Robot Cousin Soundworks

I have an AKG c451 B on order right now. I was going to get the c414 XLS, but with the 451 being half the price and still a stand-up mic, I figured (for now, at least) I’ll go with that. I really only need it for some voice work and foley. I was kind of stressing spending so much on the 414, and just the other day I realized that all of the foley that my classmates and I had for any of our projects were actually done using the 451. That did it. Cancelled my order for the 414, and might get my 451 by the end of this week.

In other news, I found a really great, cheap way to get some room treatment done, and I think I’m going to give it a shot. If anyone is interested, you can check out this post here by Matt Mayfield over at Logic Pro Help.

The Mac is here.

The Interface is here.

The Mics are here.

The Software has been downloaded.

Now for the business cards and slight site re-design. Gotta get the business in business.

One thing that’s been bugging me, though… my Mac Pro (and all Macs sold now, I guess) are now full-on using Firewire 800 (otherwise known as 1394b). You’d think they’d offer, you know, an adapter or cable to help EVERYONE OUT THERE WHO IS STILL USING FW 400, but no. Nope, no such adapter even exists in my city. If I want to order one (and I’d actually prefer two), I have to pay ridiculous shipping. Therefore, I guess it comes down to me buying and installing a FW 400 PCI-e card.

I’ve missed owning a tower.

I have funding! The hurdles have been passed, and I have come through, richer on the other end.

Now to spend intelligently! The gear list includes, but is not limited to, the following;

• Mac Pro
• Pianoteq
• Addictive Drums
• AKG 414
• Sennheiser 421 (love this for radio voices)
• Heavyocity Evolve
• Much sound-proofing from realtraps.com
• Logic 9 (hey, why not?)
• Amplitube 3

I’d type more, but I’m actually too excited to really get it all out in words.

I should probably take this time to mention to anyone reading this who doesn’t subscribe to my Facebook page that I’ve finally been approved for a loan to buy equipment and start up my company for real. And I’ve done everything that I need to do… except…

There’s a bureaucratic hurdle that I’m more than willing and more than able to get over, but unfortunately I have to wait until the signing officer for this document is in their office, which they haven’t been in the last little while. Each day that they’re not there, I’m told they will be there the next day… and when I show up (now I’m just calling beforehand) I get told “Oh, tomorrow, they’ll be in.” This has happened 3 times so far.

I want to push so much music out, it’s crazy. I’ve never felt so pent up with creativity. I think it may be because I’ve sort of limited myself as of late to what I’m doing, so that when I have all of my ducks in order and everything set up, I can always, at a moment’s notice, go over, heat everything up, and get cooking.

Lately, the excitement has dwindled because of how much the carrot has been yanked away from me the closer I seem to get, but over the past couple of days, I’m getting ideas non-stop for all sorts of music. I’ve got 4 projects (one is a sound edit) that are on the queue when everything is green-to-go, and I can’t wait to jump in.

Here’s hoping I get that signature tomorrow.

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Note: Updated the links on the right.

From the moment I touched it, I wanted it. The settings, the controls, the feel, the name behind it. A long time ago, when getting paid for music was a concept MUCH farther away than it is nowadays, I saw it at a Musicstop in Halifax.

The Roland V-Synth.

The D-Beam, the Time Trip Pad, and everything else it offers is like some sort of insane ’synth-fiction’ creation, designed to conjure up the craziest sound imagineable. One of the last bastions of hardware synths.

And therein lies my problem. If, and that’s a big ‘if’, I get funding for building my studio, then that would be my chance! My chance to finally have a V-synth of my very own. You see, outside of a silly little Yamaha basic, non-MIDI keyboard, I’ve never owned a hardware synth. I’ve been totally software-based since I began. I want to change, I want to plunge in and own it, both physically, and musically. I want the tactile advantage of a hardware synth.

But at what cost? What would I replace in my studio? It’s a give and take, because I’ve only budgeted for a certain amount, and right now, that includes what I think I need so far. Do I cut something else out? Pianoteq? Heavyocity Evolve? The Mac Pro? The sound treatment? The extra monitors? Some of these are a definite ‘no’.

Choices, choices. But hey, I would much rather be in a position of trying to decide what gear to get and what to pass on, than to not be purchasing any at all.

No complaints, just thoughts.

Wow.

http://forum.studiotips.com/

This site is PRECISELY what I might end up needing quite soon. Just thought I’d throw that out there. So glad I found it.

Choices, choices.

I’m window-shopping for a new audio interface. Right now, I have the M-Audio Firewire Solo, and it is, truly, nothing fancy. Can’t do surround, and the drivers are usually late. For example, I upgrade to Snow Leopard a while ago, as I posted, totally forgetting the fact that I should check my drivers before doing so. Sure enough, The last ones to be released at that time were for 10.5.7 or .8. I’ve been using some sort of weird work-around that someone posted on their forums, and it’s actually treating me better than 10.4.11’s drivers ever could. For example, no longer does my sound totally fail me me if I put the computer to sleep while a program that’s using audio is currently running (like Safari, if I’m on a youtube page or something). I haven’t had to restart the system (for that reason) since I’ve upgraded. That’s just one problem fixed, though.

Anyway, I’m tired of the FW Solo, I’m tired of buggy software and unreliable hardware. I’m tired of not even having the option to create a surround sound mix, regardless of whether or not I have the monitors to support it (that’ll be a post for another day). I want to upgrade, and when I get the money for the studio, I’ll be doing so! My criteria are as follows:

• Must already be supported in 10.6/Snow Leopard (shouldn’t be a problem, but it’s definitely a requirement)
  Must have more than 5 outputs for surround sound support.
  Must have ADAT optical IO, in the event that I need it later on.
  Must be less than $2,000 CDN, as that’s the maximum I’m allowing myself to possibly budget for, but I’d like it to be cheaper.

So, with that criteria in place, the main contenders are:

1. Motu 828 MKIII ($870)
2. RME Fireface 400 ($1,469)
3. Apogee Ensemble ($1,984)

For prices, I’ve taken them all from Saved By Technology, a fantastic site that caters to both US and Canadian residents for pretty much all of their digital audio needs.

Wow, while I was looking all of this up, I also found that SbT is selling a Mackie Control Universal Pro for $1,367! Well, I think that cuts a LOT of this short, since I’ve heard excellent things about the MOTU 828 MKIII, and have always really really wanted the MCU Pro.

So, thoughts?

I’m starting to document my possibly-long-road to success in building my own home recording studio.

I currently own a duplex, and am only using one-half of it. It came to me while we (my fianceé and I) were in search of tenants that I could apply for a government loan to actually build the beginnings of a home studio. Since I’ve graduated, I’ve always wanted to start my own studio, but I kept thinking “too big” (rent out building space, thus incurring even more monthly rent fees, commercial ones at that), or “too small” (Hey, I can work from my basement! Yeah!!). Being a duplex, it obviously has its own entrance, independant of where we actually live. It has 3 bedrooms, at least one of which would be used as a “live” room. The living room is very open and attached to the kitchen. This all came to me one night, and kept me up until 4am. It was wonderful and terrible all at once.

So I’ve decided to take this little corner of the web to document what will be happening over the next… however-long in my quest to finally build my own studio.

Here’s hoping this all comes together. In saying that, does anyone have any idea of where I can go to get money? I’ll be going to try and get a SEED loan, but who knows how that’ll work. I’m totally in the dark when it comes to any sort of Federal loan or grant program. Help?