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#51
On 1/10/2026 at 4:19 PM, jimmyjazz said:

Second lesson: egg cartons don't do shit, and don't listen to anyone who says they do.

Thought the whole point of egg cartons was to get rid of reflections, not to dampen sound.

#52
2 hours ago, sidis said:

yes? you'd like me to explain the value of sus chords? okay. a sus chord is a replacement of the third in a traditional triad chord with scale degree 2 or 4...sus2 or sus4. they are neither major, nor minor and remain as ambiguous and open as NowThis and his obsession with besthugecocks. they are used to create tension without creating unnecessarily dark harmonies and create a feeling of anticipation and delay the resolution payoff...much like tantric sex. they decide when the emotion will ultimately land on the runway while retaining forward motion. when they resolve, it is very satisfying and when they don't, they leave the listener in an emotional stasis. nothing is more effective at dictating listener expectations than some good sus.

as for bedroom production, the details of my studio are quite inconsequential…very well, where do I begin? my father was a relentlessly self-optimizing bedroom producer from belgium with mild tinnitus and a pathological obsession with signal flow. my mother was a former french prostitute who insisted that “real music” didn’t need a DAW and loudly reminded me of this during every vocal take recorded to tape on my studer. my father would upgrade interfaces, he would sell them at a loss, he would make outrageous claims like he could hear jitter. sometimes he would accuse midi of having “no soul,” the sort of general malaise that only the truly gas-afflicted possess and the sane lament. my childhood was typical: summers spent waiting for plugins to authorize, winters spent reading forum threads about converters i could never afford. in the spring we’d build bass traps out of rockwool and regret it immediately. when i clipped the master, i was forced to remix the entire track from scratch, pretty standard, really. at the age of twelve i received my first cracked copy of pro tools and learned that creativity peaks when everything is unstable. at fourteen, a man named “AnalogTruth88” and "Paul Wesley" on a forum ritualistically informed me that everything i loved was wrong and that my mixes would never translate. there really is nothing like a perfectly gain-staged signal chain, it’s breathtaking. i suggest you try it.

@Lurch , what is your plan, bud? what daw are you comfortable with? what type of computer are you planning to use? what is your primary goal? recording live? amassing an embarrassing number of plugins? are you planning to drive towards recording live drums in your room? is it for laying down tracks or more for mixing and mastering? what kind of budget are we allocating here? there's no end to this hole just so you know. but something that has been mentioned throughout this thread that cannot be emphasized enough...you can spend $10 million on the most amazing studio imaginable and if what is being recorded or created is not any good, it does not matter.

there is zero point to you allocating any budget to "soundproofing" the room if you're going to be doing live stuff - particularly drums. utterly pointless waste of money that i'm ready to spend elsewhere treating your room, getting a good interface and computer, getting a good midi controller, $50K worth of plugins, and another $50K of analog gear. i'm just kidding. but it would help to know what your specific first goals are to help decide where to spend time, effort and money. you need a good computer first and foremost. then a good interface, then some good mics, then some good monitors or headphones, then some good cable management. fill us in a little and you'll probably get some good and diverse feedback to consider.

hang this in the Louvre

#53

Adding a little flavor to some seriously good previous posts:

-- don't overlook Reaper as a DAW. It sounds great, it's super powerful, and it's free. It's also a little quirky for those raised on ProTools or Logic.

-- I like the rec of a Shure SM57, but not two of them unless you seriously plan to track in stereo (and it sounds like you aren't, given the Vdrums). I'd get one SM57 and a large diaphragm condenser. I'll have recs later.

4 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

Thought the whole point of egg cartons was to get rid of reflections, not to dampen sound.

And they don't.

#54
1 minute ago, jimmyjazz said:

And they don't.

Well, I'm glad I never bothered with them, then.

Actually, that's not true! I do have some egg-crate foam in my studio!

It's used to help secure my 300-year-old "7/8ths" cello inside a case designed for a modern full-sized cello. For THAT, it works great.

But even then, I don't use it so much now, since I recently bought a cello stand so that my cello doesn't have to be in the case. And by doing so, I spend a lot more time actually playing the cello.

Edited by Rimbo

#55

Oh I left some gear out.

