In that case, get best cans you can, some good smaller reference speakers, less treatment, more toys to play with and than just rent proper studio if need strikes, don't spend all that money on gear for apartment

 

if i start with a blank room
250 electronic hight adjustable desk
800 with proper seating
1800 any 4th or 3rd generation i7 intel rig will get you far (32gb ram, intel ssd, 5tb storage)

1000 Primacoustic room kitt (depending on your room size)
2500 Munro sonic egg (or mnitors you like)
3700 Shadow Hills Equinox (2mic pres+ analog summing+ monitorcontrol)
3800 Xite1 (dsp audio interface, with all the software you need)
maybe the audient asp 800 to add som dirt to all of this

but depending on what you already have you may need non of it
but my impression was that you liked to know whats out there ;)
the audiosex donation button is a great idea!

 

I was just pondering your post in the moments before I fell asleep, sat up, and in a moment of clarity, turning down the noise factory I've had up and running three shifts a day (including Sundays), actually listened to what you had to say. The focal point of the genre you prosper in and nurture is based on the message of the storyteller, and the way that the voice is captured is essential to creating an impactful resonance of oneness with the listener, letting them become you, and you them in the special and meaningful time that you share together as artist and listener.The ears of your studio therefore are critical and should be your first priority. Everything must revolve around your vocal chain and everything else is peripheral to this end. There are lots of great microphones out there but you are going to have to audition many to find out which sounds great for your particular voice. Depending where you live there might be a store with a return policy that would enable you to do this. The same would hold forth with your preamp of choice. Here too there is opportunity to give attribute by way of colour in tone, or contrarily, not. If you aren't the only vocal talent it would be wise to get a second microphone, or even for those times where you would choose backing vocals in order to introduce another flavor to your sonic menu. A ballpark figure of cost between the two mics and one fine mic pre might be between 4,000 to 8,000 dollars. You could spend more and you could spend less. This would still leave you with enough to get a great pair of monitors (2-4000), a kickass computer (1,500-2,000), room treatment (1,000-2,000) and synth and effect plugins (800-1500) with enough left over to buy me a nice cup of coffee for the good advice.

 

Yeah, but he is probably moving into small apartment where he can barely store all that pricey equipment, let alone put it in proper use

 

Competent Computer
High Quality Interface
Good Monitors
MIDI Controller
Surge Protector
Comfy ass chair

 

If you want to add UAD to your tools&gear, I'm selling mine so that might be an idea! :replace_me:
https://audiosex.pro/threads/universal-audio-uad-2-satellite-duo-25-plugins-30-irs.19617/

 

most important question: do you plan to record anything or just produce?

luckily for EDM or Rap, the quality of the recording does not have to be great, you won't need in-your-face vocal sound with beautiful transients if you tweak your vocals with twelve effects and mix it with loud kicks and synths

if you are in this situation most of the money goes to the producing needs. Whatever computer, audio interface, etc.. you may want, the quality of your mix will directly depend on your monitors and how well they're set-up. Just keep that in mind.
Over three years, I have changed four times of monitors and really the listening part of your studio is paramount. It's so much easier to produce good sounding music when you have good tools for your listening!

 

I'm exploring all options and of course I'd like to offer you guys convenient and secure methods of payment. Also nobody should feel compelled to donate any specific amount, even a donation of a dollar can be helpful. As a bonus, I'm looking into providing some benefits as a little extra incentive for supporting the forums. I'll let you guys know more as soon as I have a better idea of all the details. Thanks for your interest.

 

sounds cool.. suppose you will be making a thread to explain it all when it's set up,
the donation will id us with reference to the site, so you know who's supporting or not,

but being able to use some intermediary prepaid methods would probably make people more comfortable with it
such as what i mentioned, vanilla visa etc.

 

That is a great idea Cat. Can't wait till this goes in effect. We're grateful for your dedication to improve both sites. Lord knows I spend too much time on both lol

 

Agreed. He'll find himself in the same shoes as me lol. A lot of decent gear without the space (the gear slut in me made me do it). I have a decent size bedroom so it's ok, but I definitely see it starting to get crammed. So I'm holding off on buying the speakers I really want and additional treatment in here for now. Have some acoustic panels I created (not sure if they work much lol), but they will do for now. I'm looking to buy a home and finally after that, I can splurge on the monitors and treatment. Space makes a lot of difference. For creativity too!

