Guys 'n' Gals...

Bit of background...
I'm a mature student of 37 years young and have been working in IT for
the last 18 years - too long I hear you say... I'm currentlly studying
Sound Engineering and Music Tech at a college in London with the
intention of going freelance at the end of it to record, mix and
produce shows/adverts/animation/soundtracks for Radio and TV (where
possible). Ambitious I know, but I am fortunate that I already have a
number of friends in the field who are doing everything they can to
help me through these exciting times (I've also been dabling in the
sound/music industry for a little while now,but certinly don't profess
to know anything about it!!)

Now, rather than start a discussion on the merits of choosing a new
career in a very competitive marketplace of professional audio
recording, I'd like some advice on the equipment I should consider
buying in order to fully kit-out my home studio so that I can at least
perform the radio side of things - TV and movies to follow (although I
am working with a friend to produce a 6 minute animated short for
submission into an animation festival - he's doing the animation, I do
the soundtrack/audio).

Items I have already a-
Behringer Eurorack 2642A mixing desk
Tannoy Reveal Active monitors
Pro Tools LE 6.7 with Digi002 Rack (with Waves Gold Bundle Plug-ins)
for mixing and production/mastering
Logic Pro 7 (for synths and MIDI sequencing)
Reason 2.5 (for synthesisers and drum loops)
Apple PowerMac G5 for home mixing/production
Apple PowerBook G4 for mobile recording
2 x Shure SM58 mics
1 x Rhode NT2 mic
1 x Rhode NT1A mic
1 x AKG880 mic
DVD player
CD player
Patchbay
Numerous guitar effects pedals
Numerous guitars
MIDI Keyboard controller
miscellaneous mic stands, cables of all types and descriptions etc...)

I already have plans to convert my home studio into a proper vocal
recording booth (yes, the room is that small).

I guess my easy-to-answer questions are..

1. What other equipment would I need to complement the existing set of
hardware?
AKAI S5000 sampler (or equivalent)?

2. Would you recommend getting a decent mic pre as well? At the moment
I currently use the Digi and Behringer for vocal recording with
surprisingly good results.

3. What about an ADAT machine? Only for compatibility if nothing
else...

4. Anything else you can think of?

All answers are very much appreciated.

Thanks in anticipation.

Items I have already a-
Behringer Eurorack 2642A mixing desk
Tannoy Reveal Active monitors
Pro Tools LE 6.7 with Digi002 Rack (with Waves Gold Bundle Plug-ins)
for mixing and production/mastering
Logic Pro 7 (for synths and MIDI sequencing)
Reason 2.5 (for synthesisers and drum loops)
Apple PowerMac G5 for home mixing/production
Apple PowerBook G4 for mobile recording
2 x Shure SM58 mics
1 x Rhode NT2 mic
1 x Rhode NT1A mic
1 x AKG880 mic
DVD player
CD player
Patchbay
Numerous guitar effects pedals
Numerous guitars
MIDI Keyboard controller
miscellaneous mic stands, cables of all types and descriptions etc...)

1. What other equipment would I need to complement the existing set of
hardware?

The usual - mics, preamps, monitors. Assuming you'll never record drums,
you need:
- a couple better vocal mics - higher end Rodes, AT4050, TLM-103
- a pair of small diaphram condensers - AT4041, MC012, Rode NT5
- some mics for speaker cabinets - SM57, MD421, D112
- preamps - Presonus Digimax LT (which will expand the 002R to 16 analog
inputs), FMR RNP
- monitors - start with Dynaudio, shop around, keep the Reveals as
alternates since you probably know them reasonably well

AKAI S5000 sampler (or equivalent)?

I'll give you one good REASON not to get this g

2. Would you recommend getting a decent mic pre as well? At the moment
I currently use the Digi and Behringer for vocal recording with
surprisingly good results.

Stop reading this, get in your car, go to your nearest pro audio shop, and
rent an FMR RNP. You'll be surprised how much you'll regret calling
Behringer mixer pramps "surprisingly good".

3. What about an ADAT machine? Only for compatibility if nothing
else...

Compatibility with what? A museum? Digital tape is deader than plaid and
paisley combined.

4. Anything else you can think of?

Firewire drive for the Powerbook, better EQ and compressors, Waves IR1, but
these are lower on the list than the above.

Keep the day job.

--


Roger W. Norman
SirMusic Studio
http://blogs.salon.com/0004478/

"Chilli Fiend" wrote in message
oups.com...
Guys 'n' Gals...

