Cyclonic Studio, part 2 (pic heavy)
With all the talk about what we do with our GNX4 and how we do it,i thought i wouldshow an in depth breakdown of my \"functioning\" home studio.
\"A little background\".....I am a 40 year old dude from New York that in 1975 decided to learn how to play drums in school.Which led to private lessons,which led to learning all phases of percussion at collegiate level by my freshman year of high school and scholastically was ranked #1 in NY state at age 16.At the same time i was in several hard rock/heavy metal semi-pro bands.I wrote lyrics as well and when they would slaughter the way i felt the lyrics needed to go well......I took up guitar to get my point accross.Guitar led to learning bass,which led to keyboards and other instruments.After graduation,i moved to Nashville Tn and into the \"real world\" where living in an affordable apartment meant....no more drums.At 21 i assisted my sister, and others, in their learning at MTSU which included 24 track analog,36 track automated digital and MIDI recording studios.The thought of having my own studio one day got burned into my mind.15 years later with a career as a custom car builder under my belt.I decided to cash in a few cars i had collected and build my studio.I wanted everything to be top notch computer based for 2004.I got it running and updated and then disconnected it from the internet backed up in several hard drives.Still to this day....i can't believe i actually did it!With alot of internet googling and tons of publications from the US and UK,i made sure that each purchase was a good one.Luckilly Nashville has a ton of used gear floating around and i took full advantage of pawnshops as well.I also took advantage of trading in some of the equipment that i collected over the years too.
I purchased a Compaq X07 gaming computer for $2400 from best buy because it cost less than the parts that were in it and it was upgradable in a big way.The stats are.........
intel pentium 4, 3gig,800mhz fsb,hyperthreading technology.
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 ultra graphics card with 256mb ddr memory and AGP 8X support
ASUS P4C800-F deluxe Intel 875 chipset motherboard
EMU 1820mastering grade soundcard
Cool Master aluminum tower
Antec true blue 480W power supply
XP pro
2-gigs of DDR SDRAM(geil)
2-cd/dvd drives(read&write)
1-cd read and writer
1- floppy drive
1-10 card reader
2-8 port powered usb hubs
Altec Lansing 5.1 surround speakers
M-Audio BX-8 powered monitors
EMU X-board 49 controller
Hard drive one-is a 120gig seagate barracuda this is the original operating drive
HD2-is 2 raid zero configure 250gig Maxtor 16mb buffer harddrives
HD3-is a another 250gig maxtor
HD4-is a western digital 300gig external for music and video
so....over a terabyte of hard drive space and each operating system is backed up on the other hard drives partitioned just nicely \"just in case\".All anti-virus disabled.
I record using Cubase SL2 with wavelab mastering plug ins.I use many keyboard soft synths and occassionally i rewire Reason 3 into the mix.Nero takes care of my burning duties.
I use a 1977 custom made chrome over maple drumkit with a few additions.DW7000 drum pedals and Zildjian cymbals.Microphones are a CAD 7 piece mic set with an additional sm57.It all gets routed to a TASCAM 688 midi studio for mixing.I use an ART TPS2 to power the overhead mics.the 688 has 2 effects sends.Send A uses the BBE sonic maximizer and occasionally the samson compressor.Effect send B utilizes the stageworks 1/3 octave EQ and the Phonic compressor/gate/expander.It ends up coming out in stereo L&R to my GNX4 to be recorded.My other alternative is to run the mics straight to my soundcard.For simple drum parts,i sometimes use this Yamaha DD-55 that has many percussion sounds and the foot triggers actually allow you to do double bass stuff.
I am a noise junky.I collected alot of sample libraries(royalty free) from UK magazines \"Computermusic\",\"future music\",\"Music Tech\",and a few others.Each issue was $14-$18 and came with a DVD full of samples,product demos,and tech tips!So i have over 100gigs of 16bit and 24 bit samples to edit and chop into my music.I also have soft synth versions of almost every classic synth from Arturia(arp2600,moog modular,mini-moog,and CS-80) the Korg Legacy collection,and Native instruments \"Complete\" including Absynth and Prophet 57.For tactile Keyboards i have a Korg MS2000B,a yamaha CS6X,a Roland D-10&D-50,a Yamaha DX21,and a Casio wk3000.The software synths ran around $1700 and the tactile synths cost $1600 which i have enjoyed far better than a top of the line Motif i was looking at.I got a lot of info from a site called Vintagesynth.com
for amps to jam with,i use a Fender BXR60 bass amp,a Line6 spider with Vetta Pedalboard,and a VOX valvetronix 60watt that in its class is the best amp i have ever used.I picked up all of the amps used for $300. 8)
I looked at recording consoles and the one i wanted was $2700 to my door.So i said \"Yeah rrrrRight\" and went to Home Depot at 7pm and by 5am it was built.Cost was $300 :shock:
because of the GNX4,heres the soundcard i rarely use....
For prodution reasons(800 preset spots and a gaggle of effects)I held on to my Art SGX2000express.I also kept my DOD chain reaction from 1986 because even now.....its still fun!My Art tps2 pre-amp serves several funtions and for the money can't be beat!A patch bay is a major neccessity along with a couple of good power strip/conditioners.The 12 channel dj mixer works as a line mixer that goes to my pioneer reciever for when i want to monitor the sound of my pedalboards and keyboards.and BTW....i use a Rode NT1-A for vocal recording
and yes.....(don't shoot me!) but i have \"these\" as well. :P
and of course a tech area for assembling,setting-up,.....ect...my guitars(and others) is a MAJOR neccessity.
hope this has been of interest and i would be more than happy to answer
any questions.
