what to buy for home studio?

S

SCOTT502

New member
Hey everyone, I cut and pasted this from another thread in the amp room because I thought it might fit better here. My original question regarded wether or not adding a 4x12 cab to my combo amp (for home studio use only), would be a good investment.

After thinking about it a little while and reading your responses I'm leaning toward spending the money elsewhere in the "studio".

Now comes the hard part and I'll need some more advise on this. My current set up is this:

Vox Valvtronix VTX 60watt amp. closed back 1x12 combo.
Audix i5
Rode NT 2a
Presonus Inspire 1394 audio interface
M-Audio midi keyboard controller
Apple i5
Logic Express
Cubase (whatever the basic version is...it was bundled w/ the Presonus)
DKFH
KRK rp6 monitors


I have already treated the room walls with Auralex foam but I still need to treat the corners with thier LENRD bass traps so that's a definite next step.

After the bass traps I will have about $700 left to spend. GIve me recommendations as to where in the signal chain my money would be best spent. I've thought about adding an SM 57 or an MD 421. I've thought about upgrading to either full blown Cubase or Logic. A better interface with better preamps? Plugins?

So what where would you invest your money?
 
Re: what to buy for home studio?

before upgrading to the full blown versions of cubase or logic i'd take a close look at just what you'd gain by doing this. seems to me a lot of the basic versions of programs are more than the average user will need.

i'd make sure you have at least 1.5 Gb of memory in your mac. memory is cheap. 2 Gb would probably be best if you can.

sm57 mic is cheap and has been used by both bedroom recordists and big name bands. this would likely be a very good investment!

i'll let better qualified folks chime in on stuff like preamps, etc. good luck man. looks like you are heading down the right track.
 
Re: what to buy for home studio?

Nigel....is that you?

Thanks for the response. I kind of figured an sm 57 would be in the mix somewhere just because of the affordability of them so I agree with you there. As far as the memory goes that may not be a bad idea...I already have 1.5 but more would always be better. Perhaps an external hard drive to back up my stuff?

By the way how do you like your Seagull?

Oh and remember....."Mime is money"
 
Re: what to buy for home studio?

Just my 2 cents here. I've got an MD421 and I think it's great. I love the 57 but the 421 imo captures more of the whole guitar sound. I've got the same amp as you and you know what? Recording direct it works great. I'd put a V30 in it or another speaker just for different sound variations but the combo should be fine for recording. I use Sonar 5 but depending on what you plan on doing, the basic version of cubase may be fine.

Speaking of Seagull acoustics, I've got a Norman which eventually became Seagull from what I understand and I just love that thing. If you listen to my recordings linked below, any acoustic six is the Norman. It has a bolt on neck too! Crazy stuff. Good luck with the home studio, it's a really fun thing to have.
 
Re: what to buy for home studio?

Thanks for the feedback! Everything I've read/ heard about the 421 is good. J moose, you, and a lot of others give them a big thumbs up so that says a lot to me. I've never tried going direct from the amp, in fact I didn't know it could do that.....maybe I'd better try that.


75lespaul said:
Speaking of Seagull acoustics, I've got a Norman which eventually became Seagull from what I understand and I just love that thing. If you listen to my recordings linked below, any acoustic six is the Norman. It has a bolt on neck too! Crazy stuff. Good luck with the home studio, it's a really fun thing to have.
Click to expand...


I've played a few Seagulls and they seem to be good for the money. I have considered buying one from time to time.

And thanks for the good wishes on the home studio...I've been trying to make it happen for more years than a lot of guys here have been alive! :rolleyes:
 
Re: what to buy for home studio?

You know, a big part of the studio magic for a lot of great records has been a kilo of blow, a case of Jack daniels, and a couple of stripper/groupies.

I'd get that before anything else equipment wise....
 
Re: what to buy for home studio?

if you plan on recording a drumkit, no such thing as too many SM57s :)

i was planning exactly the same thing till financial concerns took grip.. i was looking at an oktava 319 modded by www.oktavamod.com

apart from that, anything aceman has suggested seems reet good right 'bout now :)
 
Re: what to buy for home studio?

YES, another satisfied seagull customer for sure. i love mine to death. though i have to admit it's been getting lonely lately since i bought my martin 12 string! that's been getting most of my love these days.

an external hardrive is a MUST! better safe than sorry. and not sure how cubase and logic operate but back when i was using protools it preferred recording to a non system drive.

....well, it's one louder isn't it.........
 
Re: what to buy for home studio?

Get a couple SM57 mics. RAM would also be a good investment. Maybe a cheap used drum kit? Just to have it in there. Are you planning on recording with a band? or with anyone besides yourself?
 
Re: what to buy for home studio?

Aceman said:
You know, a big part of the studio magic for a lot of great records has been a kilo of blow, a case of Jack daniels, and a couple of stripper/groupies.

I'd get that before anything else equipment wise....
Click to expand...


Haha! Naw, It's more like 400mg of ibuprofin, a Sam's Club bottled water and trying to get to bed at a decent hour. mmmmmmmboy....big times!
 
Re: what to buy for home studio?

The better the sound going in the better coming out. Your interface is middle/bottom of the row, I'm sure it works fine but I'd look to upgrade there.
 
Re: what to buy for home studio?

innerdreamrecords.co said:
The better the sound going in the better coming out. Your interface is middle/bottom of the row, I'm sure it works fine but I'd look to upgrade there.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I figured that, it was all about keeping cost to a minimum when I bought it. Now that I'm thinking of making other purchases I want to spend wisely but get good quality. J Moose put me onto a Peavey unit which looks promising although for now a couple of mics are in my price range so I think I'll start there.

Stv....I saw those plans and am going to build bass traps instead of buying more foam. I should have done that in the past but got lazy.

Fender....no drums at the moment...I would love to have a nice kit as I played drums for 25 years but that leads to more mics, cables, stands, inputs, etc. and I just can't tackle that at the moment. For now it's DKFH.

these_go 211....you've seen enough of that one.
 
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