Caught the DIY bug

[theshaggyfreak]

So, here's the deal. I have a fair amount of gear and I'm able to record at a decent quality. Now, now it is high dollar for the most part but I've learned to make due with what I have. I would eventually like to upgrade in certain departments, though. I could use a couple of better sounding preamps for one. I'm a firm believer that once you're ready to go beyond the realm of cheap, you might as well save your pennies and get some really nice stuff. Well, I think I can get a better bang for the buck by going the DIY route.

Now, I'm pretty decent with electronics. I grew up having a father who was an electrician and I spent many hours with my uncle building various things from Radio Shack (around the mid 80s). I haven't done a ton of building/modding over the past decade or so but I have been doing some practicing here and there. I was able to modify my early rev Epiphone Valve Jr, though, to get rid of the nasty hum and it came out rather well.

So, in preparation for bigger things, I've yanked out my old copy of 'Getting Started in Electronics' and I'm waiting for a copy of 'Electronic Projects for Musicians'. Hopefully that'll get me comfortable with building some simpler gadgets. I have all the tools necessary for things and I feel quite ready to go.

My question is this: There seem to be a TON of different sites around the internet that offer PCB boards for different projects. Some offer kits and some do not. It's kind of overwhelming to decide what would be the best bang for the buck. As I said, I could use a couple of good preamps. I plan on building a reamp box. I probably could use things like a compressor, parametric EQ, some guitar FX and possible something for summing.

Right now I do pretty much everything ITB but I would like to start giving myself (and other that I record) more options. If you really want to see what gear I currently have, it's all listed on my http://www.pureshift.com website. You can also see what my humble studio looks like in the Post Your Desk. I tend to record everything from acoustic folk and rock to techno and electronica in my little project studio. I know I don't have a ton of top notch gear but I make do. I'm hoping that doing the DIY thing will give me some nicer stuff as well as help me learn more about my craft.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

[GoatKnuckles]

do you really feel as though you wll be saving a ton of money. I just got into building pedals recently and decided to build a clone of the original MXR Dist. the kit was around $80.00 and i'm pretty sure you can buy the pedal new for about $100.00, the savings are cool but the headaches and stress I went through trying to get the little bastard to work definetly weren't, maybe its just me but I would rather pay a little more to be certain that everything is gonna work smooth, all that time spent putting shit together is time that could be spent recording.

[ckeene]

do you really feel as though you wll be saving a ton of money. I just got into building pedals recently and decided to build a clone of the original MXR Dist. the kit was around $80.00 and i'm pretty sure you can buy the pedal new for about $100.00, the savings are cool but the headaches and stress I went through trying to get the little bastard to work definetly weren't, maybe its just me but I would rather pay a little more to be certain that everything is gonna work smooth, all that time spent putting shit together is time that could be spent recording.

That's true that unless you're diy-ing en masse, your gear savings are pretty negligible. And once you factor in the cost of tools and time you may be losing money. But I do think going diy is a great learning experience, and will get you basic electronic knowledge that's going to make you a better engineer.

It's weird that studios used to have people in house building consoles and now you can call yourself an engineer and not even know what Ohm's Law is.

[theshaggyfreak]

Oh, I know it's not going to be exactly cheap. I pretty much have most of the necessary tools already, though, and this is something that I do want to do. I have the time and the ability but I'm interested in what projects might be the best to hit. I don't necessarily need to just get into buying kits. I can read a schematics and I used to do a decent amount of breadboarding back several years ago. I also have problems scrounging up parts myself. Hell, I already have a bit of stuff that I've stock piled.

[Scodiddly]

Microphones are a pretty good DIY project - you can build something pretty badass for under $50 if you don't mind doing some mechanical work to build the body and windscreen.

Here's mine:
http://www.scotthelmke.com/alice-mic.html

[Brian]

You can get JLM Audio kits and Seventh Circle kits. It sounds like you have more experience than most of the people that buy them. You'll do fine. You'll be happy too.

[theshaggyfreak]

You can get JLM Audio kits and Seventh Circle kits. It sounds like you have more experience than most of the people that buy them. You'll do fine. You'll be happy too.

Reading the first Tape Op book has really sparked my interest in electronics again after being away from it for a long time. I may end up building some stuff from MFOS as well. I've always wanted to build some synth stuff. I'm pondering some of the Seventh Circle stuff but first I want to see if I can build some sort of setup with just 2 of the pres in a custom box instead of getting their rack case. I really only need a couple of good pres.

[Brian]

You can get JLM Audio kits and Seventh Circle kits. It sounds like you have more experience than most of the people that buy them. You'll do fine. You'll be happy too.

Reading the first Tape Op book has really sparked my interest in electronics again after being away from it for a long time. I may end up building some stuff from MFOS as well. I've always wanted to build some synth stuff. I'm pondering some of the Seventh Circle stuff but first I want to see if I can build some sort of setup with just 2 of the pres in a custom box instead of getting their rack case. I really only need a couple of good pres.

That's my next project too, I'm going to build 4 of them and see how I can interface them into my current board. Runs on the same voltage and I have a huge powersupply now and a spare beefy enough to power 8 easily.

[single_fin]

i've built a jlm audio pre amp. great quality, easy build.

for eqs and compressors, http://www.gyraf.dk/
scroll down for the diy link.
i'm building the calrec parametric eq atm.

[FlowersForHuman]

I've always wanted to start on some DIY projects for the same reasons but doubted that it would save me much money if I wanted everything to work right! What I decided is that if I ever get the time I'm gonna learn how to take old preamp, eq, and comp modules and wire them up as rack gear. Maybe learn a bit about changing caps and things along the way.

Maybe this would be something you could look into. You may not end up with a bunch of crap that guitar center audio salesmen would be impressed with but it sure would be cool way to add sounds to your studio. After all, a lot of the really clean gear out there now is based on those old circuits anyway.

[digitaldrummer]

the Yamaha PM1000 racking is a pretty easy mic pre/EQ project and most end up liking the results.

Mike

[gyraf]

The GroupDIY forum is probably the best place to start on studio-related DIY electronics:

http://www.prodigy-pro.com/forum/index.php

Jakob E.

[Brian]

If you look at the top of the DIY forum page in tapeop there is a link to a iist of DIY projects.

[single_fin]

I've always wanted to start on some DIY projects for the same reasons but doubted that it would save me much money if I wanted everything to work right! ...

doubt it would save money?
you can buy a behringer or use that money and build a neve.

a pultec costs about $350-400. they sell for a few thousand.
a calrec eq, looks like it will cost around $150-200. there are only a few calrec desks in the world, so it's little hard to price this unit. but how much does a top-end parametric cost?

these units aren't just another eq. they are considered the best of the best. these are the units that audio engineers and producers dream about at night.
that's why people have bothered working out the circuits and making pcbs.

you also get to use the highest-quality components. they only cost a little more than bog standard - for a commercial operation that makes a difference to their profits , to me, it's maybe $10-20 extra.

[0-it-hz]

Yeah, build a pultec and tell me it isn't the sweetest thing ever.... my studio is about 70% DIY gear. If you have a decent job then DIY is just a hobby, your wage can buy you some nice gear and you can take the time to do cool stuff, if your wage is low (like mine) than DIY allows you access to a world you are otherwise forbidden from.