what is the perfect studio?

[classic101]

im just wondering i have a settlement coming in soon if god blesses me. But in your opinnion what is the perfect studio i use reason 3.0 so it would have to encorpurate software any ideas and opinions?

[Othentic]

This is not a good question.

The perfect studio is the one that will suit your style and taste and that will be right for the kind of music you're doing. So they're as many perfect studio as producers...

O

[classic101]

we should change this what are the essentials for a great ALL around studio which means hiphop beats and vocals :D

[Jeffason]

can't answer this without knowing the budget

[DJ Mavrikk]

it's all about finding shit you're comfortable using. once you master what you got, the sky's the limit.

[Pyro]

it's all about finding shit you're comfortable using. once you master what you got, the sky's the limit.
Amen!!!!!!!

[Showcase]

Pots, pans, a stick and some chewing gum to add some flavor...

[plan b]

Pots, pans, a stick and some chewing gum to add some flavor...

Basically what Othentic said. Whether your equipment cost $3000 or $300,000, if you're good enough with it you can come up with whatever you set out to produce.

[Othentic]

Exactly, but not being vague I'd say you need at least:

A good sound cound with good converters. The shittier the converters, the shittier the sound will convert from analog to digital.

Balanced cables. Balanced cables help reduce rf frequencies that cables may pick up thus reducing unwanted noise in your song.

If you plan on recording vocals or instruments (guits, basses). You'll need a good line like a preamp/comp, good mic (for the purpose you need it). You can buy 5 000$ mics but maybe they won't even fit what you need them for.

Good computer. G5 dual (at least) or P4 duocore, lots or ram (at least 2 gb), 3 HD, 1 for the system, 2 that you will put in RAID, meaning that the system will write on them simultanuously (lot faster). Oh and put 2 screens, you'll find it pretty handy.

Of course you need good monitors, on my side I'm comfortable with my MACKIE HR824 but I know that hip hop can sound very cool in a pair of BM15.

Then again, you can have good speakers but if you have a shitty square room, forget it, it will sound like crap. I'd say the dream studio is a combination of all the elements you put in.Good room, good monitors, good line of mic and preamp, good sound card, good computer.

The better your computer will be, the more sounds you'll be able to play FROM the computer via Virtual instruments, thus reducing the need to buy hardware equipment.

So here's my setup and why I like it.

G5 QUAD 2.5, 4 GB ram, 5 HD (2 in RAID), 2 screens.
4 gb of ram cause I use lots of virtual instruments, 5 HD is 1 for the system, 1 for
my virtual instruments, 1 for my backups, and 2 in raid for the projects.

MIC Neuman TLM 103.
Cause it's transparent and very effective. Can work with lots of styles of music.

PREAMP Focusrite ISA220.
Also cause it's transparent and does a pretty good job compressing the signal. Can
also fit with lots of styles.

SOUND CARD RME Fireface 800
THe converters are very good, better than the shitty M-Audio and Digi002 ones.
Lots of inputs, 4 preamps in it too, lots of performance.

SPEAKERS Mackie HR824
They have anough bass to mix hip hop, the highs are not TOO high so you ears
don't get tired after only 2 hours of mixing.

SOUND Modules - KORG Triton studio 88, MOTIF Rack, Roland XV-3080
Well I bought these over the years, Roland being the first one. They all got specific
genres and I'm not using them much these days, they're collecting dust. Of course
I use the tirton as a controler and I love it but I don't use the sounds much in it.

SOFTWARE
My recording software (for now) is LOGIC 7.2. I bought it without knowing if I'd like
it and I don't. it's very performant BUT I don't feel it (that's why I'm telling you you
need something that fits YOUR needs.) Ima go back to CUBASE SX 3 in a couple
of weeks. Then I have tons of plugins wich I won't name that help me enhance my
sounds.

For me this setup works perfectly, I'm fast and effective on it. You just have to know exactly what you WANT and NEED to doo befor you even consider buying ANYTHING.

Good luck.

O

[Showcase]

Balanced cables. Balanced cables help reduce rf frequencies that cables may pick up thus reducing unwanted noise in your song.

Whoa...Might wanna check that one for a second...Plug a balanced cable in an unbalanced input or output and you're gonna have more than unwanted noise in your song...

[marvel beats]

Whoa...Might wanna check that one for a second...Plug a balanced cable in an unbalanced input or output and you're gonna have more than unwanted noise in your song...

Yea but the interface he's suggesting has balanced/unbalanced inputs and outputs... where did you get the unbalanced from??

[Showcase]

Yea but the interface he's suggesting has balanced/unbalanced inputs and outputs... where did you get the unbalanced from??

skimmed through, didn't see that...

i took it more like a general guideline than for something to go with the set up he mentioned...

blah, my fault...

[Hife]

So here's my setup and why I like it.

G5 QUAD 2.5, 4 GB ram, 5 HD (2 in RAID), 2 screens.
4 gb of ram cause I use lots of virtual instruments, 5 HD is 1 for the system, 1 for
my virtual instruments, 1 for my backups, and 2 in raid for the projects.

MIC Neuman TLM 103.
Cause it's transparent and very effective. Can work with lots of styles of music.

PREAMP Focusrite ISA220.
Also cause it's transparent and does a pretty good job compressing the signal. Can
also fit with lots of styles.

SOUND CARD RME Fireface 800
THe converters are very good, better than the shitty M-Audio and Digi002 ones.
Lots of inputs, 4 preamps in it too, lots of performance.

