Suggestions for an affordable setup

[Jaimie]

Hi friends,

I have been fortunate that both my band and new project I am in have a producer to take the weight off my shoulders but for what I'm doing this year I need to be able to produce myself from home.

I'm doing a ton of demos for Laney Amplification, Providence Pedals, Neko Guitars and a few other cool names (an official demo guy). This is YouTube playthroughs and I got the ability to film that with two amazing cameras but now I need to produce the audio.

I record using a Laney IRT Studio into a learners copy of Pro Tools 8, I also have superior drummer I just need much more experience to actually get a good sound. I don't have a bass to record and all the free bass plugins are vst not rtas for pro tools. Further more I don't have monitors but literally 1996 (year I was born) computer speakers hence I've never really had incentive to produce, just write riffs for the bands and get them to produce.

Regardless of actually "learning" production which of course is a never ending skill, does anyone know great and cheap places / gear covering the things I need?

- Monitors. A cheap small pair suited for a bedroom IE KRK 5
- A cheap method of obtaining pro tools 9 or higher? 8 requires I use PTs own interface because I think iLok didn't exist then.
- A cheap 5 string bass or bass RTAS?
- Any other great deals?

Too long didn't read? I'm now a demo guy and I want to produce myself, not pay others to do it as I'm establishing my "brand". Need decent entry level gear!

A lot of work to do, a small amount of money and time. Any help appreciated! Message me or comment here

J

 

[KarlMagnusRobin]

Windows or Mac?

- I have the KRK RoKit 5's, great monitors!
- Reaper is free (?) but other than that I don't think you can get any DAW cheap..
- Harley Benton 5 string from Thomann or NI Kontrol w/ Zombass (personally I'd get a real bass)
- EZMix 2 with some of their preset-bundles

And check out Ola Englund's channel on the tube if you haven't already!

Use your ears and don't do to complicated things, if you're demoing stuff, people want to hear the products without to much post-processing!

It takes time to get good results, nothing will sound amazing right from the bat, but you'll get there step by step..

 

[7stg]

all the free bass plugins are vst not rtas for pro tools.

A good reason not to use pro tools. Reaper is good and inexpensive there is also live or cubase but at a higher price.


Monitors
I always recommend 6.5-7 inch monitors then add a sub later. They will work well in a small room. They have a bit more extension which is good on their own and that extra extension pairs up better with a sub crossover in the future. the Adam F7 and Yamaha HS7 are nice and M-Audio BX6 Carbon and Mackie MR6mk3 are less expensive options. When you want some bass traps, look up DIY bass traps with Owens Corning 703 4" pannels.

Basses
What does inexpensive mean to you?
These are good inexpensive basses that are good quality. These are the 6 string versions, which will offer greater versatility over 5 strings, but if you really want 5 strings, versions of the same are available as well.
ESP B-206
Schecter's Stiletto Custom 6

 

[Drew]

What's your budget? Unless there's any particular reason to NEED ProTools, I'd probably steer clear - there are many good options for less out there, Reaper being one of the best.

Reading between the lines, do you not currently have an interface? If so, that's your first priority. Whatever interface you buy will probably come bundled with some DAW - give that one a shot, but also try Reaper, as it's excellent, super flexible, and a free download to try it out (and cheap if you do like it).

As far as monitors go, you can spend a LOT of money quickly, however pretty much anything out there will be a big upgrade over what you're using now. What are your objectives here? Are you looking to do professional audio work, and produce absolutely killer recordings and mixes in your home studio? Or are you just after good-sounding audio tracks for your playthrough videos, but since this is just you rocking out in your hoime studio and someone else is tracking your band project, you're not going to beat yourself up over whether or not the mix is quite as awesome as the album you were just listening to, because it's a good representation of your tone and your performance? IF the former, expect to spend a LOT of money. You'll need an iinterface with really clean preamps and exceptional digital/analog conversion, really accurate 8" driver monitors, most likely a significant investment into room treatment to ensure you have a good listening environment, and a LOT of time experimenting (like, years) to get to the point where you can really head the difference between a cut at 52hz and 56hz on your kick drum. If you just want to make some pretty cool sounding playthrough videos and you're not aiming to be the next Andy Sneap, though, the KRK5s are totally fine for your purposes - the low end won't be super accurate, but that won't be critical for what you're doing with them and they're a LOT cheaper than a truly "accurate" system would be.

Also, you're 19. Stop worrying about your "brand" and spend more time studying, drinking beer, and trying to sleep with that cute girl in your biostatistics class like normal teenagers. Trust me on this, man - you've got the rest of your life where you HAVE to worry about this ...., your teenage years should be fun.

 

[thraxil]

Buy a real bass. A decent used Squier or Ibanez bass for £100 will sound better than plugins costing more than that (plus basses are fun to play).

KRKs are fine for your purposes. I'd also strongly suggest picking up a pair of ATH-M50's or similar level headphones. If you can get it sounding good on both, you're ahead of the game.