I just visited a friend's "home studio". Mind you, he's working in the major leagues w/ some fairly big names out there, so he can justify the expenses.  

I had seen the room he wanted to use after we all moved to Vegas last fall but this was our first visit since he started working on the studio.

A huge argosy desk, a giant screen up on the wall for scoring, 2 big displays, a pair of NS-10 used as "sh!tboxes", a pair of big Adams, a couple of Dynaudio, Apogee converters, a little Command 8 control surface and on and on...

I'd seen his setup in NY last summer, where he lived in a suite exactly like ours in the same building and I was already impressed. I knew he had gear back home, but, man...

I got back to my little home set up and brand new monitor seemed small. In fact, my whole set up looks almost like a little something that he could put in a corner of his studio, for guests... lol

But then again, there's something about using as little gear as I can... You know, just my laptop, Logic, a midi controller and a pair of monitors. 

Anyway, I think what struck me the most was the sound quality. Actually, I dare say it was better than quite a few commercial studios I've been in. The room, the treatment and the Adams all working together delivered something that was just out of this world... Pure. More than any gear, that's what I envied, what I wanted to work on getting closer to...

The good news is that he has plenty of leftovers for room treatment which he offered to give me for my own studio - which will accelerate things on my end quite a bit. I had budgeted the bass traps, but was expecting a downtime after that. Now I may be able to add a couple of traps on top of what I planned PLUS deflection.

The other good news is that my wife asked what I needed next and I'm getting the new audio interface next week. :))

I've pretty much settled for a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 - I never record more than one track at a time so 2 ins are fine and I wanted an extra pair of outputs for secondary monitors. I also get midi connectivity - should I need it... As an extra bonus, it seems it comes w/ Novation Bass Station Soft Synth. :P

For a while, I was seriously considering TC Desktop Konnect, but w/ FireWire being a thing of the past on my platform, most of the other options either exceed my needs by far in terms of I/O or are just silly expensive for what I do.

And now I can't wait to say goodbye to my old M-Audio Fast Track and it's RCA outputs. Down to the training room, where it'll finish it's life serving a noble cause.

I do realize there's something ridicule in the contrast between me starting a post being totally depressed because I've been exposed to huge expensive gear and leaving on a happy note because I'm getting a $200 audio interface (as an upgrade!!).

It actually worries me quite a bit that I might be becoming optimistic, something I can't live to see. It could push me over the edge.

A well tuned room (acoustic treatment) and good monitors positioned right makes all the difference. And it's good to have more than one set of monitors. 

If you want your studio to look bigger? Get a bigger desk  

Actually, I found a good size (solid, sturdy) desk, 5ft wide x 2.5ft depth and perfect sitting height of 2.5 for about $120.  The height is very nice and prevents strain (arms and wrists.)  The desk easily fits a 'slim' 88,note keyboard (full-size keys) controller with enough room to spare for monitors, racks, i/o interface, qwerty and mouse. 

I have a LCD monitor sitting behind the keyboard. The monitor is raised up a little (4 to 5 inches) so I'm looking straight ahead and not up and not obstructed by the keyboard. 

My computer tower is so incredible quite, it sits on a slide-out tray on top of a cabinet next to the desk, nice and close to me so I can see if the lights are on?... that's it actually ON? LOL!! 

Overall, a very comfortable setup, easy to reach things without the butt leaving the chair.  Leaving just enough space in the room for video and photography work. 

.

Is his name CJ?

craigb


Is his name CJ?

Now that's funny!  ^ ^ ^     


I'm lucky to have a wife also who supports my hobby but I've never heard her say," What piece of gear do you want next".  
  
It's funny when people come into my home studio how many people flip out over the desk.  A very important part of the studio is to have a comfortable work area IMHO.  Just be careful I have fallen into the trap of buying things to make the studio look cool rather then buying what I really need.  The studio can become a drug. 
 
Sounds like you've got your act together knowing what you need.  Looking forward to seeing more pics of your studio progress.




Later
Kev

 I guess there will always be a better setup somewhere. This guy probably visits his buds and envies their gear lol.

 I think with a treated space and that Scarlett you are well on the way. Mixing/engineering skill trumps gear any day although you need fairly decent gear to show the mixing skills.

 I had a desk built for me a few years back. A guy I knew who had a wood shop built it for me. I would say it was one of the most important things I have ever done for my studio. The only real problem I have now is lack of space. I have just enough room for me. Get someone else in there and it can get cramped. I use ARC so I don't use sound treatments...yet.

 Here is an older pic of my setup. It's a lot more cluttered with "stuff" now. I now have a rack setup on the right of where I sit at arms length with a mixer/gear so I can adjust things without getting up.



 When it comes right down to it a mix that blows you away in a nice upscale studio won't sound as good on the kinds of systems that will play the mix and I would venture to guess that your mixes will sound just as good across other systems. A modest setup with a good engineer well done can make killer mixes.

 

That's a nice workspace you have there, Starise. Looks warm and intimate, which is great for creativity imho - it helps focus.

I think it's simply a matter of establishing a logical progression. At this point, it wouldn't really make a difference which converters I use - I mean I couldn't really take advantage of that. That's the kind of thing you can start agonizing over once you have everything else settled - great room, great monitors, great mics, preamps and all... Considering that the vast majority of what I do is ITB, using soft synths and soft samplers, a lot of the nice looking gear is simply unnecessary to me. I mean, I'd LOVE to need that stuff, but I don't. lol

My DAW is in my lap. My studio is scattered between the dining room and an upstairs room. One daughter has the attic space I need crammed full of her stuff. I know, I know... excuses, not reasons but it is what it is. At least I have a room, but I have to box up a lot of books, find a place for some rather large combo amps (2x15, I have two of them, old 60s Jordan stage amps).

It does get frustrating but Rain, you are as far ahead of me as he is ahead of you so... it figures that there is someone as far ahead of him as he is ahead of you.

I have a friend in Brentwood, TN (Mike Gay, we were HS classmates) who has a home studio in his basement. It is called Beech Creek Studios. You can see some of the people who record there on his FB page. He really is a great guy.
http://www.nashvillemusicpros.com/profile/BeechCreekStudios 
https://www.facebook.com/beechcreekstudios

It is all relative,

J

What a studio! And that's where Tommy Emmanuel records?! How cool! You know, I may be envious for a second but when I consider that I quit a job that I hated 2 years ago and hadn't had to work since, that I've traveled everywhere and that my wife not only pays for everything but actually wanted to make sure that I had a dedicated room in the house, w/ adequate equipment and that we would invest on room treatment... Man, I've never put that much attention to my home studio or had as much consideration for "my art" as she does. I made due w/ whatever I had, which was usually the cheapest option. I never considered "my art" was worth any serious investment...