what do you need to start a recording studio?

Answer 1

You're talking a music production studio.

G4 Mac with at least 16 tracks of Pro Tools hard wire, 24 would be best. 8 will be very limiting.

You need at least one good vocal mic. I mean a really good one. There are some Nice Chinese mics in the $800 range that are fair.

An AT 4033 is not bad. I have one of those. It's $500

A U-89 FET can be good ($1,900). I've heard some that almost sound like U-47 TUBE.

U-47 Tube is what you are shooting for ($4,000 used). Preferably a Church converted U-47 to 12AX7 tubes.

Then it would be nice to have TWO additional DECENT drum overheads like M59 or M60 a matched pair ($4,000 each)

But, again, two AT 4033 will do you

Two U-87 FET will work

Two Chinese Mics that are Matched big diaphrams are acceptable ($600-$800 each).

Then you need a bunch of Shure 57s or 58s

Mabye like 14 of them.

ONE low ender for male vocals and kick drum. An AKG D-12 or D-120 or EV RE20 ($400 each)

One hi hat mic. Something with good high end. Any AT, Chinese or SEnnheiser FET conderser mic in the $200-$400 range will do. You want something that records sizlle and won't peak out, so it needs to have a high 120 DB SPL rating.

A bunch of heavy duty mic stands with booms. MAybe 20 of them.

Three suspension mounts for the drum over head and vocal mic.

One doulbe layer spit screen.

A whole bunch of XLR cables

A snake with 16 or 24 ins and 16 or 24 outs

Phantom power supply for all those consider mics.



Then you need a partitioned room with lots of insullations to keep the sound out.

The recording room should have a wood floor with carpets that can be rollowed up.

Thick curtains on the walls. Theater drapes.

The recording room NEEDs to be large. At least 20 x 20 with 8 foot ceilings

Decent mixing speakers. Big ones and little Yahmahas

Big ones should be studio quality. JBL 4011 or eqv. Bose. But they have to have at least a 15" woofer. A clean power amp. Like a Yamaha or Crown that won't burn your big speakers out.

A couple of direct connection XLR transformers from Radio Shack (1/4" to XLR transformer in and out both ends).

Powered monitor amps that can feed at least six players in the room with heaphones and deliver enough volumn to drown out drms.

SEALD cup head phones. Cheap ones for them, with long cords. Straight cords not colid cords.

Be nice if you hae at least two or three foldback systems so you can give two or three separate mixes.

At least 8 sets of sealed cup head phones. Cheap ones. Something in the $30 range I have some nice sonys

Maybe ONE really good set for the lead singer with EXTRA sound cushioning. You know ones that are like JET AIRPLANE size and weight and kill 100 DB of sound.

Koss PRO 4AA type

Without the PRO TOOLS and the ONE GOOD MIC

You are just a GARAGE studio

I mean if you're going to be garage go SM57 all the way.

But I'd really get at least ONE AT4033, bare minimum.

And at least ONE RE20 or D-12, bare minimum.

YOu can barely make it with 8 track pro tools, those TWO good mics (and don't let people SMOKE when the GOOD MICS are out, only with the SM57.

Understand that GOOD mic. That AT4033 or U47 records a bird singing in the tree 200 feet away as good as it records Britney Spears at 2 feet.

In fact, you'll want to get a gun and shoot the birds outside, becuase you'll hear them through that mic!

Undestand. You'll KNOW when the girl singer is HUNGERY because YOU'll hear her stomach growl int he control room with that mic

With an SM57 you won't hear it if she shouts it!

There is a MAJOR difference between a GOOD $500 mic and a work horse $150 SM57

There is a TERRIFIC difference between a $4,000 U-47 Church Conversion Telefunken made in 1957 and an AT4033 FET made in 2001.

1" foil diaphragm that's as thick as a soap bubble and coated with 1 micron of gold.

Smoke a cigarette 20 feet away and you drop that mics sensitivity to frequencies by 25%

The SMOKE that sticks to it is HEAVERY than the diaphram itself.

The SM57 is a 1/32" piece of metal with a magnet.

The COST for all this is not that great

$2k for the G4
$1k for the 16 track Pro Tools
$1K for two good mics
$1.5K for 12 cheap mics
$1.5K for a mixing amp and speakers
$1K for a fold back system.

That's 8K to do what used to cost $250,000 in 1985

Oh, maybe one or two limiters.

A decent one.

Urie 1186 would be nice or a LA2-A or LA4

A dbx 165 is also cool.

AT least one, if not two.

Good for Vocals. Good for Bass.

Throw in three video cameras and three tripods for $1K extra and you can give the band a video of them in the studio that syncs to their music track.

Oh, good, silent AC. Central is best.

