In lieu of a Recording Forum: If you were building a Recording Studio from Scratch.... Must Haves??

[baimun]

Ironically enough, I had been piecing together a little recording studio setup of my own... and now The Music Village that I'm a boardmember of has a Recording Studio project where they're cobbling together the used pieces they already have with some new purchases and they want to have a Recording setup to A) Teach a Recording Class, and B) have the Instructors and Advanced Students record student projects and performances.


They have a 2014 iMac... but it is stuck at 8gig of Ram. For mine I have a 2015 MacBook Pro that works with my Scarlett 18i20 3rd gen, but I'll likely buy a refurb 27" iMac.... and they may need to as well. I also have the option of beefing up one of my Windows PCs and leaving it in my studio.

This is the interface I'm using and I'll recommend the same to them:

Opinions:
Physical or Virtual Interface? I'm kind of intrigued by The Raven MTi2... a 27" multi-touch interface with built in shortcuts for adding tracks, grouping, sorting.... plus it turns plug ins into something where you intuitively reach for the knobs, not click with a mouse.

But one of my buddies said he prefers the Presonus 16 because of it being tactile faders. I can see both having advantages and disadvantages.

From there...

What would be your must haves? Certain kind of Closed back headphones? A brand of studio monitors you recommend? Besides SM57's and Sennheiser e609's... what kind of Condenser mics? Plug direct into the Interface or would you still use a Mike Pre? I like the Radial Pro direct boxes... do you? Any other Outboard gear?

I'm also directing them to swap out the fluorescent lights (buzzy) with same sized LED panels... If possible I'd like the electrician to wire them back to individual dimmers so it's not ON or OFF, but they can create some kind of recording "mood" in the room.

Also... some basic coat hook kinds of panels to hang headphones, loops of XLR cables, etc.

 

[Denverdave]

I know so little about real recording, but I would still prefer a physical board provided I had the budget and space.

 

[baimun]

This is my current outboard rack… I may sell the Crown… I don’t really have anything that needs outboard power right now.

Other than the power conditioner, the interface, and the DP4 (which I just got for free, not knowing it was a $1,700, 4 channel effects unit… I thought it was for patch routing ) … I don’t have much else to even put in the rack. Will probably put some shelves and some wire hooks for cable management.

 

[dmn23]

the DP4 (which I just got for free, not knowing it was a $1,700, 4 channel effects unit… I thought it was for patch routing )

My eyes bugged out a little when I saw it in the photo. Those were high end back in the day and I bet it still sounds great.

 

[baimun]

Hmmm...... I just found out I can have this Tascam Analog mixing desk. I seriously don't NEED it.... but who wouldn't want this in the middle of their recording area even if it's only providing faders and EQ for the Digital interface?

Well shit.... Now it looks like I REALLY need to clean my studio to make some room.

 

[baimun]

My eyes bugged out a little when I saw it in the photo. Those were high end back in the day and I bet it still sounds great.

I've only tested it out briefly... but last weekend I reorganized my garage, so I can move out all of my old guitar cases... make some room in my studio and have room to set up my toys again.

 

[dmn23]

I've only tested it out briefly

It wasn't crazy expensive like the Lexicon and TC stuff of the time, but I remember they were kind of a thing, definitely above stuff like Digitech, etc.

 

[mongooz]

i'm probably WAY too old school, but i would want one of these for certain things. you can not beat magnetic tape for guitar and vocal sounds.

 

[tiger roach]

1) tons of cash
2) a team of supermodels with recording-engineering-hardware expertise

(I'm not very hands-on with this kind of stuff)

 

[Honkridge]

This is my current outboard rack… I may sell the Crown… I don’t really have anything that needs outboard power right now.

View attachment 70800

Other than the power conditioner, the interface, and the DP4 (which I just got for free, not knowing it was a $1,700, 4 channel effects unit… I thought it was for patch routing ) … I don’t have much else to even put in the rack. Will probably put some shelves and some wire hooks for cable management.

Give me a shout if you do decide to sell the Crown. Thanks!

 

[Pine Apple Slim]

1) tons of cash
2) a team of supermodels with recording-engineering-hardware expertise

(I'm not very hands-on with this kind of stuff)

Agreed. I can hardly be arsed to use my MacBook and Scarlett 2i2.

 

[DinoMikeSr]

Call Dave Grohl!

