First Home Studio, equipment advice needed

preston61

Okay everyone, so I am about to give home recording my first real go.

I will be buying an iMac in the next few weeks and have a good amount to put into equipment (around £700 once I sell all me pedals). I have an Adrenalinn 3 which has some great amp simulations and the added bonus of MIDI in and out. I also have access to some great mic's from a local source so I shouldn't need to buy those.

I am looking to record my vocals, acoustic and electric guitar and keyboard. I am probably going to go down the drum package route as I don't have the experience or time to record real drums.

So this is what I am after:

1. I would like opinions on an audio interface that has at least 2 guitar jack inputs, has MIDI, and anything else you think would be important.

2. Recording software, I've used pro tools a couple of times in the past, but am open to other options.

3. A keyboard, preferably one with USB capabilities so I can plug it into the iMac

4. Drum stuff, not really sure how to do this... am guessing I would need some sample program? I've also seen some keyboards that have some boxes on them, 3 rows of 3, which I believe are you can assign something to and it will active when hit????

5. Monitors, now I don't know if this is a bit much for the level of recording that I am going to do, but thought I'd seek the help of the forum

6. Anything I have forgotten.

Thanks in advance for all your help guys

pmg

I don't use midi but I am getting great results from an apogee duet. Started working on garageband to learn the ropes

Jez6345789

Hi

Apogee good interfaces

Logic would be good as a DAW everyone has their fave but Logic is good

Drums depends a lot on what you want sounds for, you can cover a lot of ground with whats built into logic. If you want awesome Rock look at Steven Slate drum some of the best
 

Logic out the box will cover you for the basic plugins snyths, samplers, reverbs, echoes etc and will take you a long way.

For good guitar plugin have look at the Apple stuff if you edit it a bit it will get you started and works. If you want to trade up look at CLA stuff, Guitar Rig, Waves, Studio Devil "great marshall tone" the list is endless and very expensive for some but as I said Apple built in will take you a good way.

More than enough organs synths and samplers built in to Logic for all but the most hardcore. They all make whoosy sounds

good monitors are nice but often these days people make do with better headphones and what they can afford in speakers you can spend forever on speakers. 

that will get you started :-)

seank71

1. UA Apollo Twin Duo (but just one HiZ input)

2. No comment (other than to say Digital Performer is what I use)

3. Arturia Keylab 49

4. BFD3

5. KRK Rokit (but you might consider using a Focusrite VRM box and good set of open-back headphones - probably a better sonic solution than entry level monitors in a bedroom studio setup)

6. Sound proofing to deal with reflections, a couple of good mics (look at AKG, Rode and SE) and cables.

thermionic

Logic is the way to go on an iMac because it gives you access to a lot of GarageBand instruments.

Interfaces come and go and you will probably change your mind as to which features you need for your way of working. I've been through a few over the years but the best investment I've made recording wise is a good pair of monitors. I have a pair of Tannoy Reveals that I've never regretted buying or felt the need to "upgrade" when newer models came out.

You can get a great mic for vocals and acoustic guitar for under £100 as well, can't go much wrong really. 

spark240

 Im using Presonus SL16.4.2 and Studio One Pro...liking it.

preston61

Thanks for the advice guys am enjoying looking all this equipment up with each new suggestion.

Keep them coming

Ramirez

In terms of software, Reaper is very cheap and very good. Though the Logic/Garaeband route could save you on extra software if the included instruments are ideal for you.

The Focusrite Scarlett interfaces seem pretty decent (I have the 18i20 with as a mobile rig) - maybe one of the 2/4 input options from that range?

Can't really help with a keyboard or drum software, but decent headphones are a very good option for monitoring. I'm using Equator D5 as speaker, and I'm very pleased with them (around £350). I previously had Alesis M1 520 which were cheaper - I wouldn't want to mix a commercial release on the Alesis, but they were decent enough for home/hobby stuff.

IanSavage

thermionic said:

Logic is the way to go on an iMac because it gives you access to a lot of GarageBand instruments.

Interfaces come and go and you will probably change your mind as to which features you need for your way of working. I've been through a few over the years but the best investment I've made recording wise is a good pair of monitors. I have a pair of Tannoy Reveals that I've never regretted buying or felt the need to "upgrade" when newer models came out.

You can get a great mic for vocals and acoustic guitar for under £100 as well, can't go much wrong really. 

Wisdom for all of this - certainly used, older monitors can be a total steal as they don't go 'out-of-date', they just might look a bit unfashionable (although the venerable Yamaha NS10 didn't change its design in about 20 years...). I paid about £150 for a pair of HHB Circle 5 active monitors secondhand which would have gone for over a grand when they were new, and I swear by them.

