Beginner Home Studio Setup Ideas for Creating EDM

[Xonetacular]

KRK VXTs are considered good by many. But some peeps will always have an opinion otherwise

When people say KRKs are not great for producing they mean the Rokkits, and they're right (I am an owner of RP8s and had two pairs at one point). Rokkits are pretty lacking for production, VXTs are decent.

[lucasmanning]

I'm currently building a studio too... This is what im going for.

Ableton Live 8
Akai APC 40
Akai MPK25
Krk Rokit 8's
Focusrite saffire 6 usb Soundcard

[Gnozis]

a good laptop / desktop with lots of horsepower, lots of ram, and lots of hard drive

yamaha hs50m speakers - these are the standards over here

DAW of your choice - Logic / Ableton / Cubase , if you can find a friend who can exploit the use of EDU discount, DO IT!!! Edu version are much much cheaper (except for logic, logic is only $200 so just buy it!!)

Native Instruments Komplete 8 - everything you need is here, drums (battery), synths (massive,fm8, absynth) , instruments and samples (kontakt) , crazy addictive puzzle game (lol not really but it feels like it) - Reaktor

A midi keyboard - 37 key would be better than 25 keys for chords , oh and if possible something with knobs/faders for doing those WUB WUB WUB ZZSSSH ZZZSH automation , suggestion : novation nocturn / impulse 49

A few books on the DAW of your choice, i recommend the Power! series (Cubase 6 power! / Logic 9 Power! / Ableton 8 Power!) - read these as it will be REALLY beneficial

and if you want to - a nice audio interface + microphones, if you play instruments it would be a good idea to have this

a nice desk and a nice comfy chair to sit on - THIS IS OFTEN OVERLOOKED!!! you will sit there 20 hours a day and please, get a comfy chair that supports your back, a nice roomy desk to put all your gear and sit nicely, dont worry about acoustics for now, just point the tweeters of the speakers to your ears

lastly... dedication, all these gear wont matter if you dont get into it, so yeah


just my 2 cents

Awesome post

[DJZILCH]

thanks, was in the same position as the op a few years ago

[moomentum]

Wow thanks so much everyone! Great feedback and help I noticed that some said get a midi keyboard or a pad like controller like the apc... Would it be a good idea just to get a Mpk49?

He plays a range of instruments (bass and violin etc) as well as vocals so was defintiely thinking of a sound card and mic.
As for music style.. I'm guessing pretty ambient electro/house/dreampop/nudisco/chill wave kinda stuff.

Any recommendations for mics? And what type would be most versatile?

[psykx]

an sm57 is practically mandatory for every studio, professional or home.

I'd recommend ableton for a DAW (it's what I use and I love it)

[mostapha]

You're asking 2 questions.

First…what would I buy if I had 2-3 k to spend and owned nothing? I'd buy an iMac, upgrade ram and SSD from stock at OWC, an academic discount of Pro Tools 10, a Maschine, a pair of Sony MDR-7506, and a Zoom H2n.

Second…what should you get your friend? A gift certificate to Guitar Center.

Production is a really personal thing. Just the choice of DAW might be wrong, and you would have wasted money. He might not want a new computer. He might. He might be a die-hard PC or Mac guy (which you'd probably know). He might want to go all software. He might not want a computer at all (which is doable on that budget…kinda…MDR-7506, MPC-1000, used Access Virus C or Nord Lead 2 or Korg Radias or something……but it might be even harder to buy for someone else). Without talking to him, no suggestions would make any sense.

[deevey]

midi keyboard or a pad like controller like the apc

and !!!

Also I would deffo not choose a DAW for someone, VST's sure (e.g. massive).

I'd go for ...

Studio Monitors
Studio Headphones (Sony 7506 or similar).
"Must have" VST's e.g. Massive
Maschine for making beats maybe ..


BUT thats my personal preference .. I think if you are all serious about spending that kinda money would talk to him first of somehow find out what kinda stuff he has already or would like,

Its like trying to buy a DJ friend a new set of headphones, giving them HD25's when they already have HDJ2000's.

[mostapha]

That's the problem.

HD25s are just better than HDJ2ks…no comparison. And Massive is far from must-have. Wouldn't make my top 20, and if I need 20 soft synths, I'm doing something wrong.

I realize a lot of people disagree with me on both of those points. But that's my entire point. It's really hard to buy this stuff for someone else.

[moomentum]

I guess what I forgot to mention is that be is pretty intent on using Ableton... primarily due to him having a trial version on his current laptop.

I'm thinking this:

Akai MPK49 (Mainly due to the keyboard/pad combo)
Microphone (It's going to be primarily for vocals/samples I believe so I was thinking a Rhode NT2-A or SM57 or Zoom H2N) Thoughts?
Soundcard
Monitors
Headphones
Software

Yeah yeah yeah?