I’d love some help putting together a studio. I have $14,000 of blood, sweat, and smelly vans to spend so I'm looking for guidance.

I am a songwriter, performer and composer. I record and release my own records. For a couple years I have used my Mbox and Pro Tools on an aging Apple G4 Titanium laptop while on tour. I have a controller and two SM57s, but no other outboard gear to speak of. I am upgrading my machine to a new quad Intel laptop or tower. While I love Pro Tools, I’m open to other DAWs. I'll probably always have an mBox around and use PT regardless of where I write and arrange.

My ideal DAW would offer lots of plug-ins and virtual instruments out of the box. I tend to take my arrangements to actual musicians to re-record, so I’m looking for a wide selection of playable instruments for demos instead of ‘killer’ patches. I do appreciate soft synths for electronic music, so a nice variety of electronic instruments would be nice. Overall, I don’t like spending lots of time tweaking sampled acoustic instruments. I want to write and arrange, and have lots of playable instruments ready out of the box. Right now I export midi files out of Pro Tools and import them into Finale to prepare scores for live players. Ideally, there would be an easier way to prepare usable scores.

I don’t plan on recording final drums or conducting full band sessions. Almost all of my recordings are created a track at a time, except for the occasional string quartet or horn section. I’d like to get close-to-final mixes done on my setup, but have no interest in mastering. In general, I don’t like buying entry-level equipment when it means I’ll be replacing the unit in a couple years. Lastly, I’m moving to LA and may want to expand the setup for film-scoring, commercial music, etc. At that point I'd be open to a standalone GIGA setup working in conjunction with my DAW.

I'm looking to purchase the following pieces of gear. Wherever I can multi-task gear -- especially since I only record multiple instrumentalists when recording strings / horns -- I'm game. I'm not including the computer in the 14K.

  • DAW
  • Additional virtual instruments if necessary
  • Top notch AD conversion
  • Audio Interface, Midi Interface (all-in-one or multiple units)
  • Powered monitors
  • High quality channel strip for vocals (tube pre, EQ, compression - either as a single unit, or individual devices)
  • Nice dual channel pre for string / horn stereo micing and four additional pres to be used for micing individual instruments, demo drums, etc. Could use vocal strip.
  • Two channel compressor for guitars, general use
  • Mic selection to accommodate the following instruments (recorded individually)
  • Acoustic guitar
  • Vocals
  • Upright and grand piano
  • String quartet (stereo pair + close mic * 4)
  • Small horn section (stereo pair + close mic * 3)
  • Individual brass, wind, string instruments
  • Electric guitar (room and cab)
  • Electric bass (room and cab)