Small Home Studio
Hi all,
I want to start a small home studio for producing EDM (house/hardstlye)
and i was wondering what some essential components would be
I have a MacBook Pro, M Audio Firewire 410, Pro Tools and Ableton (soon to be 8
)
im assuming ill need a decent MIDI keyboard, maybe some synths and VST’s
i dunno really lol
any advice would be much appreciated
sweet desk, big ass speakers, amp, couch and beer fridge.
Done!
+obvious comp and controllers 
haha well i got the beer covered lol
and the couch
but totally lagged on the desk haha
i was thinking getting some near field truth monitors
me and midifidler are startin to put together a studio at the mo too. hopefully i get a few ideas of things ive missed here…
just need a few more things, and for the space to become available
so far, off the top of my head we got:
2xBig Desks
2xVCI-100
1xmac lappy
1xnon-mac lappy
2xbig speakers + 1xamp
1xfirebox
1xmidi keyboard
2xbig extra monitors
then ill prolly get the novation SL25 or 49 also and hopefully midifidler get the parts for my midifighter at some stage too. arcade button awesome
chur
sounds pretty good dude
wat kind of software are u running?
ableton for production
hopefully have traktor pro set up to run both vcis at the same time when we get the 1.2 firmware
that would be pro
i am getting traktor pro soon and a Xone 4D chyea
and im thinking of getting 2 1D’s as well so 1 1D for each deck
a bit exy i know but it would be worth it lol
lol thats pretty chur. a bit exy? as in too many exes?
haha sorry must be an aussie thing lol
exy = expensive
The bare essentials are a pc and a mouse - infact you will find yourself behind the mouse most of the time.
A midi keyboard is really nice to have, for a studio work i wouldnt get anything less than a keyboard with 5 octaves.
Go slow, start out with a copy of Ableton studio and learn the plugins that it comes with going out and purchasing synths and more effects. By mastering what you have as opposed to learning everything under the sun at once you will much better off.
I wouldnt be using a traktor pro in the studio, just stick to Ableton soley.
If have a pair of half decent speakers in the house use them to start with, but as you get more experienced you are going to want to look at monitoring speakers - theres no need to go out and buy monitors right away when your just learning the ropes.
You dont need Pro Tools either, you can do everything you want inside of Ableton - a really good reason for doing everything in Ableton is that the skills that you learn producing will GREATLY improve what you can do inside of Ableton when performing live. Using protools and Ableton together is overkill and will only serve to distract you from learning as you will have to learn 2 sets of programs and 2 sets of plugins at once.
oh i wouldnt be using traktor pro in the studio
purely ableton
i have some knowledge in ableton, not that extensive but i know my way around
the only time i would use pro tools when recording (EDM) would be to record live sounds like acoustic drums maybe, or funky sounds from old keyboards etc.
fuck i need a mouse, the laptop pad thingy is shit, although im pretty spot-on with it now.
we got traktor on our lappys so its not really part of the studio i guess… but hopefully our room is big enough to throw makkin gigs in
wireless mighty mouse FTW!!!
what do u guys think of Logic?
from what ive heard its awesome… but i havent heard much
yea thats all about i have heard too lol
expensive though
but then again it is apple lol
very true bento i would recommend just using ableton live and my preference would be a novation sl 49 and thats all you need, ableton has all the synths and everything, then once you master ableton and you feel you need more sounds look for vst’s,
go slow you will save alot money that way.
thanks for the advice dudes
yeah def start with Ableton and a controller like the 25SL or the Axiom, you actually end up using the midi controls less than you might expect so a few basic things like some drum pads and a few rotaries are all the extra shit you need to get started, and then again you don’t really need them.
Hmmm big speakers?! I would be careful to chose my monitors to be honest. Big does not mean good, remember that kids. I have VERY small Monitors (Genelec 1029A) and they suite me REALLY good for the room I have, and the sound they produce all over for the music I am making is marvelous. If you want to chose Monitors then you really want to make sure you get them from someone who knows about them, rather than someone that tries to sell you the biggest most expensive ones…
As a good tip I can only say that the Genelec’s have done me good for House/Trance/Techno so far. They are a bit crappy on the bass side, but that has only trained my ear throughout the years with these speakers. I have had them 5 years now, and I have had NO PROBLEMS with them ever. It might be hard to get hold of those though, since they are no longer manufactured.
Sure a good DAW, etc etc is good, but Monitors are essential if you seriously want to produce stuff.
I have heard really good stuff from people producing electronic music about some Mackie Monitors as well. And some of my friends are really happy with KRK.
About the Ableton vs Logic thingy. I love them both, but Logic just has more to it than Ableton does. But Logic can NEVER beat Ableton at creating a dynamic LIVE set. With logic however, you can do more COMPLICATED things easier. Sure you can probably achieve the same things in Ableton, but its often with a lot of tweaking (IN MY EXPERIENCE!). However, since I have no clue how Ableton 8 will tackle some things, you might wanna wait. I have both, cause I like to have the best of everything
You could go Cubase as well, it is VERY good! On my PC I still use Cubase, and I am really happy with it. It is similar to Logic in the structure, but a bit easier to understand. Results are the same though.
Anyways, when building your studio, take your time and make sure you have as much information as possible! There is a lot of information on the interwebz, but sometimes its better to get into that music store and just ask a few questions, listen to the gear, try the keyboards and ask for a free session in Logic or Cubase… It sure helps!
Just my few cents