Conference napalm::guitar

    Hi Howard!
    
    You should add DNEAST::COMMUSIC to your notebook (KP7 will do it). 
    That conference discusses electronic music, synths, keyboards, home
    recording, etc.  Check out note 1 and note 2.4 in particular to help
    get you started.  Good luck....
    
    						Brian

Hi Howie,  My borther in law and myself have a home studio.
We co-own a two family, and he had a spare room in his house, so
all of it's up there.

We use one of them FOSTEX 8 track deck/boards with a stero compressor,
and a handfull of digital effects processors, and a drum machine,... 

And as far as keyboards go, we don't have any persay, rather were
using my midi guitar, with a sound controller.  fills the bill quite nicely.

For mix downs and monitoring, wer'e using some one of his stereo system,
one of them Pionere Componet things...


You can probably get something started on your budget if you shop around the
want adds.

We've found that the spot we could use the investment in at this time would
be sound proffing...  ultimately, we'll have to build a room in the cellar.

    There are a lot of things to be considered when shopping for gear
    for a studio. Everything should integrate together into a system.
    
    First thing I would do is decide what level of automation you 
    want. Many people putting together a studio these days are building
    the entire system around a computer. The computer allows them to
    do musical notation and convert it directly to midi sequences. From
    there, they can go in and tweak all the patches, drum machine 
    commands, etc. There are now many multi-track recorders on the market
    that have built-in midi time code features. Rather than recording the
    output from a synthesizer or drum machine onto tape, you simply 
    record the midi sequence onto tape, and then when it is time to do
    the final mixdown, the time code drives all the synthesizers and drum
    machines so that you have a first-generation signal going to tape.
    There is some very powerful technology available for the home studio
    buff these days, but once you make a decision to go this route, things
    get complicated and the expensive quick. The price you pay for all
    the automation is one of great expense and much time and patience
    getting it all to work together, and learning how the gear all works. 
    You have to develop a full understanding of both the harware and
    software. 
    
    	You also have to consider if your music really lends itself
    to synthesizers. You may be better off with a good digital piano,
    depending on the type of music you want to create. Some of the
    digi pianos on the market contain classical piano, electric piano,
    honky-tonk (detuned) piano, clavinet, harpsichord, etc. Some even
    include Electric bass and upright bass sounds.
    
    I personally have shyed away from the entire midi-computerized 
    realm. I have a small studio at home, mostly geared towards recording
    gutars, bass, and acoustic instruments. I am planning to add a drum 
    machine to my setup eventually, but I am definately not planning to
    buy a computer or synthesizer. Drum machines may be programmed, and
    the program can be dumped to a cassette tape recorder for storage.
    It's crude but works. For a small studio application it is plenty
    good enough for me.
    
    If I were you, I would concentrate on getting a good quality mixing
    console, with as many channels as you can afford. I have only 7
    channels on my mixer, and my multitracker has a built-in four channel
    mixer, but I would much rather have a 12-24 channel mixer, and a 
    recording deck with no built-in mixer. It's surprising how fast you
    can eat up channels. I would also try to get as many tracks as you
    can afford. The disadvantage of being limited to four tracks, is that
    you have to bounce tracks together. This is a serious limitiation in
    my opinion. If you can afford a good 8 track recorder, go for it.
    For a small home studio, a 16x8x4x2 mixer, and an 8 track reel-reel
    recorder is really the best way to go IMHO. 
    
    By the time you get the mixing console and recorder, you may be out
    of money. From that point on, I would be very selective in adding
    things like efx, compressors/limiter, patch bays, etc. You can always
    add these things a little at a time. It's very easy to get carried
    away thinking you NEED all this stuff right away. The fact is, you
    can work without it and get great results just the same. You should
    take your time researching and selecting each piece of equipment.
    Make sure you have a full understanding of your equipment, and develop
    a plan of what you want your studio to evolve into before you go out
    and spend a ton of money on the extras. I started putting my system
    together about 6 years ago. It has taken me this long to get to my 
    present system, and it is still changing and being upgraded all the
    time. Buying modular equipment is what makes this possible.
    
    I want even bother to recommend any specific brands. Half the fun of
    putting together a studio is shopping around, researching the market,
    then making the decisions and the final purchase. Keep in mind that 
    saleman do not always know what they are talking about. Read as much
    literature as you can find. Ask the same questions of several differant
    people. The folks in COMMUSIC can definately be a big help, even if
    you decide not to go with midi or synthesizers.
    
    If you need any information on building the actual studio room itself,
    I can point you to some very good notes on the subject. When I planned
    my basement studio, I got lot's of help in the Music, Guitar, and
    Commusic conferences about soundproofing, power requirements, ventil-
    ation, etc.
    