Shure SM57 and Audiotechnica DB125 (basically a Shure SM58 wannabe) for mics. Tannoy SBMs for speakers, powered by a Samson 120a. That's the whole setup.

#56
53 minutes ago, sidis said:

i would definitely start with familiarizing yourself with a real daw. it is the centerpiece of being able to do what you want to do. garageband is great as an introduction and if you gave it to [insert your favorite artist], they would turn out something awesome but the reality is, it is a bit of a toy version of a daw. the two i know the best and i think fit your initial primary goals as well as long-term goals are pro tools and logic. pro tools is the standard, period full stop. every professional studio, every professional mixer, every professional of any type is going to use and know pro tools for recording and mixing. but i love logic and i think it is the most conducive to composing music because it does such a better job of integrating writing tools and samples/midi instruments than pro tools. and recording in logic is really good once you get the hang of it. you won't go wrong with either of those imo and learning how to use them is an essential first step. cubase is great for composition as well but it's a bit more niche. unless you are doing edm as your primary genre, i wouldn't really recommend ableton personally. but everyone's mileage varies and there are a million people that would disagree with me. but as someone who has been down the rabbit hole on them, if you are going to record everything with a mic or DI, then pro tools is a no brainer. if you are going to use a lot of midi/software instruments, then logic is a no brainer. logic is also one of the only remaining perpetual licenses in daws. everything is moving to annual subscriptions. other people love FL, studio one, and there are others but the horsepower behind pro tools, logic, and cubase make them the standards for most pros.

so you will need a daw. logic is like 200 or 300. the pro tools artist sub is like $150 a year or something.

you will need some external hard drives. just warning you now. recordings, plugins, software instruments, etc..., they take up a lot of hard drive space so just prepare yourself for that. the computer has the horsepower to get you going. budget some cash for that.

for basic playing and recording, the computer is the first key. next key is an audio interface/converters. sounds like you have a scarlet and that will get the job done for sure. i love them because they make it possible for everyone to do this at an affordable price and they are simple plug and play. the next step up you will take will likely be to a UA apollo. i have a neumann mt48 and i love it but it is overkill for getting the basic infrastructure in place and it is going to blow your whole first year budget...however, what is really nice about it and the apollo is that they has really good preamps built into it so you don't have to spend a bunch of money on an outboard pre amp. if you are going to be recording using mics, then you will need a preamp to boost the mic signal to a line signal. you can do some of that with the scarlet but the quality will be lacking. familiarize yourself with gain staging and also familiarize yourself with best practices with connecting and disconnecting mics, especially when to turn on and turn off 48V power to the mics after connecting and prior to disconnecting.

so i would get a scarlet 2i2 or 4i4. there's $200 down. you need xlr and trs cables to reach around the room so there's another $100-200.

next you need mics. since we are talking about basic infrastructure here and just getting things down from guitars, bass, drums, and vocals, just like the scarlet...there is a mic company called shure that is here to make your dreams come true. the sm57 and sm58 mics. affordable, durable, predictable, and damned if they aren't a part of every professional mic locker on earth. they are dynamic mics but for our basic infrastructure here, they are $100 each and they can cover so much ground for you. probably makes sense to get 1 sm58 and 2 sm57s (for stereo sound capture). there's $300.

next you need headphones for tracking and listening back and mixing as you go. there are people that will murder each other over this debate and there's nothing i can do to save you from that...but this is an area where i would probably invest some money to go above the introductory stuff. beyerdynamics is probably the most affordable. for tracking, you want closed back headphones and for mixing, you want open back. the DT770s and DT990s are good. i use audeze LCD for tracking and closed back and i used neumann ndh30s for open back but they will blow your budget again. i think beyerdynamic would be a great compromise and they are fucking fantastic cans that many pros use. they will not be the reason your music sucks. they are $150-300ish.

on monitors, i'm the wrong person to ask because i will have you selling crack to kids to pay for some top of the line shit to stuff in a tiny bedroom and that is not the right path at all. there's lots of good options out there. adam, focal, yamaha...lots of great options that suffice completely for bedroom production. but this will be a big expense. also, if you're getting decent monitors, get some decent monitor stands with iso pads or put iso pads on your desk. this is going to be a big budget suck unfortunately.

