Studio Decisions....

Neoni

Neoni

Neoni

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Hi all, i cannot decide what to invest in so i need some help im willing to spend up to 450-500... on one of the following...

I currently have a Protools 003 Rack, Pair of VXT8's, A Macbook Pro, A Korg Kontrol 49, and other various studio bits, the Rack only gives me 4 mic preamps. its basically a vary capable home studio, i have tonnes of software and plugins to, but im so unsure on what to buy!... so im thinking i should invest in either:

a) a new preamp, connected via digital adat (to give me either 8 mic pre's or 12 mic pres)
b) something for mixing, such as the focusrite liquid mix (convolution technology)
c) for mixing and mastering, a second pair of monitors for a/b'ing
d) i plan on buying an sm57, but maybe a nice microphone...


Im swinging towards the preamp, or convolution technology currently? any ideas? and if so what gear would you look at :)

-Neoni
 
I personally don't have a clue, and while im sure there may be a select few on this forum who do, im sure you would get a much more detailed response at a dedicated music forum? All sounds really cool mind :)
 
blairw said:
I personally don't have a clue, and while im sure there may be a select few on this forum who do, im sure you would get a much more detailed response at a dedicated music forum? All sounds really cool mind :)
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i probably would your right, but theres some decent music tech heads in here too :)
 
Do you just have money that you want to spend?
What are you wanting to do next? The 4 options you've suggested are all completely different areas so I think you need to be more specific in what you want to do.

Also, an SM-57 is a good investment and a good weapon for the arsenal.

Besides, you know I'd just tell you to buy a control surface :p
 
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Maccy said:
Do you just have money that you want to spend?
What are you wanting to do next? The 4 options you've suggested are all completely different areas so I think you need to be more specific in what you want to do.

Also, an SM-57 is a good investment and a good weapon for the arsenal.

Besides, you know I'd just tell you to buy a control surface :p
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i dont want a control surface as im buying a desk later on in the year, i want to add to my studio, but i dont know what to invest in, i cannot save money so while i have it i want to invest it into something worth having.... what do you reckon?
 
What do you do mostly with your studio?
Have you had the mix room treated? If not probably spend that money towards some acoustic treatment. It doesn't matter how much gear you have, a good room to mix in makes all the difference.

1.) Do you record drums a lot? If not, then there isn't really a lot of point having that many preamps in a home studio.

2.) the liquid mix is just another external dsp processor, its a good buy if you use a lot of plugins and need to free up processing power.

3.) Room treatment! Its nice to have another set of monitors but probably better if you just stuck with one pair and learn how it translate into other systems.

4.) as for microphones, dont just buy one expensive microphone. its better to have a variety of mics to work with, sometimes cheaper microphones can work better depending on what you're recording so don't fall into the trap of thinking a 500 quid neumann is always better than an sE thats cheaper

sm57 is a nice dynamic mic, but you should check on the beyer m201 too!
also consider picking up a cheap condenser mic, the samson c03 and akg perception range comes to mind.
 
I have an nt1-a as for what music do i mix, its normally rock/funk/pop sometimes electronica it all depends, i cant acousticly treat the room yet, im thinking about long term investmets for when i move out :) thats why im thinking about a preamp...
 
Hahah this sounds like what I was thinking of doing a few years ago, unfortunately was never able to swing the family at the time. The Rode NT1 is a good mic from past experience, was capable of being very subtle, although I almost blew some old monitors at my college after someone got fiddling with the behringer we had an locked it at max volume whilst I was out the room a moment :D

If you have a good mix of mics though, and your software is all intact I'd say the preamp doesnt sound a bad idea; could perhaps also go some rack mount effects/filtering modules as well to offload from your PC? Can never have too many mics though! Perhaps could also consider upgrading your monitors depending on what you're using; so if you want you can up the volume to listen for small issues without distortion artifacts?
 
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Upgrade my monitors, there 1ks worth! best range of krk i can afford without going to Expose!
 
Neoni said:
I have an nt1-a as for what music do i mix, its normally rock/funk/pop sometimes electronica it all depends, i cant acousticly treat the room yet, im thinking about long term investmets for when i move out :) thats why im thinking about a preamp...
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http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul06/articles/studiosos_0706.htm
portable bass traps!

just stick with the KRKs, they're solid monitors!

just curious if you're going to buy a desk later why would you want to get more preamps.
 
No control surface, eh? Damn, that was going to be my recommendation, too :D

Do you really have to spend this money now? Wouldn't it be more sensible to put it towards the desk, putting you in a position to buy one with better quality channels or greater routing flexibility?

I'm beginning to smell GAS... ;)

EDIT: Ooh, okay: the Liquid Mix does look pretty lovely. Vintage comps? UREI 1176 LN emulator?! Yes please! :D
 
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Got a liquid mix myself just after christmas for £300 (ex display).

32 channels of EQ and compression, all with the characteristics of their respective models? :D

Small disadvantages are:
-Naming system is covered due to legal reasons. However, there is a way of getting around this. (think Pro Evo!) Plus they provide a cover sheet.
-Needs its own Firewire bus (ideally) as some people have issues with it and other firewire devices (primarily soundcards)

Amazing bit of kit. Wouldnt even consider mixing without it now. I still use my UAD-1 for other processing such as multiband, limiting and such, but with this, i can have them all running in real time as opposed to having to bounce tracks down with the UAD on them. I dont really even come close to using up 32 channels of the liquid mix.

Plus its portable. Go to any studio and just mix then and there. Dont worry about what plugins the've got!

Get one mate. You'll use it on everything! :)
 
OzZie said:
Got a liquid mix myself just after christmas for £300 (ex display).

32 channels of EQ and compression, all with the characteristics of their respective models? :D

Small disadvantages are:
-Naming system is covered due to legal reasons. However, there is a way of getting around this. (think Pro Evo!) Plus they provide a cover sheet.
-Needs its own Firewire bus (ideally) as some people have issues with it and other firewire devices (primarily soundcards)

Amazing bit of kit. Wouldnt even consider mixing without it now. I still use my UAD-1 for other processing such as multiband, limiting and such, but with this, i can have them all running in real time as opposed to having to bounce tracks down with the UAD on them. I dont really even come close to using up 32 channels of the liquid mix.

Plus its portable. Go to any studio and just mix then and there. Dont worry about what plugins the've got!

Get one mate. You'll use it on everything! :)
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you bugger can you email me on where you got yours from please buddie, i think a purchase is in order.
 
If I were you I'd just buy more monitors and speakers....

I make music that gets played over PA setups mainly, so I'm building my own PA rig to test out tunes on. :)

If not, just get a few random toys like Kaoss pads :p
 
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