As far as mics go, you can get very acceptable results with some of the Red 5 and T-Bone (Thomann own-brand) stuff new, although for my money I'd go for a used Rode, AKG or similar (you'd probably want to clean and disinfect the basket and filter to be on the safe side, but there's nothing inherently unhygenic about secondhand mics; of course, if you have any kind of germ phobia, you'll probably want to buy new anyway ).

Soundcard will depend to a degree what connectivity your iMac has (if it's newer you probably won't have the option of Firewire, more than a couple of years old and you will have), but the world's your oyster really. Apogee get a very good writeup although I've only ever used their cheaper ones, but there's dozens out there around the £200 mark which is where I'd assume you'd be looking. Out of interest, Line 6 do a keyboard/audio interface combo called the KB37 which would be a very simple, elegant solution for what you want to do - as long as it DOES do what you want it to do! http://www.pmtonline.co.uk/line-6-pod-studio-kb37-usb-midi-keyboard-and-audio-interface.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=shopping&gclid=CMLDm82dprwCFWfLtAodekwAZQ

 

Stuff you've forgotten? Microphone stand and pop shield (for home use only, relative cheapies will do the job - don't go full-on bottom-of-the-line though, there's a lot of crap out there) and to get the best out of a good pair of monitors a solid (preferably sand-fillable) pair of speaker stands should really go on the list.

 

 

digitalscream

1 - I use a TC Electronic Impact Twin. It's a fantastic bit of kit, albeit not too cheap (£250-ish, I think). The software's great, it has a good compressor in it (with some great presets to get you started), decent parametric EQ and monitoring reverb. Firewire, natch, but that shouldn't be a problem on an iMac.

2 - Software-wise, the obvious choices are Logic (I know nothing...) and Reaper (which I absolutely love, and is only £38 or so for two full releases of updates - so buying v4.591 now gets you all the updates free until v6.591).

3 - No idea, sorry.

4 - Addictive Drums is quite nice (it's certainly got a good interface), but the drum samples are a bit "meh". EZDrummer is meant to be pretty good - that's what our drummer uses for our recordings.

5 - You can usually get a pair of Tannoy Reveals for £100 - £120 (passive) or £160 - £200 (active). I use the passive ones with a Denon micro hi-fi as the amp, and they work brilliantly.

6 - Read up on acoustic treatment. Not just soundproofing, but how to sort out bass traps etc. Also...get yourself a second monitor for the iMac. It can be absolutely invaluable.

chrispy108

Loads of good advice here, but the new iMac's don't have firewire, so you'll need a USB2 interface.

digitalscream

chrispy108 said:

Loads of good advice here, but the new iMac's don't have firewire, so you'll need a USB2 interface.

Really? That's a bit shit, especially since it's always been Apple who were pushing it. Then again, it does kind of fall in with their idea of "no backwards compatibility"

spark240

Dude...I got a used HP laptop with FW for £150...works great with Studio One.

sweepy

Keep an eye out on ebay for a Digidesign 003r firewire audio interface, works an absolute dream with a Mac and Logic and I've seen them go for as little as £150 .The Mackie Control 1 control surface is also worth checking out , I bought mine from Octatonic of the very Parish and it has been a joy to use .

Fez

I use EZDrummer and find it really good. I use Reaper as my DAW but the new Traction looks pretty good.

Danny1969

digitalscream said:

chrispy108 said:

Loads of good advice here, but the new iMac's don't have firewire, so you'll need a USB2 interface.

Really? That's a bit shit, especially since it's always been Apple who were pushing it. Then again, it does kind of fall in with their idea of "no backwards compatibility"

Thunderbolt is the interface for new Macs and audio interfaces, faster than anything we've seen before I think. Apogee do some nice Thunderbolt interfaces and also do Thunderbridges to connect older Apogee kit to the newer Thunderbolt machines

@sweepy

Good call on the 003, the 002 will also do as well. I know studios that run on those 002 \ 003's hooked up to ADA8000's for 16 in and out. You get Protools LE for free as well with it which is very useable 

sweepy

Shame they dropped FW, that was a way in to some very nice hardware

ecc83

sweepy said:

Shame they dropped FW, that was a way in to some very nice hardware

there is an adapter to get FW from Thunderbolt and early reports seem to indicate that it works fine. 

Bit pricey tho' as is all the TB kit.

Dave.

sweepy

Mm  a tenner from ebay, be interesting if it actually synchronises properly

ash96

I've got one of the new macs without firewire, I can confirm the Firewire to Thunderbolt adaptor works perfectly. No issues at all.

My interface at the moment is firewire.

I've always used the official adaptor rather than a cheaper copy though.

ecc83

ash96 said:

I've got one of the new macs without firewire, I can confirm the Firewire to Thunderbolt adaptor works perfectly. No issues at all.

My interface at the moment is firewire.

I've always used the official adaptor rather than a cheaper copy though.

Very glad for you. The worry is that Firewire has had such a bad history with audio that no one can say, hand on heart, that every FW interface will work on that adaptor setup or another one. 

Dave.