Instant credit card offer

Byline: Robert Hanson

About a year ago, Remix examined the idea of building three project studios on some very strict budgets ("Another Bit in the Wall," May 2003). That article covered price points from $2,000 to $10,000, and aside from a few application and computer upgrades, not a whole lot has changed in the past 14 months. So instead of rehashing old news, you're going to throw the lesser budgets out the window and just go shopping. Think about it: What kind of studio could you put together if someone just handed you a credit card with a $25,000 limit and told you to buy what you want?

Although this is a fantasy that most have entertained, your ultimate Remix studio will include a few catches. To be fair, all of the selections will be based on new equipment that's available for sale online or at a retail establishment. Second, the computer side of things will remain in the native realm; you can leave the Digidesign Pro Tools HDTM to the rock stars for now. Next, this is Remix, after all, so the studio will be built from an electronic-music perspective. Finally, everyone works and lives in different spaces, so this article will steer clear of acoustical improvements. So with all of this in mind, it's time to go shopping.

THE SOFTER SIDE

The centerpiece of this dream production rig is, of course, the main computer that houses recording and sequencing software, loop and sample editors, and myriad signal-processing and synthesis plug-ins. On the Mac side of things, the choices are always pretty clear. Without spending an absolutely obscene amount of money, you can build a custom machine with two 2GHz G5 processors, 2 GB of RAM, two 250GB ATA hard drives (one for the OS and applications and one for audio and video files) for $4,274. For the PC crowd, the options and price breaks abound. In a similar fashion to the Mac workhorse, you can design a custom Dell Dimension XPS with a 3.4GHz Pentium 4, 2 GB of RAM, an 80GB ATA/100 system drive and a 120GB ATA/100 audio/video drive for $2,589. Regardless of platform, an external FireWire hard drive is an inexpensive but necessary investment. For about $200, there are numerous 100GB or better 7,200 rpm drives out there that are designed with audio/video storage and transfer in mind. For audio-file and session backups, as well as location recording with a laptop, an external drive can be a real lifesaver.

The nest step in the chain is the primary workstation application. It's been stated before that most of the big DAWs offer competitive feature sets and are generally priced within $100 of one another. For the purpose of this article, any of the major players will fit the bill. On the Mac-only side, you have Emagic Logic Pro 6 and MOTU Digital Performer 4.1. On the PC-only front is Cakewalk Sonar 3. And boasting dual-platform support are Digidesign Pro Tools LE 6 and Steinberg Cubase SX 2.0. Obviously, the computer platform will be a major determining factor in the choice of DAWs. And with regard to Pro Tools LE, the software is always purchased as a package with the hardware, so if you take the Digi route, the software will always match the hardware (more on this later).

Although the main DAW is arguably one of the most important pieces of software, you can't overlook the need for a great writing tool, as well as some efficient soft synths and samplers. To these ends, the next piece on your shopping list is a soft-synth workstation. Three products are currently dominating this market: Propellerhead Reason 2.5, Cakewalk Project5 and Arturia Storm Studio 3. All of those soft synths include ReWire support, so you can easily slave them to your DAW. In terms of differences among them, it depends on whom you ask. Reason was the first product out of the gate, and it boasts excellent stability and a huge library of available third-party sound collections. People who came of age working with other PC-based Cakewalk titles will certainly feel familiar with Project5. And for total ease of use, Storm 3 offers a great collection of synths and a wide array of song templates to help jump-start the writing process.

All right, enough with the efficient software synths; it's time to look for some of those dreamy-sounding, analog-modeled, CPU-hogging juggernauts. On more of the instant-gratification front, some favorites are Antares Kantos, Spectrasonics Trilogy and Atmosphere, IK Multimedia Sampletank 2, Korg Legacy Bundle, Access Virus PowerCore and MOTU Mach5, to name a few. If the process of creating sounds is half the fun for you, products such as Applied Acoustics Tassman 4, Native Instruments Reaktor 4 and Absynth 2, and Arturia Moog Modular V, will allow you to create some totally bizarre sounds and, in some cases, even your own synths.

Now that you have a modern DAW, a soft-synth workstation and a handful of top-shelf software instruments, you'd think that would be enough software - well, think again. As an electronic-music connoisseur, you will most likely at some point need to tweak, stretch or even repitch some loops or vocals. Luckily, there are some great purpose-built applications for doing just that. Covering both editing and performance is the venerable Ableton Live 4, which affords great options like previewing loops at the project tempo and extensive sample-playback capabilities. Propellerhead ReCycle 2.1 is a simple and efficient means to mangle rhythms, extract grooves and repitch loops. And if you want to really fine-tune or totally retune a vocal or musical phrase, Celemony Melodyne provides a slick, step-editor-like environment for doing so.

The last course in this software feast comprises some high-end signal-processing plug-ins. The selections run the gamut from utility dynamic processors to some sound-sculpting secret weapons. First up are the DSP-accelerated items from TC Electronic and Universal Audio. TC offers both the PCI-based PowerCore Element and its beefier cousin, the PowerCore FireWire; both versions come bundled with a healthy complement of compressors, channel strips, reverbs and more. Universal Audio's UAD-1 works with the same premise, providing stunningly accurate emulations of the Teletronix LA-2A and UREI 1176 compressors, the Pultec EQ and more. Aside from the card-based products are loads of other must-have plugs. Topping the list is the Waves Transform Bundle, Antares Auto-Tune 4 and Tube, IK Multimedia Amplitude and T-Racks, and PSP Audioware Vintage Warmer, to name just a few.

COLD, HARD STEEL

It doesn't matter how much amazing software you have if your hardware isn't up to spec. For your dream machine, you're going pick up some higher-end D/A interfaces, some boutique preamps, a few choice hardware synths, a utility mixer, some control surfaces and monitors, and you're going to top it all off with an analog summing bus.

In terms of audio I/O, you have several great options at your disposal - some of which even include control surfaces. Starting things off are the Digidesign Digi 002 and 002R (sans control surface) units, which both feature dedicated mic pres, line inputs, MIDI I/O, multichannel digital I/Os, FireWire connectivity and Pro Tools LE 6. If you fancy the Digi 002 concept but want to use different software, the Tascam FW-1884 and the Yamaha 01X boast multiple mic pres, line ins, digital I/O, sync and so forth. If you prefer to have just eight ultraclean channels of I/O on separate XLR connections, the MOTU 896HD is the box for you. Finally, if you want all of the I/O with a smaller footprint, the RME Hammerfall DSP Multiface and the M-Audio FireWire 1814 pack multiple channels of analog and digital I/O and a host of other features into a half-rackspace design.

Continuing on down the signal chain, the next stop is your analog front end. If your recording aspirations are limited to being able to track some professional-sounding vocals or single instruments, a straight-ahead 1- or 2-channel preamp - like the Focusrite TwinTrack Pro, the ART DMPA Pro or the Vintech X73i - should take care of things for you nicely. If your plans include tracking drums or something more elaborate, an 8-channel preamp such as the M-Audio Octane - or something as grandiose as the TL Audio M-3 Tubetracker - is an excellent option. Nothing improves the sound of your recordings better than a clean D/A interface and a high-quality mic preamp, so keep that in mind while shopping.