The best way to go

[royalb]

:classic: budget=$20000
what direction should i go for the highest quality recording/mixing/mastering equipment?

[fLiPaudio]

are you starting from scratch? what do you want to record and mix?

[royalb]

are you starting from scratch? what do you want to record and mix?
well i have been working with Reason for years and have a large collection of songs.
thats all im starting with but i have a good understanding of protools.
i really want to mix and master my reason songs to the highest quality possible and then record vocals over them to the highest quality possible.
i want things to be upgradable not replacable.

sorry thanks

[fLiPaudio]

do you need a computer? how mant tracks do you want to record? do you plan on only recording vocals? or guitar amps, drums, etc.? you have any mics and preamps? how many channels of preamps do you need?

[royalb]

do you need a computer? how mant tracks do you want to record? do you plan on only recording vocals? or guitar amps, drums, etc.? you have any mics and preamps? how many channels of preamps do you need?

i have no pres no mics. male and female vocals will be recorded. no instruments at first but i plan on turning this into a pro studio after a while so i want the best to start with alot of room to upgrade. right now budget is
$20000

.....yes i need a cpu, ive looked at the g5 quad and yes sweetwaters own dual rack cpu.

as far as track count, how much is enough? 18....36?????


thanks alot

[fLiPaudio]

there are never enough tracks....

for starters let's try this...
g5 - $3000
digi002- $1200
u87 set z- $2800
c414- $1000
avalon vt737- $2000
great river me1nv - $1000
mackie hr824 moniters - $1300
waves diamond bundle- $3000
auto tune - $300
grand total = $15,600

you will need headphones, cables, maby additional microphones and preamps, stands etc...for electronic music you will also want additional plugins, soft synths, drum replacer plugins, etc....$4400 dollars should cover it

[royalb]

Hey flip
man thanks for all the advice i like your list and will take it in to high consideration.
what is waves dimond bundle?

this is a list i put together with sweetwater. Can you please critisize it and tell Me what you think.

CreationStation Rack Dual Core 3.2
19" Flat Panel Monitor
tc electronic powercore
digi002 rack
rossetta 800 converter
ISA220 pre
U195 mic
Genelec 1031a or 8050
Central station for mons
Reason refill pack gold

furniture and cabling

[Audioholic]

royalb,
If I were to drop some cash into a new setup, and am working with virtual instruments, such as reason, I would most certainly want to consider adding a few more to my arsenal. Reason is fine, but There are quite a few other toys that will blow your socks off. What kind of music do you do?? Keep in mind that ,on the music side of it, well, if you purely use reason, will be entirely in the digital domain. If you are wanting to record live instruments, vocals and such, then I would get a separate converter such as the apogee. The 002 is fine, but so much better when using a good outside converter.

Do you have experience with macintosh or windows? I personally perefer Macs, hands down.

Also, depending on what type of music you are doing, I like flipaudio's suggestion of the mackie monitors. The genelecs are very nice, but the ones I used are very lacking in the low end, which the mackies cover pretty well.

Also you may want to just get the gold bundle from Waves, as you can upgrade to the diamond later if you so choose, that will save some bucks for, you guessed it, more toys!!

Also, I like Flipaudio's suggestion to get 2 mics to start with, might come in handy, and who knows when you will be able to drop this cash on gear!

let me know if you want some suggestions of different virtual instruments to consider adding to the wish list!!!

[royalb]

hey thanks alot man
u sound like you know ur audio
the thing is i have been working with reason for years and i have a large collection songs (all types of music).
just upgraded to 3.0 and got all the refills but my question is how can i take the work i already have from reason and turn those songs into the best highest quality tracks possible????

after that i would like to record vocals over them using protools and the apogee rosetta as my a/d converter.(comments)

what else is there that blows reason out of the water? because i want it and i have no problem leaning it.

i think im staring to lean towards the g5 quad myself but ive heard there very loud

thankyou so much

[Audioholic]

Hey there,
I didn't really mean, blow reason out of the water, but rather blow your socks off, meaning some great libraries to compliment reason, and where reason falls short.

I personally never liked sequencing in reason, and in Pro tools, or any daw, you can actually open up reason as a soft synth, and if you can export your midi tracks from reason, then you can either import your midi tracks and assign accordingly, or I think reason will lock up to pro tools anyway, then you can simply add other instruments and such.

once you open up reason in pro tools, you simply have to bounce the tracks to disc, or record to an audio track.

then you can mix more precisely, and take advantage of overdubs and such

Lettin me know predominetally what kind of music you write will certainly help, but A must have in my opinion is stylus RMX, Atmosphere (much better pads then reason) Trilogy is great,

Then depending on your style, for piano libraries (Ivory), synth libraries, orchestral libraries (east west) etc.

