Show us your home studio setup?

[GetCarter]

G T 3 said:

Guy who used to own my 964 has a much bigger studio The Mixing Room!!!!

Carter are those number plates for real and were they yours

Greg you turn up every where mate!!!
Do you need some extension plans...........?

Edited by G T 3 on Friday 9th January 21:48

I assume you meant the 3GT - no, I photoshopped out to stop cloning..., plate was X3 GTR

[Greg964]

...Mole... said:

Greg964 said:

...Mole... said:

I'm to embarrassed post mine

Oh come on, lets have a look!

i may post a picture later, but its more of a spare room, with my bass a Controller Keyboard balanced on some boxes with my Macbook Pro also balanced on some boxes.

...my flat lacks the room for anything near a proper set-up

Post the picture! A Macbook Pro is the heart of many a decent studio these days!

[Greg964]

G T 3 said:

Guy who used to own my 964 has a much bigger studio The Mixing Room!!!!

Carter are those number plates for real and were they yours

Greg you turn up every where mate!!!
Do you need some extension plans...........?

Edited by G T 3 on Friday 9th January 21:48

Hey Pete, i might need some plans yeah, i'll send you an email

[Greg964]

A quick update! My new KRK monitors have arrived, and they sound great

[Evil Jack]

Homework tends to be laptop based these days, but day to day I alternate between this:



and this:



edit to say my music is hopefully better than my photography

Edited by Evil Jack on Thursday 19th February 00:19

[Greg964]

Evil Jack said:

Jack, whats the black box that Genelec is sat on?

[Evil Jack]

Greg964 said:

Jack, whats the black box that Genelec is sat on?

A Spirit Absolute 2 Speaker being used as a speaker stand - which IMO is all they are good for...

The Genelecs are great, but can get tiring (they are really 'forward' sounding) so you need a lot of regular breaks when mixing!

[Greg964]

Evil Jack said:

Greg964 said:

Jack, whats the black box that Genelec is sat on?

A Spirit Absolute 2 Speaker being used as a speaker stand - which IMO is all they are good for...

The Genelecs are great, but can get tiring (they are really 'forward' sounding) so you need a lot of regular breaks when mixing!

Oh ok, and possibly cheaper than auralex foam wedges
I've used 8030s and loved them, great monitors. Didnt sit in front of them long enough to get a headache though!

[Driller]

Nice setup you have there Steve- do you do this professionally or something

I don't notice any bass trapping, do you have to compensate much in your mixes? (I know you do lots in other studios)

Here's my effort, in a basement room:







MacPro 8 core with Logic 8, Logic control surface, Superior Drummer 2.0 and a Roland TD12, MOTU 2408, HR624's and my little gem the Mindprint DTC

All accoustic treatment made by yours truly using alloy studding frames and cotton fibre (superchunks for the corners, 50mm for the mids/highs and ceiling clouds).

All is soundproofed so I fitted a ventilation system with sound traps (other side of walls) which works through grills in two corner traps.

ETA Evil Jack damn fine desk! (what was it again? )

Edited by Driller on Thursday 19th February 21:50

[NDA]

Oooh, you're all so tidy!

Here's one room



And then some stuff in a rack



And a mixey thing

[The Riddler]

NDA, What model is your Roland electric kit? And is that a kaos pad i spy on the desk in the last pic?

[NDA]

TD12 and yes that is the little Korg thing, I have yet to use it in any meaningful way! Also I spot my DVD of Jazz Compositions by Donald Fagen. It didn't mention anywhere that he has 16 fingers.

[GetCarter]

NDA said:

stuff

You are not fooling anyone that you haven't got a Mackie desk you know... we can see the power supply!

I've just been recording here (Smecky, Prague - pic below): Great place to record strings and things, but terrible sound in the control room (very old Tannoys).

Edited by GetCarter on Friday 20th February 18:35

[Dai Capp]

Noooo - this has made me want to record again. Just need to find a singer, bass player, lead guitarist and drummer. Oh that'll be a whole band then - bugger.

DC

[NDA]

GetCarter said:

NDA said:

stuff

You are not fooling anyone that you haven't got a Mackie desk you know... we can see the power suppy!

I've just been recording here (Smecky, Prague - pic below): Great place to record strings and things, but terrible sound in the control room (very old Tannoys).

They are great desks aren't they? I envy your larger one, it's beautiful.

Actually while you're on, can I ask you a really really really numpty question?

I use the entire desk when recording (should have bought a bigger one) and when I want to save an MP3 mix down, I'd like to do that without changing all of my routing. So currently I record onto a CD - which is a bit long winded. Cubase only mixes down from a single stereo output - unless I've missed something.

