I want to create a home studio my budget is $8,000 what are some must haves???

I am currently running my own setup with a
lexicon lambda, Line6 PODXT live,carvin 250w mixer, M-audio axiom 25, Cubase 5, (Self built ASUS Desktop AMD fx-8350, Nvidia GTX680, single 27'in monitor)
I have various other instruments 3 electric guitars, one back up crappy Ibanez bass, and a martin 12 string

I primarily produce music on the guitar/keyboards/drums/midi. The music is tool sounding sometimes....all the way out to some trance hybrid crossover.
Lately I have really wanted to explore trace through the guitar then converted to midi, really interesting sounds.

PLUGINS: NEXUS 2,Cakewalk z3ta 2, sample-tank,miroslave philharmonic,Native Instruments massive,absynth5,ElectraX,Gladiator,sylenth1, camel audio alchemy,fab filter the hole package,


My first question is which keyboard/midi control will be best to replace M-audio Axiom? I would like to get something all-around nice that works with Cubase.

Second question is should i buy the ReFx NEXUS Full package, or is there something else better? I like the trance sound Nexus puts out, and i also like the ARP function, these are some things that have made me com to like the interface and so on????

Third question is headphones for the studio, I am currently using Sure srh440 guitar monitoring,however i need a mastering set, and several pairs of monitoring headphones Should i stick with the Shure srh440 or find something that supports broad spectrum headphone isolation and monitoring???????

fourth question is on audio interfaces to replace the lambda, Keep in mind that i will be using Cubase 5 as the primary DAW, sometimes Ableton live

Lastley feedback would be great on my selection of plugins choice of equipment and so on. I am welcoming all input.....


Again have a budget of $8000 modernize my (now slopy) home studio... Thanks

 

Man... you want to build a home studio ? for what ?.. Create projects ? mixing ?. Mastering ?. only post production ?.


First of all.. you have to build a solid Acustic correction in your room. .. a home studio without a acustic treatment is not a home studio but a basement with some noise...

after acustic treatment you have to worry about "Studio Monitors"... based on your style of production... but if you have a multipurpose monitor like "20/20 bas v3 or KRK VXT8" it's fine..

After acoustic and Studio monitors. > Audio Interface.. possibly UAD2 plugins. the best choice ? UAD Apollo Quad.

After this your workstation... Mac or PC.. personally for things like music productions i thing that a macmini late 2012 or imac 27... ok .. great price.. but.. you have for 199$ "Logic Pro 9" for me on native system is the best daw.. professional. clear. e very very fast. completely 64bit "all your ram can be used" ... and stable..

Headphones ?... the best headphone ever for me ?... Sennheizer hd 407. "20$".

Microphone ?... Se 4400a.
Vocal booth ?... Se reflection filter pro.. "no others". trust me...

ok .. build a home studio like this and you have a million dollar studios on your home.

 

defiantly going to pick up some Sennheizer hd 407, I am trying to leave room acoustics out of it though I will be installing some paneling for the master out where the workstation goes. Everything will be digitized though, I want to mix all instruments without amps, midi drums through VST, we have been using a superior drummer with a Roland TD-11KV-S V-Compact Series Grim our drummer loves this. Mackie Onyx 1620i FireWire MixerMackie Onyx or a Jam Hub where everybody has an input and monitor (headphones) the thing is with the jam hub is that it only records in 16-bit wav files, or save to your DAW in 16bit, don't like that at all. I really want the jam hub like experience but i need professional quality for recording.
Yes i will need a vocal booth got a perfect place for one in an unfinished bathroom lots of acoustic foam and it would be perfect. Is the Se 4400a a vocal mic?? will get a pop filter of course.

"you want to build a home studio ? for what ?.. Create projects ? mixing ?". Mastering ? Studio will be for ,creating projects, mixing, if there is enough space mastering.....Real goal is to produce a sound make everything in the studio through the mixer and then be able to bring it all to life on stage with Ableton live, mixer and nice pa system.

 

unfortunately they do not sell the 407's anymore at least that i am seeing.. Did buy some 2 Shure SRH440s 2 SRH840s and a single pair of 940s. After trying some things out with the mixer for a while going to have to say that the 440s are fantastic for acoustic/electric guitar monitoring, not so good with bass or drums. The 840s have a deeper bass range but really do not make good bass or drum headphones even worse are the 940s they are really expensive, however they are for mastering but i am still missing the punch of bass tones like the thump on the drums or low end of a driven bass. Keeping the 440s rest are going back. What is funny is we plugged in my triton gaming headset and it outperformed the 840s and the 940, for drums and bass. Headphones are important so if you have any other suggestions let me know.. Maybe need to start a thread on studio monitor headphones.

