Build a Personal Studio on Any Budget

Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By the EM Staff

Five personal studio designs from budget to high-end.

The Composing Studio

By Dennis Miller

The Budget Composing Studio

My budget studio will focus primarily on composing orchestral emulations for picture and will also be well suited for other compositional purposes. I'll offer solutions that are compatible on both Windows and Mac computers, but where that's not possible, I'll provide Mac alternatives for the Windows software. And because I need only a few key tools, I'll opt for the high-end versions of the principal applications, with an emphasis on audio playback to ensure that I hear all the details in my mixes. Whenever possible, I will quote the price for the download version rather than the boxed version.

A sequencer is at the core of most scoring jobs, so on the Windows side, I've chosen Cakewalk Sonar Producer 6 ($619) for the bulk of my sequencing tasks. It has a very useful tool set for scoring to picture, and the updated Synth Rack greatly enhances my use of VST plug-ins. Sonar is a perfect host for the Garritan Personal Orchestra library ($174) that I'm buying at a discount because I'll also be using Garritan sounds with my notation program (more on this later). I'll also include a copy of Garritan Jazz & Big Band (also at a discount; $224) so that I can enhance my woodwind and brass sections for charts that need a contemporary flair.

Sonar's support for video playback will be very handy as I score my cues, and once all my parts are composed as MIDI notes, the Bounce feature will quickly turn the parts into new audio files, ready for delivery to the music editor. If I need any last-minute tweaks to my audio, the new Audiosnap feature will let me make fine adjustments to the tempo of my cues (without changing their pitch) to ensure that they line up just right.

On the Mac, I'll opt for MOTU Digital Performer 5.12 (DP; $795) because it has more dedicated scoring tools than most other sequencers in its class. As with Sonar, you can view your video track on an external monitor via FireWire, and you'll have no trouble figuring out what tempo your music will need to sync with the picture once you get comfortable with DP's Find Tempo option.

Of course, if you prefer to compose using a notation program, then you're better off with a tool that integrates a high-quality sound set. I'm picking MakeMusic Finale 2008 ($600) as the centerpiece of this rig because it has a vast number of features for the composer, including an autoharmonizer and the ability to create variations on a melodic theme. And, using the many processes found in the Composer's Assistant plug-ins, you can turn the simplest musical idea into a well-formed main title theme with endless variations. The ability to import a video makes it easy to synchronize cues, and the availability of Finale Notepad, a free program that can open, play, and (minimally) edit Finale files, makes collaboration simple. Moreover, the Garritan Orchestra sounds that Finale provides are well integrated into the program (and qualify me for the discounts mentioned earlier).

For knocking off parts by hand, I'll purchase a Kurzweil SP88x keyboard controller ($1,395), which offers 88 weighted keys and the ability to transmit on two separate MIDI channels simultaneously. Its electric piano sounds will fill a niche not served elsewhere in my rig, and the organ presets should come in especially handy.

For monitoring, I'll use an M-Audio FireWire 410 audio interface ($399) driving Event Studio Precision 6 active monitors ($1,199 a pair). The FireWire 410 has four analog inputs and ten outputs, in addition to stereo digital ins and outs in both coaxial phono and Toslink optical formats (see Fig. 3). It supports 24-bit, 96 kHz recording, and playback at up to 24-bit, 192 kHz on the first two outs (or 24-bit, 96 kHz if all eight outputs are used). MIDI In and Out are also provided. The included mixing software will provide flexible control over my various sound sources, and the FireWire 410's support for Pro Tools M-Powered might just come in handy someday.

The Killer Composing Studio

Though there is a good bit of overlap between the high-end and budget composing studios, I will add enough tools to make this rig suitable for even more compositional tasks. I'll keep Finale 2008 and Sonar 6 (or DP 5 on the Mac), then include several physical-modeled acoustic instruments, which have the added advantage of being usable for sound-design purposes. I'll also want a dedicated sampler and a number of video tools for use alongside my basic music applications.

At the heart of our high-end Windows studio is Tascam's Giga Virtual Instrument (GVI; $369), the plug-in version of the company's powerful and popular professional sampler, GigaStudio. GigaStudio pioneered the concept of disk streaming, and following years of tweaks by Tascam, it's a real sound-design powerhouse. Not only can you choose from numerous outstanding libraries, but if the library includes embedded GigaPulse convolution information, as many do, it will open in GVI with the convolution configured as the library author intended. (You can use the Perfect Space reverb in Sonar if you want convolution processing on other sounds.)

GVI comes with more than 7 GB of samples but is a little light on the included orchestral sounds. So I'll buy SoniVox's Complete Symphonic Collection (CSC; $2,995) to be sure we have all the bases (and basses) covered. CSC takes advantage of many of GVI's programming options (for example, custom recording environments programmed by Larry Seyer) and offers a wide variety of articulations and playing styles. I will also add Tascam's own GigaViolin ($129), an inexpensive solution for those times when our scores require solo strings.