Mic pres were suggested above. If you're going to get Mic pres, get NEVES. Get NEVE moduels $4k Each.

I have a friend who did this for a living. NEVE is the ONLY pre he loves.

Right out of an OLD NEVE board.

Pre is nice, but stick with the basics.

PRE is when you're rich rich and serving rich rich clients

ONE good mic minimum. For girl vocals. One Magnum 44 for anyone who SMOKES near that mic (and I'm a smoker). SHOOT EM DEAD if they even pull out a butt!

A bunch of SM57s or 58s (and not the NEW ONES, the TRADITIONAL ones).

SM58s can be used to lay rail road track and they still record a good guitar or tom tom.!

They're a TIMEX WATCH. Takes a licking and still records a decent lead guitar.

If you get all this junk you MUST charge $45 an hour minimum OR don't let them have the good stuff, just the SM57 and charge them $25 an hour.

By the way, Sennhieser cardiods are OVER RATED and over priced.. I say go with SM57s all the way for a matched sound and a D-12, D120, D112 or RE20 for kick and male vocals. AT least a 4033 for chick vocals.

Basic PRO tools will get you by and it's $500-$600 per 8 tracks discrete. That's HARDWARE (break out box) and SOFTWARE. Buy the extras after you make some $$$.

10K tops to get started with a GOOD studio. The REST is up to YOUR skills. You can make a decent studio for $5K but you have to be creative.

That means DRUMS on 3 tracks, 4 max, guitars bass and then OVERDUBS.. Remeber even the $600 Pro Tools will let you do 64 Tracks of Midi and 64 tracks of Wave for your final mix! It's HOW MANY RAW tracks that counts.

8 means 3-4 for drums, guitars, vocals, then OVER DUBS

16 means the whole band, with 8 for drums

24 means the whole band with 12 for drums.

DRUMS are KICK, Snare, Hi Hat, LEFT, RIGHT, TWO rack toms, at least ONE floor tom; That's 8 drums sounds minum, top micing only. There is top and bottom, which means 16.

Drums are a killer. YOU can do them with 3 or 4, but it ain't easy and you have no control in the mix.

Rent the GOOD stuff separately.

Audition the mic for the girl.

If she barters with you, it's your call!

Answer 2

That is a very broad question with an infinite number of answers. A true recording studio will have at least two distinct rooms. The first room will be your control room.

The control room is where you will spend most of your time. Make this room as big as possible because you want the walls as far from you as possible because all kinds of nasty reflections, comb filtering and bass buildup occur there near the walls.

You'll need a room to put musician in, we'll call this the "live" room. As much as possible, you'll want to isolate the rooms from one another. The internet is full of room design and isolation plans so I don't really need to get into it here. Finally, make this room big enough to hold a drum set and the microphones you'll put around it. 10' X 12' is about the smallest you can get away with.

Next, you'll need a bunch of gear. Here is a short list.

Computer - this is where you'll track and mix.
Interface - this is your way in and out of the computer. I'm a big fan of the apogee rosetta 800. If you go with protools, the 192 I/O is what you'll use.
Microphones - SM57, AKG414 (2), Senn421 (you'll need at least three), Shure 81 (2), RE20, D112, Beyer M88, Neuman U87, Beyer 160 You'll need more but that will really get you started.
Microphone Pre's - Here is where you can really become poor. I would suggest an SSL Xlogic. That unit can be configured any way you want and you'll get a lot of bang for your money but it will cost you a good 8k.
Software - depending on how you go, you'll end up spending at least 10k on the software you will need to work your studio. Look into getting REASON for sequencing, MCDSP for Eq's, Waves Gold for compression, delay, reverb, etc. You'll probably want Antares Autotune for putting vocal in key. Vocalign for aligning vocals. Finally, you'll need whatever program you will use to track and mix on - Sonar, Protools, Logic, etc.

You'll need some good monitors. I'm a big fan of the Dynaudio. The BM6's are a good start. The Adam 2.5's are really good too.

You'll need cables, microphone stands, headphone amps, headphones, DI boxes, midi controllers, patchbays. and a chair.

I've seen people do this for as little as 60k but a realistic price is closer to 100k. Of course, that is just the beginning. There are people out there that are spending 20k on just a single reverb unit.

Finally, it all depends on what you want to do. If this studio is for your personal use then most of what I've written doesn't apply.

Good Luck,
www.myspace.com/nickelthrower

Answer 3

you can make like a cubicle for your studio - just get some tall sheets of wood, cover them in foam, and maybe cut a window out and put some glass in the window. then make a foam "door" - even if it's just sheets of foam that you peel back so you can enter your recording room. get a microphone and a computer with recording software on it, and plug the microphone into the computer. and voila! a recording studio.