midi controller, you need to decide what kind of keys you need...synth action or piano bed hammer action. that drives a lot of what you will end up getting but unless you are creating legit piano performances through midi, you don't need 88 keys. 49 and 61 are totally sufficient for midi composition. i have the native instruments komplete kontrol S61 and enjoy it. i also have a roland a-88 and love it. this is a pretty personal thing on preferences.

third party plugins that you need regardless of whether or not you go with pro tools, logic, or whatever... FabFilter Pro-Q4, no negotiating, no arguing, you must have this. A good reverb plugin, Valhalla makes a lot of really great ones for $50 each and they are fucking amazing. on getting things a bit more pro sounding on the back end, check out izotope's products. they can really help you get more polish.

some other knick knacks to help, bass traps for the corners of the room will probably help.

with all that, you will be in business and ready to start getting stuff down. these are just my opinions formed from spending way too much time making every possible mistake going down the path you're headed. the thing you will find out about the music production world is that every asshole has a lot of strong opinions about what is wrong and what is right (gearspace, vi control, etc... will make you hate humanity at times) and you have to figure out what works for you...but i think i've touched on most of the starting points. if you want to flesh any of this out in more detail, just say it and we can go farther down in the weeds on something specific.

This is a fantastic post and you won’t regret just following it, @Lurch. I will say, you have a lot to learn. Meaning, every one of these things has a learning curve associated with it. So I would recommend starting small, leverage things that you have and already know that will suffice for now (like your PA for monitors to start), and throttle the number of deep wells you have to explore before actually getting to making music.

Which, imo, is the most important thing for you to do. Just start making your music. Not 3 months from now after accruing and deep diving on a lot of things. I mean next week with an interface, your PA, a DAW and stock plugins. You’ll encounter obstacles and feel pain in the process. Bring them here for ideas on how to mitigate them through various means. Let the problems you encounter making your personal music be your guide as to what more you need.

Edited by Goredho

#57
7 hours ago, sidis said:

the thing you will find out about the music production world is that every asshole has a lot of strong opinions about what is wrong and what is right (gearspace, vi control, etc... will make you hate humanity at times)

joe-pesci.gif

#58

So, question for you guys who record your own music… what happens with it when you release it? Does it make money?

I’m not trying to denigrate any of this in the least. Just an honest question.

#59
3 minutes ago, tbone_ said:

So, question for you guys who record your own music… what happens with it when you release it? Does it make money?

I’m not trying to denigrate any of this in the least. Just an honest question.

No. You have to love the process. If you are looking for monetary rewards, this is a waste of time.

#60
2 minutes ago, Goredho said:

No. You have to love the process. If you are looking for monetary rewards, this is a waste of time.

Ah. I figured. About like most worthwhile things in life.

#61
Just now, tbone_ said:

Ah. I figured. About like most worthwhile things in life.

If you are regularly gigging, develop a loyal following and release to Bandcamp or other platforms that actually pay artists, you might make a few bucks depending on how well you can convert followers to paying consumers. Phil Keagy does this and it’s at least worth his time.

#62
50 minutes ago, Goredho said:

If you are regularly gigging, develop a loyal following and release to Bandcamp or other platforms that actually pay artists, you might make a few bucks depending on how well you can convert followers to paying consumers.

Yes, this. It's also fairly genre dependent. Some pop, hip hop and EDM type stuff you tend to be more geared to streaming and Tik Tok etc, while punk, rock and metal favor live gigging with Bandcamp. Then there is a bunch of esoteric shit which essentially has no market at all.

With original rock bands, which is pretty much all of my experience, it's honestly not so different than it has ever been. Play gigs, at which you sell records of various media and promote. The biggest difference is probably driving traffic to Bandcamp. Physical media is definitely making a comeback with the kids though. Tapes, CD's and vinyl sell. Getting people on your email list is critical, those are the engaged fans. Social media followers are almost worthless.

My general goal is recouping all the recording costs and getting free beer.

#63
16 minutes ago, G650 said:

Then there is a bunch of esoteric shit which essentially has no market at all.

You just described my niche! 😜

#64

One thing I would add to earlier mic talk, you can never have too many SM57s.

