studio start up question

[eyes without a face]

im soon to recieve about £3000 if my bank loan comes thru, about £1500 is going on debts so il have £1500 to play with. im aiming to start a basic bedroom studio.

im hoping to get

8in/8 out soundcard
monitors
amp (if monitors are not active)
mixing desk

any recommendations from anyone here?

[Adverse]

soundcard.. echo gina or something similar.
monitors.. genelec 1029a's or something similar.
they are active so no need for the amp
mackie 1604 vlz PRO

that should be close to 1500 quid.

[tekboi]

I'm just curious on relation to the question of a startup studio, don't know if many of the producers here only work with a pc as their studio force but using only a pc for your techno productio: if used wisely can this be as powerful as most studio setups combined with software and hardware based of gear?

Apart from the PC itself with such sequencing programs as Cubase and alongside many other software programs which I will have very soon I was just wondering if using the PC as my only tool for production is a good idea (which I would prefer) or am I limited my production ability at an extent?

Hope someone can comment on this ;)

[Barely Human]

I would stick with just the sofware side of things for now. At home i have a complete software studio setup and that does the job. I have access to a hardware studio and personally i prefer using just software. The software technology nowerdays is almost as good as the hardware which means it doesnt really matter what u use, its how u use it.
My advice:

Stick with the software for now until u have a better idea of what u want. That way u wont spend grands on things that u dont need.

[tekboi]

Thanks IQ,

Your advice has given me confidence on sticking with only software and totally agree that its as good as hardware.

Cheers!

[Nomak]

Not too long ago I also tooka a bank loan of a similar amount to pay my overdraft and purchase some studio equipment.

This is what I got for around £1500 (I already had a pc and have since purchased a new one and soundcard).

Access Virus B - £700
Samson Servo 170 - £around £160
Abs 2's - Around £180
Behringer MX2004a Mixer - £140 2nd hand
EMu Esi 4000 Turbo with Zip - £550 2nd hand

This was all in March 2000, whilst it would be nice to purchase better monitors and mixer its also nice to have a good PC and maybe some synths a sampler etc.

If blow your entire budget on mixer monitors and amp yur not really going to have much to work with. You could also look at picking up 1 or 2 cheap synths on ebay or loot... Maybe a sh101, Juno and then something a bit newer like a Pulse or Q.

At least then you could get Mixer, Amp, Monitors, Sampler couple synths and a DBx 266Xl from turnket too £99 new.

Just a suggestion though.

[Barely Human]

If you stick with the software, one thing your gonna need mate is decent moniters. It can make all the difference.

[eyes without a face]

im taking Nomaks advice. so for around £1500 u got amp, ,monitors, a synth, a sampler, and a mixer?! thats wikid, exactly the type of setup im lookin at, ive been scouring ebay for a while but not bid on anything seeing how i dont have my loan yet

been lookin on the net today and pricing up a few items

[Nomak]

Yes mate and that was 3 years ago, the virus was new as were the speakers and amp, the mixer and sampler and a controller keyboard were all second hand. Ive no doubt that you could pick up an Esi 4000 turbo with zip for around the £300 mark now. My other advice would be that if it is something expensive like more than £6 - 700 like a new synth it might be advisable to purchase this new.

The sampler should be fine 2nd hand mines still perfect and in mint condition and the mixer is fine as well. Happy Shopping!

[eyes without a face]

did u find it hard to set all your gear up and get used to how it all works? i imagine there is a learning curve.

also, any recommendations for studio furniture? at the moment my pc is on a simple desk, but i realise im gonna have to make space for monitors, mixer and controller keyboard plus other items such as a rack

[Nomak]

I have a big desk which my monitor sits on, On that desk is a also a 16U rack with my sampler,amp, compressor, FX and rackmount synth, and theres room for my PC keyboard and my zip drive and also my CD player which is connected to my sampler via a group out on the mixer. Above this I have a wide shelf which seats my monitors. I also have a small table for my mixer at the end of this desk. Its all quite comfortable and close, I also have a keyboard stand for my KB. (the rack cost £40 from studio spares, the desk £40 and the keyboard stand £30).

As for the learning curve this is true that it can be steep, which is why I think to purchase 2 synths would be more than enough, a samplers sttraightforward enough to learn as is a mixer. The way I looked at it was what would happen to the money of I left it in my bank account?(I would spend it on going out, records etc) so I wuld rather buy whay I intended the loan for.

Setting the gear up is fairly straight forward as well although you will also have to allow for leads which may work out to cost more than you would expect!

[eyes without a face]

thanks man, this is wikid advice. im thinkin exactly like u, im getting the loan and i dont wanna fritter it away on records or going out, so im gonna invest in my studio. its the only thing i wanna do right now.

gonna ave to look at getting a nice corner desk i think, and a nice rack unti to rest on it

seen a behringer mixer with built in effects, anyone recommend this or not? i cant afford any outboard effects yet

[eyes without a face]

also, i take it the disk drive i see on the sampler is a normal 1.44 floppy so i could take samples off my pc on floppy disk and load into sampler?

[Nomak]

also, i take it the disk drive i see on the sampler is a normal 1.44 floppy so i could take samples off my pc on floppy disk and load into sampler?

Samplers do have a 1.44MB floppy but 1) its not usually compatable with PC or other samplers and 2) In my experience loading banks off floppy disks is just a real pain as you end up loading 7 or 8 disks. Its much better to have a zip drive for samples and you can just send audio samples from your pc and sample them into the sampler via your soundcard. This is also good for resampling as some samplers do not have a resample function.

[rpmiller]

i looked into a mixing desk with on board effects and was advised against it as most desks loaded with effects are designed for live mixing situations rather than production, unless you have a large budget as some more expensive desks come with industry standard (eg lexicon).

i have a mackie 1604 vlz and would recomend one, also for effects why not use plugins for effects processing, Waves make all kinds of plugin effects and are absolute quality.