production equipment

[doc12inch]

hello all





im currently getting in ableton for producing music



my quesiton is





what is the minimal amount of hardware production equipment do you think you need, most people would say a pc/laptop im sure but Im kinda hands on so I mean like a midi keyboard etc etc



im defo gna get a midi keyboard probably the new oxygen mini ver 2 for about GBP50.00 which aint bad





anyone else care to comment??

[tonyc2002]

Decent soundcard and some good studio monitors!

[p_brane]

controller wise behringer so some okay midi controllers that wont break the bank.
there is an endless rotary version and a fader alternative

check out http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan05/articles/behringercontrollers.htm

not used them myself but know a few peeps who have them and have had no problems.

Would definitely invest in a decent sound card and some monitors if you catch the bug and want to continue producing. Then get yourself some acoustic treatment in the room your in.

hope this helps.

[dan the acid man]

decent monitors and soundcard is all you need along with your software these days

[RDR]

Make sure your environment is good enough for production.

If you have a spare space in your house then try and make sure the following is good:

Your monitors are 1mt from each ear and 1mtr apart with the tweeters at ear height

Dont put them too close to the wall and try and mount them on stands

break up the room with rugs

Dont have the monitors halfway up the wall

remember to play reference tracks through your monitors as well to get used to the sound they make.

Active monitors are usually the best as you dont need a separate amp

Make sure your cables are of good quality, no nasty phono cables as they can behave like a low pass filter

Get yourself a comfortable chair for the studio, you'll be in there a lot

Get a separate mouse for your laptop.. much faster working process

You'll need a wrist gel rest to stop you from getting RSI

The behringer BCR2000 aint a bad bit of kit, the manual is a ****ing nightmare though.

[Jay Pace]

^ some great advice there

Plenty of cheap and cheerful midi controllers out there, start with the cheapest you can, upgrade when (and if) you start outperforming it.

Spend as much as you can afford on monitors and a decent set of production headphones. Nothing will make as much difference to your productions as hearing whats actually happening. Especially when your are starting out, as you have to train your ears to learn how to balance mixes properly. This is very difficult to do with hifi speakers and ipod headphones.

Hold off buying any hardware until you find that you need it. There is so much great free software out there, the only thing that can't be modelled are your sound outputs.

[doc12inch]

thanks for all the feedback


im still going to get a midi keyboard I feel it will be easier to produce music instead of clicking the mouse all the time to hear each note


let me know what you think of the below

http://www.dv247.com/invt/32482/ - this one i really like



http://www.dv247.com/invt/31117/ this one maybe



http://www.dv247.com/invt/32487/ -
this one I really really like but may be a tad out of my price range but it has got sliders, its kinda like an all in one drum machine midi controller and keyboard





let me know what you think

[Electrictribe]

thanks for all the feedback


im still going to get a midi keyboard I feel it will be easier to produce music instead of clicking the mouse all the time to hear each note


let me know what you think of the below

http://www.dv247.com/invt/32482/ - this one i really like



http://www.dv247.com/invt/31117/ this one maybe



http://www.dv247.com/invt/32487/ -
this one I really really like but may be a tad out of my price range but it has got sliders, its kinda like an all in one drum machine midi controller and keyboard





let me know what you think

http://www.dv247.com/invt/32482/ - looks ok.

The oxygen 8 are cheap and feel a bit cheap to use. However, my one I have owned for about 7 years and still going strong.

Alternatively the CME range are very good (I use an older model CM6 nowadays)

http://www.dv247.com/invt/38322/

Thing with hardware is the same as computers buy the best you can afford then hopefully you won't need to update as often.

Also get yourself a decent set of headphones. Speakers are also a studio essential but you can make do on hifi speaker sand decent headphones until you decide if you want to invest more of you money and time into producing.

[doc12inch]

http://www.dv247.com/invt/32482/ - looks ok.

The oxygen 8 are cheap and feel a bit cheap to use. However, my one I have owned for about 7 years and still going strong.

Alternatively the CME range are very good (I use an older model CM6 nowadays)

http://www.dv247.com/invt/38322/

Thing with hardware is the same as computers buy the best you can afford then hopefully you won't need to update as often.

Also get yourself a decent set of headphones. Speakers are also a studio essential but you can make do on hifi speaker sand decent headphones until you decide if you want to invest more of you money and time into producing.

the cme one you have listed looks like a beast haha, ill deff going and have a look at that, looks like a good all in one unit