#65
14 hours ago, Lurch said:

I've been toying around with how I'll fit everything in. This will be fun to set up

image.png

don't particularly love this set up if you are putting your monitors where I think you will. you have a wall right behind your listening position which is going to give you bad build up and reflection. i would rotate your sitting position to be facing the bottom wall perpendicularly. with furniture and drums and stuff behind you, there will be better diffusion than what you have set up now. jmo. you will need bass traps for those two bottom corners either way.

#66
36 minutes ago, G650 said:

One thing I would add to earlier mic talk, you can never have too many SM57s.

i agree but jimmy's not wrong that if not doing stereo recording, it might be $100 better spent otherwise.

but you and i both know what is coming in the next year...and are anticipating a need to for a couple of overheads for the inevitable. ;)

Edited by sidis

  • Author
#67
20 minutes ago, sidis said:

don't particularly love this set up if you are putting your monitors where I think you will. you have a wall right behind your listening position which is going to give you bad build up and reflection. i would rotate your sitting position to be facing the bottom wall perpendicularly. with furniture and drums and stuff behind you, there will be better diffusion than what you have set up now. jmo. you will need bass traps for those two bottom corners either way.

When working for my company I’ll be facing the wall with the TV on it. When doing my music I’ll be facing the bottom wall with the window as you suggest. Presumably one monitor in that lower left gap and the other on the other side of the window, my back to the drums

#68
23 minutes ago, sidis said:

but you and i both know what is coming in the next year...and are anticipating a need to for a couple of overheads for the inevitable. ;)

christoph waltz television GIF by Saturday Night Live

#69

One thing you have to deal with @Lurch is you have all perpendicular walls, which is kind of a bitch for reflections, especially in a small room where modes will be tricky.

It actually occurred to me to mention you probably want to do some room measurements down the line. I definitely would get setup and making tunes first, but you can get a test mic and REW software to measure the acoustic response and go from there.

#70
5 minutes ago, Lurch said:

When working for my company I’ll be facing the wall with the TV on it. When doing my music I’ll be facing the bottom wall with the window as you suggest. Presumably one monitor in that lower left gap and the other on the other side of the window, my back to the drums

i see. I thought you were going to center everything around the corner of your desk, i see that you are bifurcating it differently. just make sure you are giving yourself at least a little air between the back of any monitors and the wall.

  • Author
#71
4 minutes ago, sidis said:

i see. I thought you were going to center everything around the corner of your desk, i see that you are bifurcating it differently. just make sure you are giving yourself at least a little air between the back of any monitors and the wall.

Cool. What’s “a little” in this context? I’d guess I can probably give each 12” of space

#72
1 minute ago, Lurch said:

Cool. What’s “a little” in this context? I’d guess I can probably give each 12” of space

you're good.

#73

Lots of monitors have switchable low frequency curves. Mine do. I just dialed them in by ear playing known CDs.

Oh yeah, pro tip: there's no shame in listening to your mixes in your car. Just make sure your phone doesn't also have a playback EQ engaged. (Ahem . . . several months of frustration leads to learned lessons.)

#74
5 hours ago, tbone_ said:

So, question for you guys who record your own music… what happens with it when you release it? Does it make money?

I’m not trying to denigrate any of this in the least. Just an honest question.

It's neither my career nor my only hobby.

If you want to make money from music you've written, as with all enterprises, it's all about market positioning; either finding where the market is and meeting them there (lots of competition), building up your own market (cheap and time consuming, OR insanely expensive and quick), or what have you.

I don't have the time or the money to bother with either of those. I'm writing things that I want to hear that haven't been written by anybody else yet. My audience is me.

#75
17 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Lots of monitors have switchable low frequency curves. Mine do. I just dialed them in by ear playing known CDs.

Oh yeah, pro tip: there's no shame in listening to your mixes in your car. Just make sure your phone doesn't also have a playback EQ engaged. (Ahem . . . several months of frustration leads to learned lessons.)

I now use my phone's built in speakers as the "final mix test." Gotta sound right on the shittiest speakers to pass.