 

[micwalt]

When I switched to computer-based recording from a 16-track standalone digital recorder with automated faders, I thought I'd miss the physical mixing apparatus.
Turns out, I do not. I have an original Faderport, which I use for record/play/stop/undo/redo and occasionally volume during tracking. I don't really use it at all during mixing. It's just easier with the mouse.
Also, the 2014 iMac ain't gonna cut it long term. 8 gigs of RAM might be enough if they use Reaper, but anything else will suck it dry. Also, software updates will be a no-go, for both the computer itself and all the software/plugins.
My old iMac won't let me update any of my Line 6 stuff, and a couple newer plugins I just bought run poorly on it. Time for a new one.

 

[jelloman]

1.) Acoustic treatment, as much as they can assemble...either home-made or bought...

2.) Add the OctoPre to the 18i20...the added preamps will make ensemble recording and complex instruments like drums that much easier to manage...

3.) As many mics as they can find...multiple SM57s for drums, guitar amps etc...a couple Sennheiser MD421s for drums, guitar amps etc...at least one pair of small diaphragm condensers such as the Rode M3s...a few all-purpose condensers (Rode NT1A, NT2A, Blue Spark SL, Lewitt 440)...one or 2 flavor condensers (Roswell Mini47 or the like)...

4.) several pairs of utility closed back headphones (Sennheiser HD280, Sony MDR-7506)

5.) many many decent cables...HosaPro are solid, reliable, and decently priced...

6.) invest in GOOD mic stands, and a lot of them...

7.) as much computer as they can beg, borrow or steal...since video is not a critical component they can put a solid 8 core, 16-32GB PC together for 1000.00...

8.) a pair of primary monitors, depending on budget...and a pair of Avantone Mix Cubes for "crap" reference speakers...primary monitors can be as low priced as Kali LP6 (300.00/pr) all the way to the stratosphere...subs are not really necessary...set a budget and get a pair to match from Kali, Yamaha, Adam, or Focal...

 

[baimun]

Also, the 2014 iMac ain't gonna cut it long term. 8 gigs of RAM might be enough if they use Reaper, but anything else will suck it dry. Also, software updates will be a no-go, for both the computer itself and all the software/plugins.
My old iMac won't let me update any of my Line 6 stuff, and a couple newer plugins I just bought run poorly on it. Time for a new one.

Hmmm… my Mac Book is a 2015 2.9Ghz i5 with 16gig of ram and a 1tb SSD. I’m probably good for a year, but then will have to look at ponying up some $$$. Prob wait and see if the M1s are woth the wait, or if they drive down the prices of the current i9s.

 

[micwalt]

Hmmm… my Mac Book is a 2015 2.9Ghz i5 with 16gig of ram and a 1tb SSD. I’m probably good for a year, but then will have to look at ponying up some $$$. Prob wait and see if the M1s are woth the wait, or if they drive down the prices of the current i9s.

I was under the impression that there's still a bunch of audio stuff that doesn't play well with the M1.

 

[baimun]

2.) Add the OctoPre to the 18i20...the added preamps will make ensemble recording and complex instruments like drums that much easier to manage...

How does the OctoPre differ from teh 18i20?

They look to have the same number of inputs and outputs, just moved around.... or are you saying because the Octo is less expensive, daisy chain it into the 18i20?

 

[jelloman]

How does the OctoPre differ from teh 18i20?

They look to have the same number of inputs and outputs, just moved around.... or are you saying because the Octo is less expensive, daisy chain it into the 18i20?

Yeah, the OctoPre is an extender, connects to the 18i20 via optical...

 

[baimun]

So here is another option I came across today for their studio....

The Presonus 24R (essentially the guts of the Presonus Studio Live Mixer) but it's only a 24 channel rack mount device with no controls on it. It connects to your control room via a single ethernet cable. We have stage boxes that are very similar configurations, and run them up to FOH with just an Ethernet cable and control at the mixer up front.

Then fire up the computer, and use this mixing interface with motorized faders to control what's going on in the control room.

Hmm... I'm going to have to write up some options and see what the group thinks.

 

[Mark Wein]

I have a 2020 27" iMac - the last of the intel versions. I ordered it because I wasn't sure how the M1 chip was going to work out and I figured that it could be resold at a decent price in a couple of years if I decided to go M1. Having 70gb of ram really helps. I have yet to run into a situation where I do not have enough horsepower for audio or video although I am doing all 1080p video for YouTube right now.

I do everything in Logic now instead of Protools. between the cost and the way things work for what I do it's really a great choice. I have an Apogee Duet 2 but I'm eventually changing to a Universal Audio interface of some sort.

If I were teaching recording I'd probably have a physical interface of some sort.