My favorite's are usually from the crew at east west, they make some killer stuff.

Having some of these higher quality instruments will certainly make your productions even better. You can still use all of your work you did in reason. But if you find a better patch for a certain instrument or sound (which I can garuantee you will with at least a few), then its just a matter of substituting that by importing the midi data, and assigning to the new sound you want to use.

Having a mac daddy pre and DAW will not help too much with the quality of what is coming out of reason. I think reason is great, I am in no way knockin it, but what I am saying is that if you are not happy with the sounds you are getting, spending bucks on other gear will not change that. Of course you are going to want a high quality vocal chain also. But definetally think about updating your sound pallet, I think you will be most happy with that to start.

also if you get pro tools or another daw, start learning to sequence within the app.

Mac's Rule!!!!

oh by the way, if you want me to send a sample file of some stuff i did using any of these, I can try my best to, just send me a PM with your email..

Gracias

[fLiPaudio]

this is a list i put together with sweetwater. Can you please critisize it and tell Me what you think.

CreationStation Rack Dual Core 3.2
19" Flat Panel Monitor
tc electronic powercore
digi002 rack
rossetta 800 converter
ISA220 pre
U195 mic
Genelec 1031a or 8050
Central station for mons
Reason refill pack gold

furniture and cabling

i don't think the powercore is compatible with protools...i may be wrong
i think that a u195 and isa220 is extremely limiting compared to a 737 and u87...i use a 737/u87 combo on almost everything i do at home (vocals, guitars, sax, fiddle, brass, flute, clarinet, harmonica, choirs, drum overheads, and more...) and everything sound at least good, and mostg of the time great...it's worth the extra investment especially with a 20000 budget...

i agree with the idea of a better converter than the 002, i didn't suggest it since it sounds like you are working mostly itb, but it'll definitely help...

i would go with a mackie big knob for the moniters, it sounds like you are working in one room if you are worried about the computer being noisy, so the big knob should be fine, more bang for the buck and more headroom=less distortion...

i suggested the waves dimond bundle b/c it has a useable version of just about every possible toy you could want durring mixing except automatic pitch correction, and amp simulation, but the gold bundle will be fine, though i don't think it has the l2 or l3 which you may want for mastering...

two mics is a very good idea...how can you spend 20000 and only have one mic? especially a u195...it's a great mic and all, but with a 20000 setup you should have some more options...

and of course the music is king....make sure you have the best arsenal for you musical creativity, a good mic wont make you hits

[royalb]

your right i do need to have more options
the u87 was my fist choice
thank alot
ps the power core is compatible with protools but you need
a VST-RTAS wrapper

but is waves dimond the right choice over the powercore??

[fLiPaudio]

i heard that the vts/rtas wrapper is not very stable...i would go with waves, i find them to be cleaner and more generic, they don't have a very unique signature to them, which is better for most itb mixing situations...i use them on almost every mix i do, and i've worked with some great mixers who used them too, again the diamond might be overkill but i think its a better choice than the tc...especially if you get a g5, cpu power should not be a major problem

[royalb]

ok cool
what about uad....can i even compare the two?
do you know if powercore or waves supports 24bit/192khz
and is there a mastering plug for waves dimond?

[fLiPaudio]

i think you'll have the same problem with the uad, though i like them better than the waves stuff...if you mean is there a mstering plugin in the diamond bundle, i think you have the L 1, 2, and 3 all great for mastering

[Audioholic]

I truly love the Waves stuff to, a well balanced bundle. the only thing I hate about them is the whole Waves WUP thought, that after awhile you are inelligible to receive needed upgrades, unless you pay on a regular basis. However, they usually make if worth it with free plugs, but its harder if you don't have the continuous cash to keep it updated. just a thought on waves. But i still have their shtuff, cause it is good. The diamond bundle rocks, but I still think you should save some cash and just get the gold, you can always upgrade later. The Gold has the C4 and L1. Truly the L3 is more advanced but for starters this will work wonderfully.

[Audioholic]

royalb

you asked about 24 bit / 192 plug in compatiblity. I believe the newer waves version is compadible with that, however I highly doubt you will be doing stuff at 192, or even at 96 for that matter. A native system won't get too much mileage at those rates, and it probally isn't worth it anyway. the 002 only supports up to 96k, and if you are dealing with lots of tracks, it will be limiting. A Pro Tools HD settup will have much better mileage at higher rates, but that is half of your budget right there (which may not be a bad idea to consider btw). You could cut out the outside converter for now, with the HD setup. But plugins almost double when it comes to TDM systems (why is that???)

However, I have found that even 20 grand does not go as far as one would like in Pro Audio. I recently dropped some serious cash on an upgrade, and I am looking around, wondering why I do'nt have more blinky lights then i should.... Where did it all go?? :( I want more blinky lights!!!!!!