Mac users should consider picking up a cheap Windows XP computer and dedicating it to GVI or GigaStudio 3 or waiting for the Mac version of GVI to appear later this year. But if those options are not appealing, then I'd recommend Native Instruments Kontakt 2 ($449) as the sampler of choice. There's broad third-party support for Kontakt 2, and it can read any content created for Kontakt 2 Player.

Kontakt 2 ships with 15 GB of content, including samples from all the members of the orchestra. But I'll enhance it with a number of other resources. For starters, I'll include Native Instruments Akoustik Piano ($339), which runs standalone and as a plug-in; its pianos are also loadable into Kontakt. I'll beef up my world-music timbres by adding SoniVox's Afro-Cuban Percussion ($99.95) and Silk Road ($249), and to be sure I have enough variety in my core orchestral collection, I will add IK Multimedia's Miroslav Orchestra and Choir sample collection ($599), a 7 GB library that runs standalone or as an AU plug-in under Digital Performer.

I will also enhance my basic sound sets with software that uses physical modeling, which can produce uncanny simulations of real acoustic instruments and is especially suited for creating believable musical performances. Though I've got a fair number of good piano sounds already, I'll add Modartt's Pianoteq 2.0.1 ($330) to my rig (see Fig. 4). Pianoteq provides controls for changing many aspects of the instrument's construction, including hammer hardness, soundboard tweaks, and various aspects of tuning. To add more sonic variety, I'll include Applied Acoustics Tassman 4.1 ($349), which has a large number of acoustic-model presets. Its flute sounds are astoundingly realistic, and its percussion instruments (balafons, congas, and kalimbas, for example) give me resources for a variety of ethnic flavors. Moreover, the bowed beams and plates provide the perfect touch for contemporary textures.

For vocal renditions on the PC, I am buying Zero-G's Leon and Lola ($199 each), both of which use Yamaha's Vocaloid vocal-synthesis technology. Yamaha is hard at work on a major update to Vocaloid, and I'll be sure to see what new voices appear when the enhancements make it to market. For the Mac, I'll opt for Virsyn's Cantor 2.1 ($465), even though it would be a less convincing substitute for a real vocalist than either Vocaloid program.

I will upgrade my controller to the Kurzweil PC2X ($2,730) — the included orchestral sound block adds even more high-quality samples to my roster. With its 64-voice polyphony piping to my mixes over digital outputs, the PC2X can take the load off my computer and allow me to dedicate some additional processing power to other tasks, such as effects.

My options for an audio interface are wide open because unlike GigaStudio 3, GVI doesn't require a GSIF-compliant sound card. So I'll go with a MOTU UltraLite ($595), which packs 10 inputs and 14 outputs in a half-rackspace footprint, for both the Mac and Windows. The UltraLite supports rates up to 24-bit, 96 kHz, and because it's powered by the PC's bus, there are literally no strings attached. For monitors, I'll choose Tannoy Precision 8Ds ($2,058 a pair), which deliver the clarity and range I need for my orchestral renditions.

Because I am serious about working in the film-scoring business, having some high-quality video tools will be a bonus. For a dedicated Windows video editor, Sony Vegas 7 provides a familiar multitrack interface that musicians will grasp right away. Cutting and crossfading video clips is a breeze, and the number of output formats it can render will allow me to deliver my composited video and music files to meet the client's needs. For DVD authoring and burning, Sony DVD Architect 4, which can be purchased in a bundle with Vegas ($559.96), supports a number of common output formats. Surprisingly, its AC3 audio-encoding options are limited to a single default value, and that with attenuation. Be sure to create a higher-quality AC3 file in Vegas before you do the final authoring in DVD Architect.

On the Mac, there's no real match for the price and features of the Vegas/DVD Architect combo, but if you have an Intel Mac, consider running that same software under Parallels Desktop ($79.99). Another option would be simply to use the tools in Apple iLife, but those won't get you nearly as far into the video world. The professional solution is Adobe's massive new Creative Suite 3 Production Premium (CS3; $1,699), which includes all the tools you'd need for professional video editing and DVD authoring. You'll find CS3 versions of After Effects, Premiere Pro, Encore, Photoshop, Flash, and even the new Soundbooth audio editor in the bundle, and the list price is not a lot higher than Apple's own Final Cut Studio 2. (Keep in mind that a dedicated RGB video monitor or dual-VGA display setup is a must if you're doing serious video work.)

If you already own Final Cut Pro, by all means consider buying Final Cut Studio 2 ($1,299), which includes Final Cut Pro 6, DVD Studio Pro 4, Motion 3, Soundtrack Pro 2, and other useful tools. Note that there's no support for Blu-ray discs in Final Cut Studio (Adobe Encore supports the format), though that could change by the time you read this.

Hear, Hear!

There are many other good choices for building a killer composing studio, and you'll find an endless number of specialized sample collections you'll want to consider as the need arises and your budget allows. And keep in mind that there are many free resources online to help you hone your orchestrational skills. Be sure to check out the Garritan home page (www.garritan.com) and the Philharmonia Web site (www.philharmonia.co.uk/thesoundexchange/sound_samples/sample_libraries) for some great tips on orchestral composing.

Click here to see price tables for "budget" and "killer" studio set ups.