    Hope this helps you get started.
    
    Mark
    
    
    
    

    
    	As said earlier, it depends a lot on what you're going to do.
    If you're going to record a band, you'll need mikes, a mixer, some
    effects and a good tape deck. If you're going to burn the midnight
    oil composing by yourself, you'd want/need other things.
    
    	"Home Studio" is such a broad term these days; I can imagine
    someone sitting alone in their bedroom typing commands into a 'Mac
    on one end, to a six piece band doing live takes in a basement (complete
    with an isolated drum booth) on the other.
    
    	Joe
    

	I'm getting started and want to bounce some ideas around and see
	how they go.

	Last weekend I droped a coupla bills on a drum machine (dr550)
	and have quickly developed

				MIDI Studio Fever

	I have a tight budget that grows incrementally. I'll be turning
	this stuff over in a rolling upgrade.

	Here's what I have:

		drum machine
		guitars/bass		
		1 20wt bass combo
		1 60wt guitar combo
		Ibanez RP100 (mixes tape w/1 signal to stereo out)
		Home stereo amp & cassette deck w/speakers

	Here's what I think I want:

		Stereo power amp & speakers (ahem... Monitors)
		Mixing capabilities
		Tape Recorder
		Guitar Preamp
		FX processor

	How I think I can get started:

		Power amp and speakers:
			Find a cheap used stereo, use my extra loudspeakers

		Mixing Capabilities + Tape Recorder
			Start with Tascam Porta [1,2] HS

			Question1: can I bypass tape with these units
				and just use it as a mixer?

		Guitar Preamp + FX processor
			Start with a combo unit

			Question2: do most of the multiFX units (ART,
				DigiTech) act as preamps?

	From there I expect to start rolling upgrades:

		speakers to something like stage monitors
		amp to QSC, Crown or Equiv
		get separate mix capabilities
		separate out FX & preamp

		add EX, compression, etc.....


	So whaddya think about questions 1 & 2?
	Waddya think about the overall strategy?

    Sounds like what I'm trying to do...'Cept I have a ST116 16 channel
    mixer and power amp...with my cheesy UA home stereo speakers and
    cheesy Ross 4x4.
    
    We should keep in contact, since I'm gonna jump in high gear when I 
    get to Colorado.  
    
    jc (Who wants a basement-personal-studio too)

    If you're Ross 4x4 is anything like mine, you'll want another
    multitrack for any serious recording.
    
    Greg

Thats a given.   ;)

Not bad for dorking around, but I'd like a Tascam MIDI studio or something
along those lines...

jc

    Does the Tascam 424 have the punch in/out option?
    
    A lot of the locals are blowing out the Tascam Porta 2 now for < $500.
    
    Mike

    
    
    re: punch in/out
    
    yes.
    
    re: porta 2
    
    Are they porta 2s or porta 2 "HS". The HS is the 3-3/4 ips machines.
    
    Personally, I'd take a 2HS over a 424 if I could get the 2Hs for
    $500. The porta 2s have analog VU meters, plus 6 mixer channels,
    among other things. It just seems to be better built than the
    424. 
    
    I had a porta 2 (regular speed) for a while and I really liked it. 
    It had problems with dropouts, though (bought it used). I'd pass
    on a regular speed porta2 at $500, but if I didn't have the 424
    now, I'd jump at the chance to get a porta 2HS at that price.
    
    -Tom
    

	I know $1200 is more than 2wice the cost of a new Porta-2, but if
	you're thinking long-term, the 8-track 488 is awesome.  There's
	very little crosstalk between the channels and all in all it's a
	great machine.

	/ravi

    Yeah I did look, but stopped when I saw the price tag ;-)
    
    I've turned over a new leaf:  I don't look at things I can't afford ;-)
    
    Mike

    Well its been almost 2 years since I started this note, and this is
    what I've ended up with.  "Yes I did get bitten by the midi bug.."
    
    Roland U20 - Keyboard
    Yamaha SY55 - Keyboard
    Korg M1 - Keyboard
    Yamaha Whirlwind - keyboard (similar to the Mini-moog)
    Roland S-50 - Sampler
    Yamaha - TX802 Sound Modual
    
    Roland R5 Drum Machine
    Roland - MC50 Sequencer
    Tascam 488 8 track recorder
    
    Peavey 8 channel mixing board (to small in the process of up grading)
    Audio LOgic Compressor
    Audio Logic EQ
    Peavey Noise gate
    DSP256 Effects unit
    Sound Design Power Amp
    Audio LOgic Speakers
    
    Other than an occasional up grade I'm pretty much finished with
    Midi-gear.  This stuff will be around for awhile...
    
    
                                                            Howard