Bit of background...
I'm a mature student of 37 years young and have been working in IT for
the last 18 years - too long I hear you say... I'm currentlly studying
Sound Engineering and Music Tech at a college in London with the
intention of going freelance at the end of it to record, mix and
produce shows/adverts/animation/soundtracks for Radio and TV (where
possible). Ambitious I know, but I am fortunate that I already have a
number of friends in the field who are doing everything they can to
help me through these exciting times (I've also been dabling in the
sound/music industry for a little while now,but certinly don't profess
to know anything about it!!)

Now, rather than start a discussion on the merits of choosing a new
career in a very competitive marketplace of professional audio
recording, I'd like some advice on the equipment I should consider
buying in order to fully kit-out my home studio so that I can at least
perform the radio side of things - TV and movies to follow (although I
am working with a friend to produce a 6 minute animated short for
submission into an animation festival - he's doing the animation, I do
the soundtrack/audio).

Items I have already a-
Behringer Eurorack 2642A mixing desk
Tannoy Reveal Active monitors
Pro Tools LE 6.7 with Digi002 Rack (with Waves Gold Bundle Plug-ins)
for mixing and production/mastering
Logic Pro 7 (for synths and MIDI sequencing)
Reason 2.5 (for synthesisers and drum loops)
Apple PowerMac G5 for home mixing/production
Apple PowerBook G4 for mobile recording
2 x Shure SM58 mics
1 x Rhode NT2 mic
1 x Rhode NT1A mic
1 x AKG880 mic
DVD player
CD player
Patchbay
Numerous guitar effects pedals
Numerous guitars
MIDI Keyboard controller
miscellaneous mic stands, cables of all types and descriptions etc...)

I already have plans to convert my home studio into a proper vocal
recording booth (yes, the room is that small).

I guess my easy-to-answer questions are..

1. What other equipment would I need to complement the existing set of
hardware?
AKAI S5000 sampler (or equivalent)?

2. Would you recommend getting a decent mic pre as well? At the moment
I currently use the Digi and Behringer for vocal recording with
surprisingly good results.

3. What about an ADAT machine? Only for compatibility if nothing
else...

4. Anything else you can think of?

All answers are very much appreciated.

Thanks in anticipation.

Thanks for the considered response ( as opposed to keeping my day
job).

I haven't used REASON for the sampling as I thought this would take up
valuable processing power, as for the mic pre's I figured as much,
still, can't judge till i've tried it.

As for the external drive for the powerbook, I already have a FireWire
160GB external Maxtor drive which fits the bill.

Also thanks for the mic and pre recommendations.

Regards

S.



"Zigakly" wrote in message ...
Items I have already a-
Behringer Eurorack 2642A mixing desk
Tannoy Reveal Active monitors
Pro Tools LE 6.7 with Digi002 Rack (with Waves Gold Bundle Plug-ins)
for mixing and production/mastering
Logic Pro 7 (for synths and MIDI sequencing)
Reason 2.5 (for synthesisers and drum loops)
Apple PowerMac G5 for home mixing/production
Apple PowerBook G4 for mobile recording
2 x Shure SM58 mics
1 x Rhode NT2 mic
1 x Rhode NT1A mic
1 x AKG880 mic
DVD player
CD player
Patchbay
Numerous guitar effects pedals
Numerous guitars
MIDI Keyboard controller
miscellaneous mic stands, cables of all types and descriptions etc...)

1. What other equipment would I need to complement the existing set of
hardware?

The usual - mics, preamps, monitors. Assuming you'll never record drums,
you need:
- a couple better vocal mics - higher end Rodes, AT4050, TLM-103
- a pair of small diaphram condensers - AT4041, MC012, Rode NT5
- some mics for speaker cabinets - SM57, MD421, D112
- preamps - Presonus Digimax LT (which will expand the 002R to 16 analog
inputs), FMR RNP
- monitors - start with Dynaudio, shop around, keep the Reveals as
alternates since you probably know them reasonably well

AKAI S5000 sampler (or equivalent)?

I'll give you one good REASON not to get this g

2. Would you recommend getting a decent mic pre as well? At the moment
I currently use the Digi and Behringer for vocal recording with
surprisingly good results.

Stop reading this, get in your car, go to your nearest pro audio shop, and
rent an FMR RNP. You'll be surprised how much you'll regret calling
Behringer mixer pramps "surprisingly good".