 

i don't know this headphone. but all i can say is that 407 for me are the ns10m of headphones... great low end and very high volume. listen a mix ith 407 to know the amount of bass "or muddy" in your mix. try to search on ebay or from an european reseller.

But.. if you already know well your actual headphones and they translate well on another system ... no reason to buy another pair... . trust me.

Your mixer are good for summing... compared to standard audio interface... but paired with a very high end audio interface they can make a huge difference when you mixing.

4400a yes is for vocal but i think that this mic are very multipurpose... i use it on bass guitar, bass. acoustic. sometime for drums headroom. very detailed mic with great low end mid and soft high end.. with voice use a pop filter.

for acoustic panel .. tale a look in this forum "internet in general"... great panels.. very great. make this panels... but always remember to make "acoustic measurement" BEFORE apply the panels on the walls. expecially for early reflections...
http://thewombforums.com/showthread.php?t=16184

Acoustic measurements mic. "Calibrated for RoomEQ". strongly recommended "http://www.content.ibf-acoustic.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=21_23&products_id=76"
search info on roomeq and acoustic measurements...

with your budget you can probably develop a very great sounding studio. .

 

I lolled.

 

I built this desk for around $650 including tools. It was my first wood working project ever. It definately looks a lot more professional than the folding table I got from Costco. The acoustic treatments were self made using bags bought from Ready Acoustics and Owens Corning 705. Cost around $900. What I would recomend most is IK Mulimedia ARC 2.0. This is an absolute must and should be your first purchace. If the mix position isnt accurate, every other improvement you make will be a waste of time and money. Get ARC ( you need the mic that comes with it as it wont work without it ) Get some acoustic treatements and buy a Behringer measurement mic and DL a software app called R.E.W. Its a free app that comes with correction files for a number of measurement mics. Learn how to use this to find the best position in your room for your speakers and treatments. If your speakers arent telling you the truth because the interaction of the speakers and the room is squeing the frequency response, youll never be able to mix/master properly. The accuracy of the mix position is "the" fundamental resource of any studio/mastering facility, hence this is what you make right first. After that, get what you feel you need.

 

Nice looking workstation...ya will be moving in January the houses basement has a huge unfinished bathroom and bedroom on the lower left side concrete floors and big vaulted wood ceilings. I will be visiting a place over here that has some studio flooring and other types of stuff..So it will take some measurements. The plan will be to make the bathroom smaller and then Incorporate a small room partition into the extra space for a vocal booth. Already have a ton audio foam and wall panneling that i got a couple of months back from a studio that went out of business. So indeed will have some great room acoustics when finished...



So if you don't mind just wondering what 1. the kind of keyboard you use and what 2. and 3. are? why you are using it maybe.

 

When i move in and get some things started i will def post so pix and the final deal. For making a good list equipment probably the best thing to do. Anybody have any experience with Allen & Heath sound boards. Found a couple of used ones a guitar center that look nice but i really have no experience at all with them. Looks like tramoliter in the picture above decided to use monitors as apposed to mixing boards open to the idea but direct monitoring for latency is kinda a must most of the time.

 

Not so, theres a 32X8 soundcraft automated mixer leaning against the wall out of camera range. I have a 24 input Motu interface that the soundcraft is wired up to. Also most soundcards Im aware of will let you monitor directly with no latency. I can record thru the card and DAW with under 2ms of latency as well as the buffer size on the MOTU will go down to 32. I usually set the buffer size to 64 for vocal and guitar recording, or direct monitoring with 0 latency.
The keyboard is an Evolution MK 249c. Im not a keyboard player so I got something to use to program drums, bass etc. Anything that requires keyboard triggering. Most of my midi programming is done with my guitars and an AXON AX 100MKII or Melodyne. You just record the guitar and then use melodyne to convert it to midi and assign a sound to it.
Again, if your investing money in a studio, first...let me repeat first...go to a music store and buy IK Multimedia ARC. Do that first. The fundamental resource of any studio is the accuracy of your mix position. Acoustic treatements will not make your mix position accurate. You need a combination of ARC and acoustic treatements. ARC alone will do waaaaaayyyy more than acoustic treatements alone will. ARC with acoustic treatements will fix the mix position to perfection. Im always amazed that people will spend large on gear and modestly on fixing room anomolies when the reverse is the most effective way to get what you want out of any studio, and that is mixes that travel and play well on all systems. Hope you choose wisely as the "foam" youve gotten from the studio sounds like it isnt Owens Corning rigid fiberglass.
#2 and #3 are all the outboard gear Ive bought over the years and I built racks to house them. Sound modules, guitar processors, reverb units, midi interface, and underneath facing my chair, patch bays, dual speed cassette deck compressor and MOTU interface. In a closet up stairs is a Fostex E-16 thats collecting dust for now. I havent used it in years. Hope that helps.