Members numrologst Posted February 3, 2007 Members Share Posted February 3, 2007 Console: 32 Channel Neotek Elite Digital/DAW/Multitrack Nuendo Custom bulit PC 2 lynx aes16 cards 2 apogee ad16x 2 apogee da16x Lucid 2496 37" LCD screen MCI/Sony JH 24 MCI JH110 Mics: 2 aea r84 2 akg 414 xls 2 akg c451b's 1 akg d112 1 audix d6 3 audix i5 1 audio technica atm25 1 adk vienna 1 adk sc-1 1 Lawson l47 1 senn 609 3 senn 421 3 sm57's 2 sm81's 1 km84 1 u87 1 blue kiwi 1 blue ball 2 josephson c42 1 joesphson e22 1 royer 121 Comps 1 atomic squeezebox 1 UA 2-1176 1 Buzz Soc 1.1 2 daking fet 2 distressors 2 chandler ltd2 2 purple mc77's 1 drawmer 1968 me 2 dbx 160x 1 ehx ny2a EQ's 2 empirical labs lil freq's 2 api 550a 2 chandler germanium tone control 1 summit mpe-200 Preamps 8 channel seventh circle rack 1 api lunchbox w/ 2 purple biz's and 2 osa mp1-a 1 a designs pacifica 2 1073 Effects 2 rumours 1 ultraharmonizer 1 pcm81 1 master room reverb 1 ursa major space station monitors genelec 8040a dynaudio bm5a krk sub avantone mixcubes/crown power amp other stuff whirlwind di boxes lots and lots and lots of mogami and redco cabling studio drum kit little labs ibp acoustician and acoustical treatment balanced power--- furman and equitech nice gear racks nice couch/chairs refridgerator record player/cd player/good speakers for lounge storage drawers pianos organs cool instruments Thats a good majority of my stuff and i do okay... I don't have a million dollars worth of gear or a nice ssl console, but my records sound nice. I'm happy with all that stuff. It's kind of funny... I feel blessed that i have all that gear... I think it's alot, and i am sure most people would be happy with that... More than happy... But some people make me feel like an idiot because i don't have a $100k+ console and $5000 mics and a studer and $1 million dollars worth of other stuff. I am happy though... Hopefully I gave you a few good ideas as far as gear purchases go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EdgeOfDarkness Posted February 3, 2007 Author Members Share Posted February 3, 2007 Thanks, I will read up on some of that stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Han Posted February 3, 2007 Members Share Posted February 3, 2007 I would strongly advise you from the bottom of my heart: read mister Fletchers posts again, very well and then once again. (and if you're done one more time) The studio begins as a dream, but many end as a bottomless hole alas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members numrologst Posted February 3, 2007 Members Share Posted February 3, 2007 it can be a bottomless hole for a while... But can turn out in a positie way... I'm a young guy(23) So i have the ability to take a few more chances. I don't regret my decision to open the studio, it only keeps getting better and better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PKO Posted February 3, 2007 Members Share Posted February 3, 2007 100 g's would'nt even get you the desk.Thanx Glyder.............I just spewed beer out of my nose reading your post!!!!! Good one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members elamberth Posted February 4, 2007 Members Share Posted February 4, 2007 I agree with Gil1 and Fletcher. I'm not sure that 100K will get you much further than 20K right now. Also, you are not sure of what you need. I'd do a nice upgrade of work with it, and decide what, if anything, will get you further later on. Im sure Fletcher would be willing to help decide how to spend that kind of money to get you what you are lookign for. Also, have you done any acoustic treatment? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CN Fletcher Posted February 4, 2007 Members Share Posted February 4, 2007 I'm a young guy(23) So i have the ability to take a few more chances. That's a beautiful thing... in my experience you're like a 1 in 100 scenario. You're obviously driven to get the word out in your community which brings out work, and you're obviously talented enough to keep the work coming through the door... which is pretty rare in our world. Here in the Boston area I can't even begin to imagine how many studios there are... but I can count the number of engineers who work constantly and grow in reputation on my fingers... which is a pretty piss-poor ratio if you ask me. As for doing this as a hobby... well the one thing you won't get that a commercial endeavor will get is the quantity of different stuff thrown at you. You won't be able to learn the "I'll get this turd to sound like a record at any cost" kinda thing that an engineer in the commercial realm will do just in order to survive [part of the "being driven" thing I was talking about earlier]. Remember... machines don't make records... people make records. The machines can make it easier if you know how to use them... but that knowledge takes a good bit of time to gain. Peace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Paully Posted February 5, 2007 Members Share Posted February 5, 2007 Years ago (in the days of the 'big iron' machines), smart studio owners would lease as many of the big ticket items as possible rather than buying. The costs of doing business became a tax write-off, and you kept a good chunk of your startup capital. I don't know if the rental places still offer the leasing option but if they do, then I'm gonna go out on a limb here and agree with Gil1. Take the money and invest it. Use the interest/dividend income to augment your slush fund when paying the bills. You could also lease-to-buy. If the business goes under, pay the penalty and cancel the leases. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members I was The Funk Posted February 5, 2007 Members Share Posted February 5, 2007 I would spend virtually all the money to be spent (which would be a lot less then your budget) on making the room sound good. I would get a decent interface and a couple of good preamps, good monitors, and a couple of choice mics. But I have had enough experience with various mics to know what I would get. This could all be accomplished relatively cheaply. However, I am making nice records these days with my home computer, a few nice mics, and guerrilla recording around to find nice spaces. My stuff sounds good, and I don't feel like I am yet at the limits of my equipment. when it becomes impossible to do better without getting more stuff, I will get more stuff (and I am sort of getting there), but the stuff I want to get is pretty specific at this point (like nuetral sounding omni mics, and darker tube mic and a nice preamp come to mind). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CN Fletcher Posted February 5, 2007 Members Share Posted February 5, 2007 Years ago (in the days of the 'big iron' machines), smart studio owners would lease as many of the big ticket items as possible rather than buying. The costs of doing business became a tax write-off, and you kept a good chunk of your startup capital. Most people "leased" stuff for a tax advantage but also because banks were not usually too interested in lending money to something as unstable as a recording studio. The interest rates on your average lease can be up around 20% when all is said and done... AND at the conclusion of the lease period you have the option of returning the equipment to the leasing company or buying it for "fair market value" [which is usually way above what is real fair market value]... then there is the "dollar buyout lease" which isn't a true lease in terms of tax advantage. Whenever possible your usually far better off to buy the stuff outright and depreciate it on your taxes instead of doing the lease route... it will depend on how your business is set up, so I would recommend you consult a qualified accountant before thinking about going down the leasing road [unless you have a hell of a cash flow and figure the equipment your purchasing will be pretty much worthless in 5 years... like computer systems, etc.]. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Paully Posted February 5, 2007 Members Share Posted February 5, 2007 Hey Fletcher,Ya, I was harkening back to when a Studer 24 track and a really nice board would cost a couple hundred thousand dollars. They were the only options. Also before computer recording proliferated, there was an abundance of clients in these studos. Most of the big name studios don't even exist anymore, or have gone over to the other side. Today you can pack more performance into a $3000 computer setup. Oh well.. . Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members brandondrury1 Posted February 8, 2007 Members Share Posted February 8, 2007 Most people "leased" stuff for a tax advantage but also because banks were not usually too interested in lending money to something as unstable as a recording studio. I was in Nashville having my latest production mastered at Independent Mastering. I was speaking with Eric Conn and Don Cobb about why Nashville is more successful, musically, than most other American cities. Eric said that the finance world actually sees the recording studio as a viable business in Nashville, which is considered crazy in most parts of the world. Interesting! ------------------- I've got a few opinions on this whole $100k studio idea. #1 When the big boys spend $1-10million on a studio, consider how they allocate that money. I'd assume most people don't spend $10,000,000 when they would be completely satisfied with a $5,000,000 studio. How much goes into the construction of the facility, sound proofing, acoustic treatment, clean electric systems, etc? How much goes into microphones and preamps? Etc. When I like at the big boy studio model, there is obvious a very large percentage of $$ going towards the facility. Acoustics are everything. Having a proper place to work is extremely important. A person can work around various problems, but it is not the most efficient way of meeting the goal. Most of us home recording guys have to deal with our acoustic situations for better or worse. This is what seperates that men from the boys from the guys in between. #2 Gear is only important once you've maxed out the rest. Listen to Fletcher. He'd love to sell you a $2,000 API volume knob, but he's even saying the real difference is in the facility and the people (both engineers and musicians). #3 I heard the mp3. I'm hearing some good things and I'm hearing some bad things. The kick drum had no balls. I can get a ballsy kick drum with a Mackie preamp and a $200 Shure mic (assuming the kick drum is happening in the room to begin with). Spend your money on education. I do not consider recording school to be education. That's more like throwing $15k off a cliff to meet a few contacts. There are better, easier, and cheaper ways of making big contacts and learning much more about recording. I attended the Michael Wagener Workshop in Jan 06. I consider it to be one of the best moves I've ever made in my life. The price wasn't exactly peanuts, but it was worth every penny. (I don't have $100k laying around:) ). Not only did I get to meet a ton of guys I highly respect (Michael Wagener, George Massenberg, Bob Ohlson, Trina Shoemaker, some guy who produced a Black Crowes record, John McBride, etc) which I learned lessons from every single one of these people (both personal life lessons and audio engineering) but I got a massive dose of what it takes to make a real recording. I learned what to listen for here and what to listen for there. The quality of my recordings jumped a zillion. Most of all, I realized that my current method of recording local bands in a weekend was never going to net me the results I wanted. Conclusion If you are going to blow the money, don't blow it all on gear. If you really want to do this, I'd spend the bare minimum. Stick with Nuendo, snag a couple of Presonus Firepods, get a Shure SM91 (or similar kick drum mic), and a couple decent overhead condensers. Record vocals with a SM7 for a while. After you've done 10 records, pick up an AT4050 ($300 used) and learn the difference. Basically, for $5k you could do some serious damage. Do you really think that an API / 1073 / whatever high end preamp is going to make any difference when my dead grandma could smash the snare drum harder and more consistently? The answer is no. However, when you start working with great drummers, then stuff like preamps starts to come to mind. When you begin to understand the short comings of your monitoring system and how it translates to the outside world, you can start to think about acoustics. When you realize the shortcomings in your live room, you can make decisions as to how to improve it with acoustics and construction. Until you are good enough to understand why you need X, there is no point in spending a dime. Brandon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.