SPEAKERS Mackie HR824
They have anough bass to mix hip hop, the highs are not TOO high so you ears
don't get tired after only 2 hours of mixing.

SOUND Modules - KORG Triton studio 88, MOTIF Rack, Roland XV-3080
Well I bought these over the years, Roland being the first one. They all got specific
genres and I'm not using them much these days, they're collecting dust. Of course
I use the tirton as a controler and I love it but I don't use the sounds much in it.

SOFTWARE
My recording software (for now) is LOGIC 7.2. I (OTHENTIC WROTE)

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How can u talk about the digi 002 like that. thats so wierd cuz the studio that i work in has everything he has. lol. same mac, same mic, same preamp, same korg, same monitors, i hate those monitors tho. my KRKs mix down better. lol.

This is a good setup. i do suggest goin with protools though no matter what. but its up to u. good luck.

[Jeffason]

i just sold my mackies for some dynaudio bm5a ( in the mail )

My gripe with the mackies is that I could never get the snare level right without using headphones, and also the reverb is like next to impossible to hear as well.

reading reviews, the dynaudio bm5a's were said to be better in these areas.

[Othentic]

BM5a are very good speakers, good choice.

Abou the the shitty protools. Protools is OVER evaluated when it comes to the LE version. all the sound cards that go with it, specially the Digi 002, suck. Well in fact they don't SUCK cause they're actually decent, but put a RME besides the DIGI and you'll hear the difference right away.

The DIGI 002 was design to help people with low budget have a protools. But this LE version doesn't even compare (in sound quality) to the big protools rig.

Personally for producers, composers, I don't even know why people like protools. It's like the american express card, this card cost more than all the other ones and is accepted in less places than visa BUT everybody has one. it's because they emphasized saying that they were the best and if you didn't had an american express card you were not it the game...

Same thing with protools.Cause big studios have it, little ones want it too, but thes're such a big difference in sound between the Big Rig Protools and the tiny Digi002 LE version...

I say you better go with the DAW YOU'RE confortable with. You got SONAR, CUBASE SX, LOGIC, PROTOOLS... I know they are lots of FL6 users here but I don't think that FL would fit in this category.

On my side I,m using LOGIC cause I bought it and it cost a lot but I'm thinking of switching back to Cubase since it fits more with my way of working... So some might say Cubase SX doesn't even stand Protools, I'd say fuck that cause I'm still putting songs out there, playing on mainstream radios and the clients love em...

O

[Hife]

O i partialy agree with u on the pro tools LE, but wen u have the bigger rig or HD its known to be the best. Industry standard. Cubase is also very good. many producers like DRE Storch and blaze use PT and Cubase. i know 75% of busta rhymes album was created on PT HD. its very good. but everyone has there own opinion.

[Hife]

Othentic, is the RME an HD rig, cuz the 002 is a 48 or 44.1 khz module. i thought the RME was 192. u cant realy compare that.

[TZA]

Same thing with protools.Cause big studios have it, little ones want it too, but thes're such a big difference in sound between the Big Rig Protools and the tiny Digi002 LE version...



That was a thing of beaty right there, nicely put. Outside of compatibility with other PT studios who haven't bought DigiTranslator for OMF capability, PT LE pales in comparison to most other apllications in the same or lower price range.

RME is great with A/D and for even less cash EMU 1212M or 1820M has converters that will make a Digi do a back flip. Still at the end of the day if you're self contained, use what you like, use what you want and have fun. If you're making a buck or two or ten or a million..don't change the formula once you got it going.

And for the handful who don't know Cubase takes advantage of multiple processors, 64bit systems and likes both PC & Macs too...

[Active1]

The perfect studio is one where you can utilize and engineer all your components. 9th Wonder has FL, Jay Dee mainly used just his MPC 3000 and vinyl. Just take time to master your setup.

[loh90]

i dont agree that u need a computer taht good. of course it will make shit a lot easier. i get by with a compaq pc with 1gb of ram.

[Power]

M-Box 2

Pro Tools LE 7.1

$400 Condenser Mic - audio technica

Korg Legacy Collection

Ableton Live

Korg MicroKontrol (Midi Controller)

M-Audio Sound Monitors


Thats what I'm working with right now

------------------------



Yet my best beats were mad with FL Studio 6 then mixed in Adobe Audition 2 - straight up.


I mainly got all the other gear for the audio school I'm enrolled in but the truth is, you cant really go by what other producers use because we all have our own disticnt style, taste, and sound. No matter what kind of equiptment we use, we're eventually gonna generate the sound we feel the most and to generate the sound closest to the one that truly captures what you're capable of, you have to use the BEST equptment you're most comfortable with.

[Thicknasty]

Here's my perfect studio:

SSL K series console
GENELEC 1038 monitors
A few nice mics (neumann, brauner, and Josephson)
A few nice preamps and compressors (Lexicon, Universal Audio, Focusrite)
Pro Tools HD, with nice APOGEE converters...

thats just a start...

[rbs1991]

i dont agree that u need a computer taht good. of course it will make shit a lot easier. i get by with a compaq pc with 1gb of ram.


i disagree.....if you wanna get anywhere near realistic sounding instruments when u make beats or whatever on a comp....ur gonna need good vst's. a majority of good vst's take up alot of hdd space and needs alot of ram to be powered...for example: east west, colossus, RA, hypersonic 2, sampletank 2, and etc...ur also gonna need it for recording purposes as well

[KurtisRich]

A perfect studio would be ....a device that gets out all the ideas of beats inside my head that creates itself automatically with a push of a button and the sound quality is off the chainz lol. That would be dope.