Hi All,
Just looking for some feedback on the gear list for my new studio setup. The space is small rectangle of around 45m2 (484 ft2) and I am going to divide it into 3 main areas; bathroom & storage (2m x 5m), Control room (3m x 5m) and Live room (3m x 5m). This project is an evenings and weekends endeavor for me now but one day, who knows, I might be able to scratch out an existence in audio :-) For the moment the day job is paying for all this!
I am going to have a hybrid workflow because I enjoy messing around with hardware. I am willing to suffer the minor recall overhead that it brings because I feel that the benefits I get (in sound and personal enjoyment) outweigh the costs and "inconvenience". I would also like this studio to be a place where guest engineers could come to do sessions in the future but it will probably take me a couple of years to build up the front end gear to make that attractive. But I am buying fewer high end pieces now with that in mind, instead of just filling up the racks with mid-level gear that I won't be enthused by.
The build is getting started this week and of course the build is eating into my gear budget
But hey, gear does not live in a vacumn, so I am trying to balance the spend by doing a decent enough space even if I have to postpone some gear purchases. One thing is clear .. it's easier to swing back around and buy more gear later than it is to come back and try to upgrade your build! I am down with the isolation and acoustics and have been a lurker on John Sayers forum for years and have bought(and read!) the studio construction book.
With the fact that I already have 2 Apollo's, I am thinking I could postpone the purchase some pre's and use the Unison pre's and my Audient ASP880 for the moment. That gives me 16 channels of pre's to get going.
The most likely session type in the studio in the first year will be my own pop/rock stuff with some friends and general de-bugging sessions where I get people in to practice my dark art on them. I would expect vocal/overdubs and local band demos. I will be open to pretty much anything that gets some studio flight time under my belt to build up experience.
My starter gear list will be as follows
PREAMPS:
[HAVE] 2 x Apollo 8 (8 Unison pre's)
[HAVE] Audient ASP880 (8 pre's)
[LATER] Manley Force
[LATER] RND 5024
[LATER] 4 x API 512v
[LATER] 4 x SSL VHD
[LATER] 2 x Chandler TG2
OUTBOARD:
[HAVE] RND 5060 Summing mixer/Monitor Controller
[HAVE] 2 x Distressors
[HAVE] Manley Mini Massive
[HAVE] Chandler Zener Limiter
[HAVE] Stam SA4000
[HAVE] Eventide Eclipse
[HAVE] Handsome Audio Zulu
[BUY] 2 x SSL 611 EQ
[BUY] Retro Doublewide
[LATER] 2 x Stam SA-76
[LATER] 4 x API 550A
[LATER] 2 x RND 551 EQ
[LATER] A Designs Hammer
[LATER] 2 x Maag Audio EQ4
MICS:
[HAVE] Neumann TLM 102
[HAVE] Stereo Pair AKG 314
[HAVE] Stereo Pair Oktava 012-01
[HAVE] Reslo Beeb ribbon
[HAVE] Aston Origin
[HAVE] ATM 250DE
[HAVE] Rode NT1A
[BUY] Chandler REDD Mic (main vocal mic!)
[comes with its own pre]
[BUY] Stereo Pair Roswell Mini K47
[BUY] SM7 B
[BUY] 2 x SM57
[BUY] Stereo Pair Coles 4038
[BUY] Mojave MA-200
[Later] 3 x vintage Sennhieser 421
[Later] Vintage D12
[LATER] ... the mic list never really ends does it? :-)
Thoughts?