I've never tried it (as I always seem to be too busy fiddling with other stuff) but can you take a stereo out of the desk, back into the desk and then into an audio track on Cubase?

Dumb question probably, but you'd know the answer.

Ta

[V8A*ndy]

[quote=GetCarter]I'm hoping this won't be a 'mine is bigger than yours' thread. I appreciate that some have proper pro studios (or work in them) and others a simple PC/Tape machine and a keyboard/guitar. Mine is half way between I would guess. Also some of us do it for a living and other's don't (tax deductable!) ... so here goes - my setup:

Mac G5 duel running Digital Performer & MOTO stuff, a fair amount of outboard synths and processors, Mackie desk, most that Spectrasonics have to offer, and Robson monitors & amps (to die for BTW). AKG414 with the SE baffle, and a bunch of guitars and basses in 'the room off'.

90% of what I write I record in 'proper' studios (mostly in London), but occasionally I master here.


Control room


Bit of advise please.....

That's a fine looking setup. I've been wanting to get a home studio set up since I retired from the Touring/Club front of house side of things (still do the odd big show but usually for friends). When I sold the club I brought my PA home and have a nice mixing console, loads of really good mics, effects/comps/gates and a lot of amps and speakers which will have to find a new home as the 20k PA system wasn't as big a hit at the garden BBQ as I had hoped (wife had a fit).

I had beed recording live using an Audio Fire 12 and a windoze laptop with the free copy of Traction at some of the gigs to try and learn a bit about digital recording and getting results like this http://home.btconnect.com/rosettabar/Rise%20Clip.m... right off the desk but kinda hard to learn when your FOH guy and monitor guy all at the same time in a stinking hot club crammed to capacity.

So I thought I might try and learn a bit of recording and dable at the mastering side of things. I like the look of your Mac setup perhaps you could give me a few pointers on its setup. I have a good budget in mind and the deeper pockets if needed. I just want to bring a few of my muso friends round and record and mix for them as they like to have me on the desk at gigs whenever possible.

ETA. I want to know how more about the dual monitor setup and does certain software take advantage of two monitors or do I just get a bigger area to work from? I know nothing about MACs and little about video cards.

Edited by V8A*ndy on Friday 27th February 02:40

[GetCarter]

Hi there

Well I think 99% of studio engineers would agree that for recording and mastering live instruments you'd be best using the industry standard 'Pro Tools'

This is a bit naff but worth a watch --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knXGQGpXWCw (Also, visit : www.digidesign.com)

Pro Tools can be run from a PC or Mac - but most of the top studios use Macs. This is mainly a historical thing as Macs were for many years much more stable. TBH PCs are a lot better these days (though working with both for the past 25 years PCs crash a LOT more than Macs). Macs are also a lot more sexy, but a lot more expensive. IMHO - The Mac OS still kicks the st out of Windoze. > Also worth considering is that most pro music software is created on Macs then ported over to Windoze. Speaks volumes (no pun intended).

Having two monitors is really just to increase workspace - very useful when you need to have lots of windows open at the same time - saves spending most of the day trying to find the right wiondow!

I actually use Digital Performer not Pro Tools - but that's because I have for 25 years and can't be arsed to change (I know all the shortcuts!). It does the same but isn't quite so good for mastering.

I've always forund the guys at Digital Village are very good http://www.dv247.com/ - they can sell you the whole system to whatever budget you have, and when you get stuck they are good on the phone at sorting problems.

Good luck.

[NDA]

Did you manage to look at my little question?

[GetCarter]

NDA said:

Did you manage to look at my little question?

Sorry - missed that. Not sure I quite get it... but:

a/ Can you not bounce whatever you want onto a stereo track in Cubase? (I don't use it).

b/ I use 'direct out' to take midi stuff that is going into the desk also into the computer so it ends up as a stereo audio track, and from then I can create a stereo mix that can be saved or come back into the desk (or to DAT or CD or wherever). Would that solve your problem?

[NDA]

GetCarter said:

NDA said:

Did you manage to look at my little question?

Sorry - missed that. Not sure I quite get it... but:

a/ Can you not bounce whatever you want onto a stereo track in Cubase? (I don't use it).

b/ I use 'direct out' to take midi stuff that is going into the desk also into the computer so it ends up as a stereo audio track, and from then I can create a stereo mix that can be saved or come back into the desk (or to DAT or CD or wherever). Would that solve your problem?

Thanks for replying....

I should have a proper play at doing this and see what the results are. When I tried it previously I was getting a strange 'metallic' sort of sound by taking the desk into an audio track.

But because I'm not an expert, I should have a proper go at it first.