\"A little background\".....I am a 40 year old dude from New York that in 1975 decided to learn how to play drums in school.Which led to private lessons,which led to learning all phases of percussion at collegiate level by my freshman year of high school and scholastically was ranked #1 in NY state at age 16.At the same time i was in several hard rock/heavy metal semi-pro bands.I wrote lyrics as well and when they would slaughter the way i felt the lyrics needed to go well......I took up guitar to get my point accross.Guitar led to learning bass,which led to keyboards and other instruments.After graduation,i moved to Nashville Tn and into the \"real world\" where living in an affordable apartment meant....no more drums.At 21 i assisted my sister, and others, in their learning at MTSU which included 24 track analog,36 track automated digital and MIDI recording studios.The thought of having my own studio one day got burned into my mind.15 years later with a career as a custom car builder under my belt.I decided to cash in a few cars i had collected and build my studio.I wanted everything to be top notch computer based for 2004.I got it running and updated and then disconnected it from the internet backed up in several hard drives.Still to this day....i can't believe i actually did it!With alot of internet googling and tons of publications from the US and UK,i made sure that each purchase was a good one.Luckilly Nashville has a ton of used gear floating around and i took full advantage of pawnshops as well.I also took advantage of trading in some of the equipment that i collected over the years too.
I purchased a Compaq X07 gaming computer for $2400 from best buy because it cost less than the parts that were in it and it was upgradable in a big way.The stats are.........
intel pentium 4, 3gig,800mhz fsb,hyperthreading technology.
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 ultra graphics card with 256mb ddr memory and AGP 8X support
ASUS P4C800-F deluxe Intel 875 chipset motherboard
EMU 1820mastering grade soundcard
Cool Master aluminum tower
Antec true blue 480W power supply
XP pro
2-gigs of DDR SDRAM(geil)
2-cd/dvd drives(read&write)
1-cd read and writer
1- floppy drive
1-10 card reader
2-8 port powered usb hubs
Altec Lansing 5.1 surround speakers
M-Audio BX-8 powered monitors
EMU X-board 49 controller
Hard drive one-is a 120gig seagate barracuda this is the original operating drive
HD2-is 2 raid zero configure 250gig Maxtor 16mb buffer harddrives
HD3-is a another 250gig maxtor
HD4-is a western digital 300gig external for music and video
so....over a terabyte of hard drive space and each operating system is backed up on the other hard drives partitioned just nicely \"just in case\".All anti-virus disabled.
I record using Cubase SL2 with wavelab mastering plug ins.I use many keyboard soft synths and occassionally i rewire Reason 3 into the mix.Nero takes care of my burning duties.
I use a 1977 custom made chrome over maple drumkit with a few additions.DW7000 drum pedals and Zildjian cymbals.Microphones are a CAD 7 piece mic set with an additional sm57.It all gets routed to a TASCAM 688 midi studio for mixing.I use an ART TPS2 to power the overhead mics.the 688 has 2 effects sends.Send A uses the BBE sonic maximizer and occasionally the samson compressor.Effect send B utilizes the stageworks 1/3 octave EQ and the Phonic compressor/gate/expander.It ends up coming out in stereo L&R to my GNX4 to be recorded.My other alternative is to run the mics straight to my soundcard.For simple drum parts,i sometimes use this Yamaha DD-55 that has many percussion sounds and the foot triggers actually allow you to do double bass stuff.
I am a noise junky.I collected alot of sample libraries(royalty free) from UK magazines \"Computermusic\",\"future music\",\"Music Tech\",and a few others.Each issue was $14-$18 and came with a DVD full of samples,product demos,and tech tips!So i have over 100gigs of 16bit and 24 bit samples to edit and chop into my music.I also have soft synth versions of almost every classic synth from Arturia(arp2600,moog modular,mini-moog,and CS-80) the Korg Legacy collection,and Native instruments \"Complete\" including Absynth and Prophet 57.For tactile Keyboards i have a Korg MS2000B,a yamaha CS6X,a Roland D-10&D-50,a Yamaha DX21,and a Casio wk3000.The software synths ran around $1700 and the tactile synths cost $1600 which i have enjoyed far better than a top of the line Motif i was looking at.I got a lot of info from a site called Vintagesynth.com
for amps to jam with,i use a Fender BXR60 bass amp,a Line6 spider with Vetta Pedalboard,and a VOX valvetronix 60watt that in its class is the best amp i have ever used.I picked up all of the amps used for $300. 8)
I looked at recording consoles and the one i wanted was $2700 to my door.So i said \"Yeah rrrrRight\" and went to Home Depot at 7pm and by 5am it was built.Cost was $300 :shock:
because of the GNX4,heres the soundcard i rarely use....
For prodution reasons(800 preset spots and a gaggle of effects)I held on to my Art SGX2000express.I also kept my DOD chain reaction from 1986 because even now.....its still fun!My Art tps2 pre-amp serves several funtions and for the money can't be beat!A patch bay is a major neccessity along with a couple of good power strip/conditioners.The 12 channel dj mixer works as a line mixer that goes to my pioneer reciever for when i want to monitor the sound of my pedalboards and keyboards.and BTW....i use a Rode NT1-A for vocal recording
and yes.....(don't shoot me!) but i have \"these\" as well. :P
and of course a tech area for assembling,setting-up,.....ect...my guitars(and others) is a MAJOR neccessity.
hope this has been of interest and i would be more than happy to answer
any questions.
Comments
thanks Shredd 8)
that was a whole lot of writing without \"*post modern catfish*\" showing up somewhere :P
yes,i play all of the instruments myself at various levels of difficulty.....mostly average.I write and record New age,straight up up rock,and Metal of all kinds.My favorite band of all time is Jethrotull so progressive music tends to be my direction .
the GT8 is great when your just pickin around at a moderate volume but the moment you crank it to play/jam it sounds like mud.The reverbs and effects sound more like \"final production\"
thanks for asking