Hey guys, @Michael_dk had a great idea about a "show us your studio" thread, which I think would be really informative for users who are building their studios or want to get ideas for upgrading. This is kind of like db9091's idea about listing out his studio bits, but I think it would be great to just see what hardware everyone is using.
Here's mine:
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Absolutely crap room, Recording setup tucked away in a corner, meh. I have no acoustic foam or anything anywhere. It's a rented accommodation, like most places I live and the landlords are pretty strict about what I can and cannot do. In my current place, I cannot even stick nails in the wall to hang up the great pictures that my brother gave me. If I spoil anything, they will take it out of the hefty deposit I gave them, and I'm sure they will take more than the actual cost.
At the heart of my studio is an RME Fireface 800. I've had it since 2007, nine years and still ticking. I'm so scared it'll die on me, but it hasn't failed me yet.
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It is a great interface, very low latency and plenty of input and output options. Other than the four mic inputs (with decent preamps and phantom power on the front)...
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It has loads of I/O on the back. Eight analog inputs, eight analog outs, SPDIF input out, midi in and out and options for inserting a word clock. It's great to have so many inputs when you are recording a full band, I still haven't run into a situation where I don't have enough I/O.
The RME Fireface is hooked up to a Presonus Monitor Station V1, because I was too cheap to pony up for the V2. It's basically a monitor controller with two pairs of stereo inputs, an RCA input, three pairs of monitor outputs and two pairs of line outputs. It also has four headphone amps, which is great when you want to jam at home with friends without disturbing the neighbours. Lots of buttons and knobs for levelling your speakers, selecting stereo/mono, changing headphone gain, etc. Also has the option of having a main mix and a cue mix, which is great when your bandmates have different monitoring requirements. Including the headphone output on the Fireface, I can have three independent headphone mixes running at any time.
Also has a talkback mic if you want to tell your bandmates that they suck
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The Presonus is hooked up to two sets of monitors. I just have three. The first is a pair of Dynaudio BM5A MKIs. These are great monitors, and I can highly recommend them. Good translation of bass, they glue the mids a bit, and the high end isn't harsh enough to make you want to quit recording.
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The third monitor I have is what you call a "grotbox" for extremely low-fi listening. It's an Avantone Mixcube, whose design is based off the legendary Auratone Cubes. I only need one, since you want to be thinking about how someone who's listening from a cellphone or a laptop, or a stereo system parked away on a shelf in one corner of the room will perceive your sound. They are especially good at figuring out levels for the different instruments in a mix. I would highly recommend them to anyone who is getting into mixing and find that their main monitors are just so good that they are unable to balance everything the right way. I just have to cue the speaker output on the Presonus and set mono for the output option and I get a good representation of how everything sounds with a totally crap speaker And believe me, there are a lot of people who will hear your music for the first time this way.
That's it for the output options, I wish I could get a second set of stereo monitors so that I can mix better,
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Just trust me and get one of these or a single Auratone and you will love me for it
I have a couple of control surfaces for my studio, the first is a Presonus Faderport, very basic but handy in a small studio. Has all the basic transport controls you needs, as well as a motorised fader that is great for writing automation on tracks. It worked with Cubase, Samplitude and Logic, but they've since come out with a new version which I think has five motorised faders. More than enough for the hobby musician.
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The other control surface I have is a Contour Shuttle Control Pro V2. This is great because you can assign anything in your DAW to each one of the buttons. Plus it has a nifty jog wheel to scrub through your projects. I had mapped mine for basic transport commands because I use it when I'm drumming primarily.
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I want to incorporate synth sounds in certain parts of my recordings, so I have a Yamaha Motif XS rack. It has very good in-built sounds, which I use live, so I don't rely on my DAW synths because I want to replicate the sounds in my studio when I play live as well.
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For drums, I rely on my trusted Roland TD-30K. It's a great kit, and I can highly recommend it to anyone who wants studio quality drum sounds on their recordings, but don't want to rely on programmed drums. Run it through a VST and it's like recording in the best drum studios in the world. Ok, maybe not the best, I still prefer the sound of an acoustic drumkit and they have so much more dynamics. But on a budget, this has proved to be a really sound, if expensive, investment. I recently recorded drums for an awesome track done by @waraba, hopefully he will release it when ready. My drumming is average, but with his track, it sounds bombastic!
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And of course, last but not least, the compulsory Kemper Profiling Amplifier photo!
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I have it under the desk because I've been reamping for a demo that I've been working on for some time.
I also use a B7K for bass recordings in the studio. Trust me, this is a wonderful tool to use on bass, I've heard from @sinmix that when you profile the pedal, you have to set the blend knob to either maximum or minimum or it doesn't profile correctly. Well, I like to use the blend when I record bass, it has a beautiful tone. One of the best tone sculptors for bass, it is really that good!
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I almost forgot my selection of mics. I don't have a lot, and one is probably worthless, but here they are in all their glory.
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The second one is a Shure SM58, the same mic that Randy Blythe used on one of the Lamb of God albums (not sure which one), of course with a tonne of processing. The third mic is a SE Electronic 2200IIc, the same mic that Amy Winehouse used on one of her recordings (well, she used the 2200a, and I sound nothing like Amy Winehouse). The first mic is some generic TC Helicon mic that I got with my Voicelive Rack vocal processor. I use that one live, but not in the studio. It's alright, has a different character, and since I got it with the processor, I don't mind keeping it. Has a nifty button to turn effects on or off on the Voicelive.
And that is my humble studio! I'm sure some of our users have got killer ones (with acoustic treatment, no less) and I look forward to seeing your posts! Try to make it detailed, all those colourful picks definitely sway Internet trolls like me into buying more gear!
In the immediate present, I want to see pics from @db9091, @Ingolf and @Michael_dk! Heck, Nicky, I want to see the status of @Monkey_Man 's studio as well, I'm dying to know where you are in your recording pursuits!
Cheers and jeers!
- Jimmy