Starting A Recording Studio at a College

[nathanb]

I'm trying to put together a basic recording studio for a college in my area and I'm trying to come up with a basic package of things I'd need. So far, the school has a pretty old compter ...PC...I'm almost certain we'll need to buy a new one. There are also a few Yamaha equalizers, A Yamaha mixing board, Some QSC (?) amps, monitors/speakers, an Atlas Sounddolier (not even sure what this is).

- As far as I can tell, there are no mics, so I'm trying to figure out a group of about 5 mics that would be versatile and inexpensive.
- I think I will go the route of Pro Tools LE with a Digi 002 Rack
- I'll probably buy an external hard drive for extra storage space.
- I'm wondering if there's some basic outboard gear that would be useful or if I will do fine with various plug-ins

Does any one have any advice?
Thanks for your help

[TimOBrien]

First off, immediately get a good beginner recording book (spend $20 before spending hundred$/thousand$) that shows you what you need to get started and how to hook everything up in your studio:
Home Recording for Musicians by Jeff Strong - $15
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764516345/102-9059220-3248917?v=glance&n=283155&amp%3Bn=507846&amp%3Bs=books&v=glance
(Wish I'd had that when I started; would have saved me lots of money and time and grief)

Good Newbie guides that also explains all the basics:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm
http://www.computermusic.co.uk/page/computermusic?entry=free_beginner_pdfs

21 Ways To Assemble a Recording Rig:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/rigs.htm

Also Good Info:
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm

Other recording books:
http://musicbooksplus.com/home-recording-c-31.html


Plenty of software around to record for free to start out on:

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net

Kristal: http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

Other freebies and shareware: www.hitsquad.com

[Tenstripe]

I have taken audio classes at Lansing Community College and Middle Tennessee State University. MTSU outside of Nashville has an excellent website that actually lists descriptions of all their equipment in three different studios. :bounce:

[JeffBarnett]

The obvious answer (obvious to me, at least)...

Call a Sweetwater Sales Engineer. Every one of us has built studios from the ground up dozens of times over. There's nobody better to help you put your list together and think of all the details.