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 Mobile Studio

By Geary Yelton

The Budget Mobile Studio

In the past year, notebook computers have become so powerful that it's perfectly reasonable to put together a pro-level recording studio without a desktop computer. Give me a dual-core PC laptop or an Apple MacBook Pro, and I'll be out the door and composing and recording music on the run. Mobile studios are different things to different people, however. Whereas I want a very portable setup I can use to produce my own music and to record individual performers remotely and mix wherever I like, you might prefer a mobile studio that lets you do everything you could do in a fixed location, from creating sampled loop libraries to producing albums recorded live. Because this is a budget system, though, I'll stick with modest applications.

No one could be more surprised than me at my recommendation for a digital audio sequencer. I use all the major sequencers, and each has its own strengths. Once again, however, Pro Tools offers the greatest flexibility at the least expense. How is this possible? If I buy a compatible audio interface from M-Audio, then Pro Tools M-Powered ($299) costs less than any other full-featured competitor. Pro Tools M-Powered has virtually all the same features as Pro Tools LE, but the price of admission can be much lower.

The key to this particular Pro Tools-based system is M-Audio's Ozonic ($599), a FireWire audio/MIDI interface with a 37-note keyboard and enough knobs and sliders for you to deftly control audio software. The Ozonic offers features that many compact keyboards lack, including Aftertouch, an excellent semiweighted action, and independent inputs for a sustain switch and an expression pedal. Audio features include a phantom-powered XLR input, an instrument input, and two line-level inputs, as well as two balanced and two unbalanced outputs on ¼-inch jacks. The Ozonic draws power from the FireWire bus or a DC adapter, and it's portable enough to tuck under your arm.

With portability in mind, I've also selected some transducers from M-Audio. The Studiophile AV 40 powered monitors ($199 a pair) are exactly what I'm looking for: reasonably accurate speakers that are lightweight enough to transport easily. They have 4-inch woofers and 20W of power per channel. They even have a headphone output; along with the Ozonic's headphone out, I'm covered whenever I need more than one. But instead of traditional headphones, I want M-Audio's IE-10 ($129) earphones. These in-ear monitors work well for noncritical mixing and offer a surprising degree of acoustic isolation from the surrounding environment.

The M-Audio Solaris ($349) is a large-diaphragm condenser mic at a bargain price. Its response is surprisingly flat, and its user-selectable polarity — cardioid, figure-8, or omni — makes it suitable for almost any scenario. And I have enough in my budget for a versatile dynamic microphone, the Audix OM-2 ($149). Suitable for recording voices or instruments, the OM-2 is always an excellent mic to have on hand.

Once again, I'm selecting two dependable software instruments from Native Instruments. Massive ($339) gives me a variety of synthesis features that include analog emulation, wavetable scanning, a wide range of filter types, extensive modulation routing, a user-configurable architecture, and a large library of presets. And once again, I've chosen Kontakt 2 ($449) as my sampler because of its depth, power, and dynamite content.

I can expand my setup considerably with one inexpensive bundle. The Waldorf Edition ($149), a trio of plug-ins from pioneering synth maker Waldorf, provides a modeled analog filter, a multitimbral drum machine, and an emulation of the classic PPG Wave wavetable synthesizer.

I also play guitar and bass, and in the spirit of doing everything inside the box, I'll need guitar-amp and effects-modeling software. Native Instruments Guitar Rig 2 Software Edition ($339) sounds great and fits my budget perfectly. With a slew of simulated guitar and bass amplifiers, cabinets, microphones, and effects, Guitar Rig 2 should suit my needs for quite some time.

The Killer Mobile Studio

To keep my killer studio mobile, I want to do as much as possible within the computer. Nonetheless, to do everything I want, I'll still need quite a bit of hardware — mics, monitors, an audio interface, a control surface, and a MIDI keyboard — so I'll start with that. But because it's a mobile studio, I want to be able to pack up the whole kit and caboodle and take it with me, so size and weight are prime concerns.

I want a well-rounded audio interface no larger than a single rackspace, with lots of I/O and at least eight channels of A/D/A conversion. The Apogee Ensemble ($1,995) fits my needs perfectly. This Mac-specific FireWire interface has four mic preamps (two with inserts), four instrument inputs, four line inputs, eight monitor outputs, and S/PDIF and Lightpipe I/O. My only complaint is that the Ensemble isn't Windows compatible. If I had a notebook PC, then, I could save a couple of hundred bucks and get an RME Fireface 800 ($1,799).