3. What about an ADAT machine? Only for compatibility if nothing
else...

Compatibility with what? A museum? Digital tape is deader than plaid and
paisley combined.

4. Anything else you can think of?

Firewire drive for the Powerbook, better EQ and compressors, Waves IR1, but
these are lower on the list than the above.

i would have to say you are thinking a bit small. to compete in the
professional world, you are not going to be able to get by with
prosumer equipment (hence, i imagine, roger's comment). you can keep
the pro tools and logic, and maybe get by with the little tannoys for a
while, and you may find some use for the sm57s (they can do
surprisingly well at many applications). but you pretty much need to
upgrade your entire signal chain, and more prosumer gear isnt the
answer. project studios can get away with rode mics and FMR preamps
(not that they are necessarliy bad gear, they just dont bring clients
in the door), etc, but again, to compete with pro facilities, you are
going to need to be able to offer some very high-end gear in your kit -
millennia media HV3 preamps, john hardy, great river, etc, with some
real mics, vintage U47/67, ela-m251s, a few U87s, C12s, etc, for
vocals, a few pairs of nice SD mics for acoustic work, DPA 4011s,
schoeps cmc64s, senn mkh series, AKG c480s; a couple of variations of
outboard compressors, LA2, etc. manley pultec eq's, AND a comfortable,
professionally designed space, both for tracking and production, and to
accomodate visitors/clients. keep in mind that a working studio is
far more than rooms and equipment (and even skill) - it is a business
venture, requiring business skills, marketing, advertising, accounting,
etc - those things are easily as important as the hardware in defining
your potential success. best of luck.

In article .com writes:

i would have to say you are thinking a bit small. to compete in the
professional world, you are not going to be able to get by with
prosumer equipment

Actually, to compete in the professional world, you're not going to be
able to get by with non-professional talent - writing, arranging,
playing, engineering, acoustical design, system engineering.

You can make very nice sounding recordings with prosumer equipment,
but you need more than equipment to make a truly professoinal
recording.


--
I'm really Mike Rivers )
However, until the spam goes away or Hell freezes over,
lots of IP addresses are blocked from this system. If
you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring
and reach me he double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo

Excellent advice... and thanks again for the responses..

I've got a £50k budget to work with and treating the studio takes up
about £20k of that. I can use the rest to get a good mic pre and some
vintage mics. I've found the wave bundles can get me by for the time
being but I can see that I'll need a decent outboard reverb unit
(lexicon is high on the list).

As for the business side, yeah, i'm not going into this with eyes wide
shut. I already have a number (however small) of paying clients and
working on a number of independant projects that I can see making a
bit of cash for the future. I have a keen business sense and have a
good 'vision' as what I see as a comfort space for chill-out
environments. I also understand that the whole idea of getting the
best sound out of anybody (or anything) is making sure that they are
relaxed, comfortable and above all, ready!

Luckilly I have some great contacts and friends in the advertising
business who are all keen to see this succeed and are already prepared
to feed me a small percentage of thier work to 'sniff' me out and make
sure I can deliver what I promise (I'm also using them carefully for
getting my name around and expanding my network wherever possible).

Thanks again for the advice, well received...

S.


wrote in message roups.com...
i would have to say you are thinking a bit small. to compete in the
professional world, you are not going to be able to get by with
prosumer equipment (hence, i imagine, roger's comment). you can keep
the pro tools and logic, and maybe get by with the little tannoys for a
while, and you may find some use for the sm57s (they can do
surprisingly well at many applications). but you pretty much need to
upgrade your entire signal chain, and more prosumer gear isnt the
answer. project studios can get away with rode mics and FMR preamps
(not that they are necessarliy bad gear, they just dont bring clients
in the door), etc, but again, to compete with pro facilities, you are
going to need to be able to offer some very high-end gear in your kit -
millennia media HV3 preamps, john hardy, great river, etc, with some
real mics, vintage U47/67, ela-m251s, a few U87s, C12s, etc, for
vocals, a few pairs of nice SD mics for acoustic work, DPA 4011s,
schoeps cmc64s, senn mkh series, AKG c480s; a couple of variations of
outboard compressors, LA2, etc. manley pultec eq's, AND a comfortable,
professionally designed space, both for tracking and production, and to
accomodate visitors/clients. keep in mind that a working studio is
far more than rooms and equipment (and even skill) - it is a business
venture, requiring business skills, marketing, advertising, accounting,
etc - those things are easily as important as the hardware in defining
your potential success. best of luck.