$50,000 STUDIO

innercitymusicinnercitymusic 53 Posts
edited May 2012 in Strut Central
Curious to see what kind of gear you guys would but with a budget of 50,000 dollars. I have a list but was curious to see what you guys would buy if you had an opportunity to start fresh. It can be analog or digital or a combination of both. This will include mixer,speakers,cables,computer,desk, etc. or anything extra you guys think would improve the sound all together.

one

  Comments


  • 4YearGraduate4YearGraduate 2,945 Posts
    For what genre of music?

    There are as many different types of studios suited for as many genres as one can think of. Hair rock? Vo? Post? What skill level engineer? Can he calibrate tape? Can he recap? Etc etc etc.

    I'll help as much as I can with more info

  • EL CHAMACOEL CHAMACO 96 Posts
    Get a racked pair of Neve 1073's and call it a day..
    Nice compressor too..

  • Hip Hop mainly but getting into recording all sorts of live bands as well. I was thinking a mixer that doubles as a DAW. everything built in for the most part. 4-5 thousand dollar mic along with and argosy desk and dynaudio air 15 studio moniters etc.

  • 4YearGraduate4YearGraduate 2,945 Posts
    Word, I can dig that. The thing with OTB studios is that 50K seems like a lot until you start factoring in patchbays, cabling, foldback headphone mixing capability, etc. Things that a normal hip hop studio doesn't have to worry about but that a real studio for bands have to factor in. Acoustics is huge - you can't really track nor mix in a room that sounds like shit, and a couple of slabs of auralex ain't gonna cut it.

    A hip hop studio can get by with one, literally ONE mic and be fine. A tracking studio for bands needs at least 10, and that's conservative. Down the line from that you need preamps, dynamics controlling devices, and of course conversion enough to get everything in and out of the box. A 4-5K mic in an untreated room might as well be an SM7 or RE20, which is fine as well for hip hop but not great for , say drum overheads.

    I guess if i had to take a blind stab at it it would break down like this:

    Acoustics/Buildout - 10,000
    Cabling, Electrical - 5,000
    Microphones - 6,000 (Vintage used U87 (not AI), 2 RE20's, SM57's, SM58's etc, Tube LDC)
    Outboard - 10,000 (pair of distressors, 500 series rack with API EQs, API 3124's used for mic pres)
    Console - 6,000 (Toft aTB)
    Monitors - 5,000
    Furniture - 3,000
    Convertors - 3,000 SSL Alphalink and Madi-express
    Plug-ins.DAW - 2,000

    I'm probably forgetting a bunch of shit. I've built 3 studios and I always go over budget

  • 4YearGraduate4YearGraduate 2,945 Posts
    I looked around my studio and forgot these things:

    House Drum kit
    House Amps
    Piano/Synth/Rhodes compliment
    House Bass Guitar

    Tape Machines?
    External effects ala PCM81.91 PCM42 etc.
    Metering

    AIR CONDITIONING!

  • BrianBrian 7,618 Posts
    50k of room treatment

  • dayday 9,611 Posts
    4YearGraduate said:
    I looked around my studio and forgot these things:

    House Drum kit
    House Amps
    Piano/Synth/Rhodes compliment
    House Bass Guitar

    Tape Machines?
    External effects ala PCM81.91 PCM42 etc.
    Metering

    AIR CONDITIONING!


  • EL CHAMACOEL CHAMACO 96 Posts
    Realistically you're looking at 8 mics to track drums.
    You'll need a studio drum kit as well.
    Get familiar with Pro Tools, get some nice mic pre's..
    Honestly 50k will go quick but you probably already
    have some kit I'm assuming.. You'll need a control
    room.. What do you have as far as gear goes?

  • z_illaz_illa 867 Posts
    4YearGraduate said:

    Acoustics/Buildout - 10,000
    Cabling, Electrical - 5,000
    Monitors - 5,000
    Furniture - 3,000

    PatrickCrazy said:
    50k of room treatment

    My gearlust has died down a bit, I feel like at this point I could spend the whole 50 gs on wiring, acoustics, the perfect desk and a nice chair. Maybe then I'd think about some monitors to a/b with my ns10s...

  • BsidesBsides 4,244 Posts
    Wow. Most pro's I know don't have a studio thats near that expensive, especially to record hip hop.

    Grab a decent mic, an avalon, a decent interface and computer and throw some money at a few plug in bundles and you're good.

    I mean, one day I'd love to have that kind of budget though. Lord knows I could spend it fast.

    I would for sure spend it on getting a really nice room and chair though and skip most if not all of the crazy outboard gear. You definitely dont need a tape machine lol.

    I really hope this is for a professional facility that you plan on renting out, or you are making huge moneys with music though. 50k on a hobby studio is silly.
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