For monitors, I want something I can depend on to give back what I put in, and if they're portable, so much the better. The Genelec 8020A ($890) is an excellent choice, owing to its light weight (barely over 8 pounds each) and reliable sound, even with a 4-inch woofer. The rugged 8020A is biamplified, with a total of 40W into 8, and it comes with Genelec's IsoPod stand. I also want an in-ear monitor that's well suited to mobile applications: M-Audio's top-of-the-line IE-30 earphones ($299). Like the IE-10, the IE-30 offers excellent environmental isolation, but it contains separate transducers for the bass and treble.

It wouldn't be a killer studio without some killer microphones. I don't need a ton of mics in my mobile cabinet, though. If I'm recording live bands, I'd prefer to take direct feeds off the house mixer as often as possible, and a handful of first-class mics should be all I need for most applications.

At the top of the list is the Royer R-122 ($1,895), a ribbon mic with active circuitry. It has a well-defined sound and it's very quiet considering its high output level. Next up is Mojave Audio's MA-100 ($995), a small-diaphragm tube condenser model. It has interchangeable cardioid and omnidirectional capsules and is useful for a variety of tasks. Farther down the list is the versatile, multipattern Røde NT2000 ($899), for all the same reasons I chose it for my killer postproduction and sound-design studio. Add to that a pair of Audix i5s ($358), because you never know when a couple of dynamic mics will come in handy for recording amps, drums, and various other sources.

I still need a MIDI keyboard and a control surface, and I get both with the Novation ReMote 61 SL ($899). In addition to keys with Aftertouch and Velocity-sensitive pads, the ReMote 61 SL has lots of assignable knobs and buttons. It also features Novation's Automap, a system that automatically configures its controls to the software you're using.

Although you can control the Apogee Ensemble from within Logic Pro 7, it's been years since Apple's sequencer had a major overhaul (of course, that could change by the time you read this). Steinberg Cubase 4 ($999) has all the up-to-date capabilities I want for the same price, and it's a cross-platform application to boot. With scads of professional features and a learning curve that's easily scaled by mere mortals, Cubase does almost anything any other sequencer can do, from live multitrack recording to printing scores. It also includes some very cool soft synths and lets you set up a virtual control room.

In addition to playing my two current favorites from Native Instruments — Massive ($339) and Kontakt 2 ($449) — I'd like to turn my computer into a Hammond organ; for that, I'm going to need B4 II ($229). And because I'll need a grand piano to accompany it, I want my favorite sampled piano, Synthogy Ivory ($349). B4 II and Ivory are the most realistic and controllable virtual organ and piano I've ever played.

IK Multimedia offers a bundle that includes three desirable instruments for a bargain price. For only $100 more than Miroslav Philharmonik (a virtual orchestra I wanted anyway), the Total Workstation Bundle ($699) includes Sonik Synth 2 and SampleTank 2.1 XL. Not only do I get three cool sample players, but I also get plenty of dynamite content ranging from Miroslav Vitous's symphonic library to dozens of vintage synths and drum loops.

It looks like I'm on track for my mobile system to serve as an entire virtual band. That means I'll need my favorite software drummer, FXpansion BFD ($399). BFD gives me killer content and tremendous control over the selection of drums, their mic placement, and every aspect of the groove. Lots of expansion packs are available for BFD, but the one I consider essential for my music is BFD Percussion ($349); owning BFD Percussion is like being friends with a bunch of drummers from around the world.

For guitar, a generous budget lets me step up to Line 6's Gearbox Plug-In Gold ($699). It's a suite of more than 130 plug-ins supplying practically every modeling algorithm Line 6 has developed. In addition to amps, cabinets, and effects for guitar and bass, it gives me processors I can use with vocals and all kinds of instruments. It also comes with a compact audio interface, the DI-G, for my guitar.

I love to use effects plug-ins, and I feel that no dream system would be complete without SoundToys Native Effects ($495). (But like Mike Levine, I would substitute PSP Audioware's PSP Effects Pack [$389] in a Windows-based system.) I also need a top-notch convolution reverb, and I couldn't go wrong with Audio Ease Altiverb 6 ($595). With Altiverb, I can download impulse responses of just about any environment I might need from Audio Ease's Web site.

My choice of stereo audio editor also comes with a premium collection of processors. In addition to the comprehensive waveform-editing and processing features built into BIAS Peak Pro 5, the Peak Pro XT 5 suite ($1,199) includes the entire contents of the Master Perfection Suite. In a single bundle, I get pitch correction, audio analysis, multiband compression, advanced gating, spectral matching, and up to ten bands of parametric EQ. (BIAS has announced Peak Pro XT 6 [$1,199], which promises to build on the strengths of version 5 and, according to the company, is scheduled to ship shortly after you read this.) For Windows users, the closest combination that offers Peak Pro XT's functionality is probably Steinberg WaveLab 6 ($699) paired with Wave Arts Master Restoration Suite ($499).

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