Making a studio better!

theposterkid · Post by **theposterkid** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:14 pm

What improvements have you made in your studio lately that left you wondering, "Why didn't I do this years ago!?" I want more ideas from you guys!

I'll start...

A) Moved the noisy computer/Pro Tools rig/hard drives/console power supply into the next room (The control room is freakishly quiet now!)

B) Repaired many broken mic stands with spare parts from other broken stands.

C) Installed shelves in one of the iso-booths to store mic stands.

D) Installed nice little hooks on the wall next to the patch-bay to hold our TT cables.

E) Replaced the speaker/amp/gain staging in the chamber so that engineers can blast it loud without us worrying about breaking anything.

F) Replaced the noisy AC fans on the power supplies for our tape machine with Silenx fans

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:04 am

Leslie cabinet and Trek combo preamp pedal.
Pair of Telefunken V72s.
Two of those AKG three-tier mic stands (more of those in the near future).
Getting broken stuff repaired.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

kayagum · Post by **kayagum** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:13 am

Installed track lighting. More grown up than Christmas lights.

Buy patch cords and snakes and splitters. You can never have enough.

chris harris · Post by **chris harris** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 7:32 am

relapped heads on 2-track

ordered 500ft. of cable and connectors to make 16 xlr cables.

T-rex · Post by **T-rex** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 8:26 am

Finally bought a soundcraft ghost and started mixing on it. Its the best improvement yet, I should have sucked it up and done that years ago.

Also put some shelves up in the mic closet to organize things a bit better. Small change compared to the ghost, but not to be able to get my hands on a mic without having to move 5 other things to get to it.

decocco · Post by **decocco** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 9:23 am

I recently bought a very comfy rolling chair for my modest home studio. It's so much better than my old chair! Yea! Seriously huge improvement!

capnreverb · Post by **capnreverb** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:28 am

I plan on getting one of those mechanics tool boxes (snap-on,craftsman, etc) that have all the drawers and sit on casters/wheels. Perfect for dynamic mics, smaller cords, adapters, tuners, capos, ebows, smaller guitar pedals, etc...... All nicely organised and laid out. Plus they lock which offers a bit of protection. The ones I have been looking at also have the larger space at the bottom with the doors that open. Good for storing larger pedals, Mics in boxes, shockmounts, gear manuals, etc.

ott0bot · Post by **ott0bot** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 11:38 am

decocco wrote:I recently bought a very comfy rolling chair for my modest home studio. It's so much better than my old chair! Yea! Seriously huge improvement!

Haha....me too. Scored a sweet vintage office chair in perfect shape for 6 bucks at goodwill. Then my wife bought me a hard plastic floor mat to have it roll on with ease. She's great like that.

Plus I have some curtains and some other sound proofing materials I'll be putting up over the next month to improve the accuracy of my monitoring. Getting rid of those hard corners finally.

Also...bought a handful of higher end mic cables.

dsw · Post by **dsw** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:02 pm

Vaccuumed

Dave Stanley · Post by **Dave Stanley** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:43 pm

I painted, installed baseboards, and built some proper looking acoustic panels.

Now the place looks like a room, not a garage/woodshop.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Tue Mar 17, 2009 2:48 pm

You gotta get, I've worked in huge studios, I know what I need, but, when my son got sick, I went from $80k/year to zip, so, I couldn't afford the most basic things.

First BIG improvement was putting shockmounts on everything.
My first Herman Miller chair was a huge improvement at $40 used. I bought two. Patchbays, loads o them on everything.
Modding all my mics so they sounded how I wanted, gigantic improvement.
Getting two tube mics and using them.
My focusrite outboard pre w/comp, de-ess, eq, etc. I don't use anything but the pre, and the comp rarely, but, it's perfect on a 57 and a marshall or fender.
Then getting my soundcraft modded to the hilt, huge improvement.
That's it, my next thing is moving into the totally designed building.

evilaudio · Post by **evilaudio** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:25 am

Installed a TT Patchbay.
Updated from a Mackie HDR24/96 MDM to a new Quad-Core 3 Ghz PC running Cubase. Holy crap, what a huge leap both have been for me! I can actually start using plugins on my tracks. Welcome to 2009, huh?

Ryan Silva · Post by **Ryan Silva** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:50 am

evilaudio wrote:Installed a TT Patchbay.
Updated from a Mackie HDR24/96 MDM to a new Quad-Core 3 Ghz PC running Cubase. Holy crap, what a huge leap both have been for me! I can actually start using plugins on my tracks. Welcome to 2009, huh?

Now your screwed!

lotusstudio · Post by **lotusstudio** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 7:53 am

Treated studio with bass traps and ceiling cloud that I built myself in various colors using Guilford of Maine fabrics (see pictures on myspace under "studio renovations" album)

Also, recently added:

Distressor

Adam A7 monitors and subwoofer

Radial reamp box

evilaudio · Post by **evilaudio** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:38 am

Ryan, I know!!! I've already spent WAY more time on a mix than I used to... I love the flexibility, but there's almost too many options for me now! Chripes!

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Making a studio better!

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