Need help on equipment purchases

[thatnewguy]

Hello to everybody, ive always wanted to own good enough equipment to be able to set up a home studio in my basement where i can have artists come in and record and have just recently inherited a large amount of money from a relative and before this i had very little funding for my studio and never really thought about what to buy. Now i have the money im baffled at how much equipment there is to get and im really stuck now. please please please can someone explain to me exactly what i need.

my setup atm only consists of only the very basics - PC/MAC systems, MIDI controllers and Mackie HR824 mk2 monitors.

everything else i dont own but now i have the money i want to buy all the relevant equipment needed to transform what i have into a full on home studio where i can even possibly charge qualified sound engineers to use it for recording / mastering / etc as i am only a producer

any suggestions will be much appreciated so please message back! please please please!

thanks for your time

[Spsalms]

Honestly the equipment doesn't make the producer. Take note the best music was done with the minimalistic of equipment. If you just wanna record bands then just buy dope mics a mixing desk and a good Daw. I don't know much about recording live but thats all you need in a nutshell. If you wanna produce from scratch like hip hop or electronic music. You need a dope as computer. Bare minimum dual core 2.5 ( I have 6 core at 3.3) 4-8gb of ram. Then I would highly recommend Reason 4.0-6.0 its my weapon of choice because any sound can be made with it once you learn the ins and out and granted it sorta forces you to learn synthesis. If you don't like that route get Reaper (dont have much experience but I wanna try it i like their approach) or Fl studios honestly now a days all daws do the samething some easier than others. I personally Love ableton but I don't pirate anymore so Im not ready to dish out the dough for it. Fl studio believe or not is really powerful just so many wack dudes use it it gives it a bad rep but if 9th uses it and is a legend I'm sure it can do the job. Then your gonna want some vsts there you gotta do your research for what you want if you want strings i heard Miroslav Philharmonik has the best ones. But try out the free ones remember the key to music inovation if you wanna attempt at overnight success (and fail) buy the current vsts with the current presets and get on the radio. But believe it or not even those overnight success were grinding for a minute. I forgot about a midi keyboard before you dish out money get an m audio keystation 49-88 any of the keySomethings by m audio are worth the money they get the job done. you wont even need an interface with those but i recommend getting a dope interface i like my komplete audio 6. Before you invest remember do work with the minimal equipment and see if your willing to put in the time to produce. You gotta learn to play the keys if you want to be a true musician in turn a better prouducer. Because you can have all the creative juices and not know how to lay them down on wave or midi. Thats my take on it but im just a hobbist. xD

[SvenD]

Well depending on your budget.... If you want a semi-professional environment where engineers can come in and run a session/mix you will likely need a powerful computer as stated above. Something current with strong processing power and 6-8 Gb of RAM with a decent amount of space (maybe 2 TBs of storage) and the ability to back up your data to 1-2 external drives.
You will need an audio interface to communicate between your digital and analogue signals. This will come down to what you want to record.... If you are looking to just record vocals (1 mic) or maybe simple instruments (2 mics) then you do not need a fancy audio interface with a ton of inputs/outputs. If you do want to record a band or say something like live drums you will need at least 8 analogue ins. The more ins/outs the more expensive the interface will be. Since you want engineers to be able to come in and use your studio I would go with ProTools simply because all engineers know ProTools and use the file format. I would look at these interfaces to start: Universal Audio Apollo DUO | Sweetwater.com
Avid HD OMNI | Sweetwater.com
Avid Mbox Pro | Sweetwater.com
RME Fireface UFX | Sweetwater.com
Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56 | Sweetwater.com
These are all pretty top-notch for a home studio... The HD Omni actually runs ProTools HD which gives you the same format that Hollywood/NYC studios use, it is very nice and powerful but not always necessary. The only problem is none of these have more than 4 pre-amps, meaning if you do want to record more than 4 channels at one time you will need a multi-channel preamp.
I would also get at least 2 vocal mics and a few instrument mics (just spend some time doing some research to see whats popular \ in demand).
You will need at least one more set of studio monitors...preferably ones that sound a LOT different from the current ones you have. They do not have to be expensive.
Acoustic treatment for your basement so that your listening environment is accurate.
A handful of your favorite plugins (maybe add a few after you determine what is popular among engineers).
Maybe 1-2 pieces of outboard gear (likely one will be a nice pre-amp for your vocals and the other could be a compressor (safe bet) like an EL8X (very handy compressor that I use on a lot of stuff, swiss army knife of sorts).
A decent sized MIDI controller.

This whole laundry list is rather expensive though, if you are just starting out I say just get the computer and the DAW to start, then slowly build on that. However if you already have lots of experience and just needed the money then go nuts!

[Traxx1]

Initially you don't need much....to be honest, it sounds like you have enough as it is....Until you start recording artists daily I'd stick with basics like some acoustic treatments (studio foam) and possibly build a mic booth....

$.02

Good Luck