Studio upgrades
Yeah so the nationwide quarantine is locking us up in our house, and the cabin fever is putting me in a state of mind that constantly lusts after audio gear. I’m taking hours upon hours of looking at preamps, interfaces, VIs, even studio desks. It’s becoming a problem!
So this is an entry to gather my thoughts on what I need to upgrade vs what I want, especially with funds that can vanish in an instant if I’m not careful.
Studio design goals
Currently my studio is a humble post-production studio for film, music, and podcasts, with ability to multi-track record. I want to expand its operation to be conducive to songwriting/composition and music production, which means lots of sample libraries, reducing writing resistance, and maybe upgrading my input gear for some “hi-fi” tracking.
And ok, MAYBE game/performance streaming, but I think I want to make sure I’m a good musician first.
Recent Upgrades (Early 2020)
I FINALLY got two patch bays (1 bought, 1 DIY), so I can finally stop having to go back behind my rack to plug or reroute something, and significantly opens up options for other types of gear. Looking forward to putting all that together!
I also got a very nice boom arm which will be nice for recording demos (and my Overwatch comms are always clear.)
Finally got a subwoofer with the proper routing, so I’ll never have to “dial in” the sub ever again, plus it freed up my mixer’s send channel which I now run to my PS4 for all kinds of gaming shenanigans (and clear comms).
Finally replaced my 5-string bass, so I might even be able to start gigging (two attempts so far, mixed results).
I put an SSD in my 2014 mac and sold my 2012 mac (more on that later).
And I got an AMAZING deal on a G-dock chassis for hard drives, which permanently secures my back-ups, removes space restrictions, and makes connecting and re-connecting drives to the computer far safer, and allows for easy upgrades to SSD hard drives later on. Boy I’ve been busy lately.
Mic preamps/outboard gear
I still want to run some tests but I’d say even if I do have an intense recording project going on, I do not need new preamps. Or any outboard gear really, except for maybe a cheap outboard EQ to use for mic while gaming (although using a better mic would also solve that issue.) For one thing, my mic pres on my Saffire Pro 40 are tolerable enough for most uses, and even if I were taking on a big tracking job, I’d just rent out a studio (presuming I stay in Columbus), which is what I’d do anyway if drums were in the picture. If I happen to come into more funds, I certainly wouldn’t mind having an external pre or two for extra coloration, but that’s all my home studio would ever need. If I’m ever feeling the gearlust, I need to organize tests and shootouts for the gear I want, to know exactly what it is I’m getting.
There’s also the weird situation with my interface in that it doesn’t actually have line inputs??? Supposedly plugging in a TRS cable into a combo jack automatically feeds the Saffire’s line input, even if that’s the case, there’s no way to bypass the Saffire’s preamps. Maybe not the biggest issue, but a transparent external pre is still going to be affected by this signal flow, but maybe not a big issue for tube or transformer preamps. This makes me wonder if I should get a new interface before getting external pres. Maybe a MOTU 828 (still unsure how good their converters are compared to Focusrite’s), or perhaps an Apollo Twin or Apogee interface that gives me 2 “money” channels of clean conversion. I’ve also been resisting the urge to splurge on the SSL siX, even though I’ve recorded hybrid literally only once in my whole life. While writing this I also looking into summing, which needs really solid A/D conversion.
Regardless, these kind of upgrades are pretty distant. If I were to start getting some outboard stuff, I’d start with getting a 500 series chassis and reDIY’s Colour pre kits, which will cheapen access to 500 series modules later on, and get me some nice DIY tone color options, all for about $500. That kind of purchase should only be made once my own music starts approaching a pro level, or I’m recording some intense projects (need-based purchases). For now though, my money is better spent on other things.
Computer (sample library support)
The thing I really want to improve myself on is my writing. I want to be able to make good-sounding, professional production music and film scores. For that, you need to buy the sounds, and have the hardware (RAM) to handle them. Since I sold my older, but more powerful mac mini, I’m now working off my 2017 macbook, and the 2014 mac mini. Both of these machines have only 4 gb of ram, so while they run pretty darn smoothly, even on 50-track audio sessions, they choke up quickly trying to run even a few samplers at once. So the next big upgrade is to get a new computer.
I spent an inordinate amount of time exploring the options here, but I think I got the plan nailed down. Once I’ve saved enough (Double-cost purchase rule!!), I’m going to get myself a 2018 mac mini; a 256 gb SDD, i5 6-core processor, and 8 gb of ram. 8 gigs should be enough to run a few more samplers smoothly while I work on improving my writing skills, but I not going with more RAM because Apple charges double the price of the modules to install more RAM, which is dumb. This is the first mac mini model that has upgradable RAM, so once I find I’m hitting the limit (which will likely be sooner than I want it to be…) I’ll drop the $200 to quadruple my RAM amount ( It costs about $350 for 64, but I don’t really see a need to go full 64 gb?? Not positive). I already successfully upgraded my 2014’s hard drive to an SSD myself (which is why I was able to sell the 2012), so I’ve quite confident I can handle the job of upgrading RAM. Maybe selling the 2014 for hopefully $250-$300 will be the cue to get new RAM.
I was considering a Vienna Ensemble system to manage sample library resources, but I think simply getting a new mac for now will be more beneficial. Plus, if my projects eventually become insanely resource-intensive, I could build myself a PC to use, since Vienna is cross-platform. (and I could finally start PC gaming that way!) An ideal PC build for this purpose will only run maybe $900 max. In this system, since libraries are already loaded on the server, it will tremendously speed up processing and load times, no matter what the resource load is.
Aside from Vienna, the bigger concern is getting sounds themselves, since I will soon have a computer to run them on. And I’m still a bit lost on what to get first. Getting Komplete Ultimate will get me most of the way there, and I’ve heard NI does sales on it in June, so that’ll be worth looking into, but there’s an endless array of options. I oughta ask Kevin Penkin what he uses... Anyway, the tips I heard was to focus on getting small, detailed instruments, and I def need to find good drum sounds like Heavyocity or Damage.
A thing to remember is there’s also a lot of free and cheap stuff out there, they won’t sound great, but presumably they help me learn how to use the damn things.
Hardware-wise on the music-writing front, I should be able to get by with what I have now (a digital piano with MIDI, a small midi controller, and a faderport), but I may need a new MIDI controller if I want to streamline my workflow. Something to keep in mind as I improve.
The next steps
install patch bays (maybe get the RNDI?? still really want that, and it’s not too expensive. Putting it on the birthday list for sure.) Eye out for SM7B.
Buy computer (2018, i5, 8 gb ram), and at least one thunderbolt adapter
Install all currently owned software and data (determine external hard drive allocation)
Check if PT 12 will fecking work
Improve workflow (only if necessary)
Purchase new things on a project-need basis