 

And that's why a high-end studio monitoring pair would allow him to mix accurately on low-levels (let's say when the neighbours aren't home) because they perform a lot better on low volume. Also it would allow him to have a peek at how the song will sound on everything else without worring about translation. IMHO, just a pair of headphones isn't enough to truly have the illustration of how your mix will sounds on speakers, "concert scenario", boombox, etc. , because headphones are known to illustrate the bass frequencies and the stereo image differently than speakers. The bass in the speakers is feelable in your whole body, while on headphones it's feelable just over your ears. There's also zero crosstalk between L&R which further isolates the real behavior of real speakers. Also the sound on speakers would have to travel through air in order to reach his ears, while cans put much pressure on the eardrums, can be sweaty sometimes, fatiguing (depending on how big his ears are), etc.

Just my 0.02

 

He could do that with pair of some good 4"-5" speakers too (bellow 1000$ pair) as I already mentioned, it's far from ideal situation and quite a waste for 1 room apartment where rules of building apply (where you can make noise few hours a day)

 

Last edited by a moderator: Aug 19, 2015

Yes, but for lower-freq accuracy (i'm assuming he will treat his appartment room as well) he will need a sub for the 5". A top-end monitoring pair like the mentioned Amphions One18s will be accurate enough down there even without a sub. Not too much trembling low-end, but still enough for him to not require a sub. Also as i said, high-end monitors works tremendously well on low volume levels, which will help him hear the whole spectrum without cranking up the monitors to squeeze some low-end out of them. Anyway, extra-intel i think it's useful to him, that's why i added these extra informations. You could say "check the bass on headphones", but headphones can't produce the bass the same way a speaker would. I'm not saying it's totally useless to mix and master on, they're great for project-level work, but real speakers are more essential for "the last word" in case he wanna take his songs further, reference-wise.

 

I hope he will reconsider his moving options for the sake of all of this, even rent a space for a studio, much wiser decision, than throwing 12000$ worth of stuff into one small crowded room in some building and than wait for happy hours to actually use some of it, better just rent studio space and throw in couch or lazy bag and call it home, than throw in all this gear in home and call it studio

 

Here goes. Please don't give me flak for this one.

If you don't have a clue what you need for you studio, mate - you plain and simply DON'T NEED IT! Spend the money on some decent courses that will give you a very clear idea about what you need and what you don't.

15000$ isn't a big sum of money as above guys try to point out. A decent pair of monitors would be almost half of that price, not to mention acoustic room treatment. A decent converter/interface is also up to 3000$.

Just spend the money on education and training. Leave a couple grand on a computer and a controller. A couple more on software. And you're set.

 

congrat !!

i'd buy :

a killer custom pc with 2 27" monitor, deadly , monitor speakers, a deadly interface, 2 mikes and a korg kronos .

and keep the other 10 grand in my pocket

 

for 5k, I'm not sure what your definition of deadly is in this context?
why buy a workstation if you have a pc? why 2 27" screens?

 

Since all I do is dream about are scenarios like this, for the fun of it, i'll answer this. Assuming you have 15K....

Maxed out 6 core (New) Mac pro-Yes apple charges way more than they should, but i own it and it's fantastic and honestly so fun to use everyday. Also it can help attract clients if you're into that type of thing. Btw, I'd wait for the 2015 model since it's likely so close to release-$4500
Room Treatement-1K
Preamp of your choice- $1500
Monitors-Amphion+Amp-$4000 (I do believe these are among the best speakers you can get). Haven't used it, but i know it isnt hype (probably good value for the price too in terms of sound).
Apollo Duo- Even Saw the new model for $1650 on ebay other day.
Akai Advance-$500
Microphone-$2500 (whether you get a clone of a great mic or the real deal such as a used U87ai, $2500 is plenty enough).

Still have 1k left.....here are your options that you can choose to do with the last $1000:

Option 1) Maschine Studio ($999)-Not a must but sooooo fun and nice to play with if you want a drum sampler type of thing...Would be my personal pick)
Option 2) Hardware gear- Spend 1K on any compressor you like. This would be nice for tracking or using it on mixes. (If you like aggressive like the 1176, you can get the Warm Audio WA76 for 600). Don't let price fool you, it sounds like a 2K compressor. They are just nice guys so are selling it at affordable prices for regular joes like us.
Option 3) Buy a synth for 1K () To maximize value, you can a used one here again)
Option 4) Sometimes you never know in life, receiving 15K and blowing it all away, may not be the best idea. If you don't have a whole lot of money stored up in your account already, save the 1k and put it in the bank.

As you can see 15K goes quick in Audio. Ideally, you'd like to have at least one of EACH three options I gave at the end for your studio, rather than being forced to choose one 1 out of the 3. Congrats on winning the case brother. Enjoy your new studio.

Don't have to follow my advice above exactly but I do believe i gave you a great route for your studio and a top notch one at that.

 

Last edited: Sep 12, 2015