  • Author
#76

Priority

Type

Product

Price Range

High

Audio Interface

Scarlett 4i4

$300

High

Keyboard

Roland FP-10

$500

High

Keyboard Stand

Liquid Stand

$80

High

Midi Cable (Keyboard 20')

D'Adarrio

$31

High

Mic (voice)

SM58s

$120

High

Mic Stand

InnoGear Desktop Stand

$20

High

Mic cable (voice)

Cable Matters 3' XLR

$17

High

Midi Cable (Drum 20')

D'Adarrio

$31

Medium

DAW

Logic Pro

$200

Low

Headphones (drums)

OneOdio A71 (wired)

$30

Low

Headphones (open)

DT 990

$209

Low

Headphones (closed)

DT 770

$209

Low

Mic (guitar)

SM57

$109

Low

Studio Monitors

Adam Audio T5V

$420

Low

Monitor Stands

Perlesmith 45"

$40

#77
4 minutes ago, Lurch said:

Priority

Type

Product

Price Range

High

Audio Interface

Scarlett 4i4

$300

High

Keyboard

Roland FP-10

$500

High

Keyboard Stand

Liquid Stand

$80

High

Midi Cable (Keyboard 20')

D'Adarrio

$31

High

Mic (voice)

SM58s

$120

High

Mic Stand

InnoGear Desktop Stand

$20

High

Mic cable (voice)

Cable Matters 3' XLR

$17

High

Midi Cable (Drum 20')

D'Adarrio

$31

Medium

DAW

Logic Pro

$200

Low

Headphones (drums)

OneOdio A71 (wired)

$30

Low

Headphones (open)

DT 990

$209

Low

Headphones (closed)

DT 770

$209

Low

Mic (guitar)

SM57

$109

Low

Studio Monitors

Adam Audio T5V

$420

Low

Monitor Stands

Perlesmith 45"

$40

I would put DAW as high priority.

  • Author
#78
4 minutes ago, G650 said:

I would put DAW as high priority.

My thinking was to just validate connections, etc. with GarageBand, but I see now that there's a free 90 day trial for Logic Pro so really no reason not to just start with it to your point

  • Author
#79

I'm currently at 134GB of 500GB available on my macbook. What size External HD would you go with?

#80
27 minutes ago, Lurch said:

I'm currently at 134GB of 500GB available on my macbook. What size External HD would you go with?

I used 2TB Seagates personally

#81

I wouldn't put an SM58 at the top of my list for a vocal mic. Use the SM57 until such time as you can buy a large diaphragm condenser. The design of the SM58 is intentional, meaning it is purpose-built to reject sound from the sides and especially the back (stage monitors). This helps reduce feedback in a live setting. In a studio? Not really that important.

I recently bought this mic and I'm very happy with it on my voice along with acoustic guitar, etc. I find it better than the Audio-Technica AT4040 it replaced, and the price points are basically identical (~ $330). It's much more open sounding than a Shure dynamic mic.

Aston Spirit

  • Author
#83
24 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I wouldn't put an SM58 at the top of my list for a vocal mic. Use the SM57 until such time as you can buy a large diaphragm condenser. The design of the SM58 is intentional, meaning it is purpose-built to reject sound from the sides and especially the back (stage monitors). This helps reduce feedback in a live setting. In a studio? Not really that important.

I recently bought this mic and I'm very happy with it on my voice along with acoustic guitar, etc. I find it better than the Audio-Technica AT4040 it replaced, and the price points are basically identical (~ $330). It's much more open sounding than a Shure dynamic mic.

Aston Spirit

This $200 bundle looks nice

#85

I don’t have much to add to this recording convo because I’ve only done it once.

But my one takeaway was man is it different than playing live. You have to be dead nails on what you play with zero tolerance. And somehow, while concentrating on that, you gotta bring energy or it will sound dead. I suppose the real pros are seasoned at this but I found it to be quite a challenge. And I consider us to be pretty damn tight live.

Cool thread to follow though.

#86

Let me interject a curious thing I found to be true when I was recording all kinds of Austin bands: the younger and less experienced the band, the better the results if they tracked the whole band live. It's counter-intuitive, but way more often than not there was some kind of vibe that made it to tape that was totally lost when they did the "classic" drums + bass then guitars then vocals then other overdubs. An inexperienced band just can't pull that off. My work with Spoon or Alejandro? Sure, but even those guys treasured a live in the studio approach. I know for a fact that Wilco often does the same.

Isolated tracks that are sterilized with grid-quantizing and auto-tuning leads to vanilla pudding. Just play. Maybe try to fix a wart or two afterwards.

