated for educational purposes is spent wisely, and I don't think state of the art PTHD is the wisest choice...

A point I had not considered....Well said...MM.

That equipment list plus the suggestions make a pretty good setup.

What are you planning on mixing down to? DAT? 1/4" tape? Might be a good idea...just for old time sake to have a reel to reel around for them youngins to learn on.

I'd also recommend a CD duplicator. When you record the highschool band, everyone in the band is going to want a copy.

Thanks for the responses. This studio will mostly be used for rock and hip hop projects. The school is a charter based school for kids who opt to go there or can't go to public high schools.

The director of the school also wants to "try" and have a commercial studio which imho will take a long time to get it up and running because no one at the school knows much about recording. The school is not hurting financially so upgrades shouldn't be a problem. They will also be using this to get more students enrolled in the 2006 school year.

I would personally like to see some analog and more outboard gear purchased but I am only making suggestions right now. Hopefully I will roll this over into a job of some sort. I would also like to see some sort of recording class but they are just trying to get things rolling right now.

I have a home studio with all the basic mics and a couple high end mics so I may pull from that if needed (assuming) i get on the payroll.

Thanks again,

Tom

there is space inside the 2.0 mac (I have one) for a second hard drive- I would definitely get one- also since you are buying a mac, why not go with Logic or digital performer instead of protool? you would save quite a bit of money and logic and DP are also midi powerhouses, another class you could teach the students and quite a skill to have. If you get logic it already comes with VI's- if you go with DP, get mach Five as well-
you might also want to consider 2 1GB sticks for ram instead of the 512- if you have the 2.0 with 4 ram slots you maxed out your machine already at 1.5 GB ram- later on you'll end up replacing the 250 sticks and posibly the 512's anyway, so why not just go with the 1GB sticks now? Its not that expensive, I think I paid like $300 for my 2GB at an aplle dealer.
If you have the 2.0 with 8 slots that's not that big of a deal but still, you might want more ram later.

As for the BX8 monitors they are really not that bad, as a matter of fact they are probably the best on that price range. You just have to adjust them for the room (they have settings in the back) and learn'em. Of course, you can't go wrong if you can afford some genelecs. With the savings from not getting protools HD you probably could. I would also get a motu interface, the 828 mkii or the 2408 mkiii. they are great for the $$ and they have lots of options-

Good luck and let us know how it turned out!

ive heard good things about (i know im not spelling this right) ambelton Live. also mabey get some MSP5s for monitors i like mine, and i like the way they transelate better then the makies.

also if this is for educational porposses then i think a few (3-5) difrant flavor pres would be a good idea.

i'd go for less things but better!
mics really need upgrade!
and regarding the apple display don't think it's good to spend 3 times more than what you'd pay for other lcd!
go for the other headphone amp from behringer!
mics you miss the sm57 and spending on a tlm 103 i'd give a look at otheres like the k2 or something like that!