#88
9 hours ago, tbone_ said:

I don’t have much to add to this recording convo because I’ve only done it once.

But my one takeaway was man is it different than playing live. You have to be dead nails on what you play with zero tolerance. And somehow, while concentrating on that, you gotta bring energy or it will sound dead. I suppose the real pros are seasoned at this but I found it to be quite a challenge. And I consider us to be pretty damn tight live.

Cool thread to follow though.

Studios can be very very sterile environments. A lot has gone in to making them more homey, unfortunately coinciding with the decline of the industry. But definitely an upside of the home recorder is comfort and less of that tech lab atmosphere.

But yeah, session guys are really good at what they do. Every pick stroke is magnified and the slightest timing variation stands out. Microphones are unrelentingly honest. Tom Bukovac has talked a lot about it, pretty interesting to hear what he has to say.

Mark Knopfler considers himself just good enough to record as a benchmark for how consistent session dudes are.

8 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Let me interject a curious thing I found to be true when I was recording all kinds of Austin bands: the younger and less experienced the band, the better the results if they tracked the whole band live. It's counter-intuitive, but way more often than not there was some kind of vibe that made it to tape that was totally lost when they did the "classic" drums + bass then guitars then vocals then other overdubs. An inexperienced band just can't pull that off. My work with Spoon or Alejandro? Sure, but even those guys treasured a live in the studio approach. I know for a fact that Wilco often does the same.

Isolated tracks that are sterilized with grid-quantizing and auto-tuning leads to vanilla pudding. Just play. Maybe try to fix a wart or two afterwards.

I 100% believe this. It takes years of practice at building a song track by track and having feel.

It's funny you bring it up though, I was just having a conversation with my drummer the other week about an EP we cut in 2000. Last time I tracked to tape in fact. But anyway, we were totally broke 20 somethings, so we couldn't afford anything but a half day session for the whole band, which was pretty much going in, setup, play the songs straight through and leave lol. So everything on there was first take live except the vocals. I was listening to a few songs from it recently, and I was fairly shocked that there were no real mistakes I could discern, and I text my drummer "hey, did we really just play all that shit in one take?" because I was pretty sure we did but memory is getting fuzzy and all that, but I was a little disbelieving that we could just rock up and play all the songs that well. Certainly couldn't now. But then again, being a 20 something with no real responsibility and the time to play music all the time is a big difference.

I still regret the mixing job they did on that EP. It was the dawn of really having Pro Tools out there, and the studio had a modest setup where one of the partners was the mixer. And he was frankly awful. Butchered the mix. I'd give anything to have those multitracks today to get to a real mixer.

#89

Anyone here work with Ableton Live much/any? I'm about to go down that rabbit hole when I get my music making space put back together.

#90
9 minutes ago, Goredho said:

Anyone here work with Ableton Live much/any? I'm about to go down that rabbit hole when I get my music making space put back together.

A bit, was using it for live performance

#91
8 minutes ago, G650 said:

A bit, was using it for live performance

It will be that for me. Any resources/entry points for getting up to speed with it? Or just RTFM?

#92
20 minutes ago, Goredho said:

It will be that for me. Any resources/entry points for getting up to speed with it? Or just RTFM?

Yeah, as I age, ye olde manual has become a lot more appealing than when I was 20 and refused to read it on principle.

Let me think though, I did have some good stuff on it a few years back. Its not too hard if you already know any other DAW, its mostly different shortcuts and the GUI is a bit unique, more geared to MIDI.

#93
On 1/10/2026 at 1:49 PM, G650 said:

Awesome stuff man. Right off the bat, the important part is you are creating something, anything. There's a core group of guys here doing the same, at a whole range of levels. And some real talent.

I see what you did here.

#94
6 hours ago, G650 said:
6 hours ago, G650 said:

It's funny you bring it up though, I was just having a conversation with my drummer the other week about an EP we cut in 2000. Last time I tracked to tape in fact. But anyway, we were totally broke 20 somethings, so we couldn't afford anything but a half day session for the whole band, which was pretty much going in, setup, play the songs straight through and leave lol.

Yeah, I got hired for a bunch of those sessions. "We'll try to track 8 songs by 1 PM and then you can mix them for the other half day." lulz. As I recall, at least one got a little local notoriety.

#95
On 1/12/2026 at 2:48 PM, Lurch said:

Priority

Type

Product

Price Range

High

Audio Interface

Scarlett 4i4

$300

High

Keyboard

Roland FP-10

$500

High

Keyboard Stand

Liquid Stand

$80

High

Midi Cable (Keyboard 20')

D'Adarrio

$31

High

Mic (voice)

SM58s

$120

High

Mic Stand

InnoGear Desktop Stand

$20

High

Mic cable (voice)

Cable Matters 3' XLR

$17

High

Midi Cable (Drum 20')

D'Adarrio

$31

Medium

DAW

Logic Pro

$200

Low

Headphones (drums)

OneOdio A71 (wired)

$30

Low

Headphones (open)

DT 990

$209

Low

Headphones (closed)

DT 770

$209

Low

Mic (guitar)

SM57

$109

Low

Studio Monitors

Adam Audio T5V

$420

Low

Monitor Stands

Perlesmith 45"

$40

A couple of notes.

MIDI cables - ANY 5-pin DIN will do. These are low-bandwidth digital data only (1980s technology), so "audio shielding" is a ridiculous waste of money for suckers. You can get, say, a Monoprice 25-foot for less than a third of that cost. https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=8536 And... You may be able to find something even cheaper. If so, do it. I'm using some cables that were basically meant for IBM PC keyboard connectors; cheap as dirt and still working flawlessly 35 years later. Anyway anything more than that is just pissing away money for no reason.

Headphones are a much more personal choice. I swear by Sony headphones. The MDR-7506 are to studio headphones what the Shure SM57 is to instrument mics. And they're half the cost of what you chose. One of the few things Sony audio still rocks at after all these decades.

#96
5 hours ago, G650 said:

Yeah, as I age, ye olde manual has become a lot more appealing than when I was 20 and refused to read it on principle.

Let me think though, I did have some good stuff on it a few years back. Its not too hard if you already know any other DAW, its mostly different shortcuts and the GUI is a bit unique, more geared to MIDI.

This, more than any one thing, is what keeps me from Gear Acquisition Syndrome. I'd always rather learn a few things really well than have a bunch of things I've never bothered reading how they work.

  • Author
#97
1 minute ago, Rimbo said:

A couple of notes.

MIDI cables - ANY 5-pin DIN will do. These are low-bandwidth digital data only (1980s technology), so "audio shielding" is a ridiculous waste of money for suckers. You can get, say, a Monoprice 25-foot for less than a third of that cost. https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=8536 And... You may be able to find something even cheaper. If so, do it. I'm using some cables that were basically meant for IBM PC keyboard connectors; cheap as dirt and still working flawlessly 35 years later. Anyway anything more than that is just pissing away money for no reason.

Headphones are a much more personal choice. I swear by Sony headphones. The MDR-7506 are to studio headphones what the Shure SM57 is to instrument mics. And they're half the cost of what you chose. One of the few things Sony audio still rocks at after all these decades.

Thanks, I recall the monster hdmi cables being bullshit, too, but wasn’t sure about MIDI. The drum run is probably 20’ so I wanted to make sure they were quality enough to push that

#98
6 minutes ago, Rimbo said:

MDR-7506

These are what I use for tracking, pretty much the most used headphone ever. They are way too hyped in the bass for mixing though, I use Sennheiser HD600s for that

#99
9 minutes ago, Lurch said:

Thanks, I recall the monster hdmi cables being bullshit, too, but wasn’t sure about MIDI. The drum run is probably 20’ so I wanted to make sure they were quality enough to push that

With HDMI, there are at least different standards, and you need your cable to match the standard you need; and, the bandwidth is much, MUCH higher. MANY orders of magnitude.

MIDI is a 1980s-era serial interface. 31250 bits per second. Phone modem speeds! Whereas HDMI 2.2 is 96 billion bits per second...

#100
3 hours ago, Lurch said:

Thanks, I recall the monster hdmi cables being bullshit, too, but wasn’t sure about MIDI. The drum run is probably 20’ so I wanted to make sure they were quality enough to push that

I always thought everything Monster was bullshit, except their guitar cables. I still have a couple of those that are at least 20 years old and still going strong.

Hell I might even still have a Whirlwind cable laying around if I dig hard enough.

Edited by tbone_

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