(( pinknoises ))

pinknoises.com
info : interviews : tools : bibliography : links

STRONG TOOLS

Analog Tara on home studio setup, September 2000.

Editor's note: Electronic music technology changes at a rapid pace, so this article from 2000 might seem pretty dated. For one thing, it's very hardware-focused, while many processes mentioned here are now much more widely accessible (and affordable) via software. Some general tips are still relevant, though, so I leave this article online for reference as well as a quaint reminder of production trends from bygone years!

I'm always suspicious of articles on music gear that offer "5 Ways to Assemble a Home Studio"; like articles on "How to Write a Hit Single"; they assume the reader has no creative bone in her body. But when you're setting up a home studio for recording electronic music, the abundance of equipment options can be daunting. With this in mind, here are some ideas I've accumulated while setting up my home studio for electronic music production. This is intended more as an overview for beginners rather than for experienced audio heads; and since complete coverage of all equipment options is impossible, I've included links to sites that have more detail on specific topics. Okay, here we go:

SYNTHESIZERS + DRUM MACHINES

One main thing to think about when choosing a synth is whether you need "realistic" sounds (piano, strings, etc.) or whether you want to make your own wackier sounds from scratch. For realistic sounds, you'll need a sample-playback synth, affectionately known as a "ROMpler". Massive ROMplers, like the Roland JV series, Korg's Triton and Trinity, and the Alesis Q-series, offer pretty much every instrumental sound imaginable and usually can be expanded further with plug-in cards. But if you don't need the sounds of an entire orchestra, you can get away with spending half as much for a genre-specific sound module like Emu's Planet Phatt (hip hop) or Orbit (techno/trance), or an instrument-specific synth like the Voce or Oberheim organ emulators.

If you'd rather get as far from reality as possible by way of oozing, organic sub-bass lines and warbles, stay away from ROMplers; analog synths are the puppies you're after. Within this category, your main choice is between original analogs from the 70s and 80s and new, virtual analogs, which have the old skool knobs 'n sliders programming interface, but simulate the analog sounds with digital technology. Older analogs (like the Roland Juno series from the mid-80s) arguably sound warmer and have more charm than their digital counterparts, although they usually weigh a ton. Virtual analogs (like the Access Virus, Nord Lead, and Korg MS2000) offer more precise programming capabilities and more stability than the old machines, but are usually significantly more expensive.

General tips on synths:

1) The Synth Zone at Sonic State and the Synth Database at Harmony-Central offer good overviews of all options available to the synth shopper, including awesome databases of user reviews. And if you're dealing with a new or old analog, a good online intro to synth programming is the article "What is Analogue Synthesis?"

2) Shop around for the proper synth by testing out the sounds and interface in a store. Each synth has its own personality, and you'll probably bond more immediately with one than the others. Make sure the monsters have sounds you will actually use. It can seem quite sexy for a synth to have 600 sound patches, but if 598 of them sound lame after the honeymoon period is over, you're stuck. Take care to find a synth you are comfortable programming, so you won't resort to using the same preset patches over and over. And if you can, milk those megastores for all they're worth! Take advantage of return/exchange policies to test gear out at home before finalizing your decision.

3) If you purchase more than one sound module, it's a good rule of thumb to get ones made by different manufacturers. Your gearhead colleagues will recognize characteristic sounds from certain pieces of kit, so unless you plan on morphing all presets beyond recognition, take steps to ensure that your tracks don't sound like a demo CD for the Korg company, or whatever.

4) Especially with keyboards, think sooner rather than later about space considerations and portability. If you're a keyboard player, it may be important to have a full-size keyboard. If you're not, you could perhaps get away with a three-octave synth or an all-in-one box like a Roland Groovebox that'd be much tidier in your studio and handier on the road. Likewise, if you have one keyboard that can act as a MIDI controller for your other pieces of gear, you may want to get rackmountable versions of other sound modules, which are cheaper than the equivalent keyboard version and take up less space at home. Setting up a studio neatly and ergonomically is a really smart thing; like finding a room or a corner of a room where there's room for your stuff to dwell in peace (in my last apartment I was perpetually tripping over cables, which just gave me a hostile attitude toward music production), investing in a decent chair where you'll spend hours laying down tracks, and taking time to map out where each piece of kit should be in order to maximize your comfort and productivity.

SAMPLERS

For most electronic musicians, the sampler is the guts of the studio. It's true, as far as the concept of sampling is concerned, that what you put into a sampler determines what you get out. However, each sampler tends to have a few distinguishing characteristics that win over legions of fans. The Yamaha A-series, for instance, has brilliant Loop Divide and Loop Remix functions for chopping up and rearranging breakbeats, if that's your thing. The Korg Electribe ES-1 is unique in combining sampling capacity with the X-O-X interface usually found only on drum machines. These types of details are sorted out in depth in magazines like Electronic Musician and Sound on Sound (which has a good online archive of reviews.

One thing to be wary of with samplers is add-on costs; additional memory, an internal or external hard drive or Zip for storage, extra outputs, sometimes even effects processors are sold separately. On the bright side, there's a pretty high turnover for samplers in the used-gear market; you can definitely find people selling last year's model, fully loaded with memory, storage and effects, for a fraction of what you'd pay for a new model with add-ons. A lot of used Yamaha A3000s and Akai MPC2000s (non-XL version) are in circulation now for great prices; Rogue Music is a good place to look.

EFFECTS

Now that you have some sounds to play with, you can think about how to further twist them using effects processors. Again, Harmony-Central has a great online Effects Database with user reviews of various effects processors, as well as articles that explain how effects like compression and phasing work. Don't treat effects as an afterthought (i.e., adding reverb to a vocal track); think of them instead as integral to the creation of sound. For many kinds of electronic music, the effect is the reason for listening to the sound, whether it's a distortion-mangled hip hop beat or a deep spring reverb effect in a dub track. Most synths, samplers, and multitrack recording machines in the neighborhood of $1000 offer fully programmable, onboard digital effects processors at no extra cost, so if you can afford one of those machines, it's easy to work effects processing into the creative process. For a cheap, raw alternative, check out using guitar stomp boxes with synths and drum machines. These are an inexpensive solution to effects processing, and often produce surprisingly unpredictable results (a nice contrast to the specificity of digital effects); their unpredictability also makes them fun to use in live performance. If the budget allows, check out dedicated effects processors such as the Waldorf 4-Pole filter; the Sherman Filterbank (the mother of all filter machines for making drum tracks boom and flutter); and Bob Moog's wood-paneled Moogerfooger phaser, ring mod, and filter pedals.

MIXER

Once you've amassed sound modules, sampler, and effects, you'll need a mixer to act as the clearinghouse for all these components to feed through, so you can adjust the levels and panning of all your sounds in one place. Conventional wisdom and personal experience indicate that Mackie mixers kick ass; plus, if you're new to studio setup, their manuals are a fun read and offer useful diagrams for hooking everything up.

This is a good time to mention equalization (adjusting the high, mid, and low frequencies of each voice in your mix), something you'll want to do with your mixer. A little EQ tweaking makes all the difference in the world in terms of making each instrument in the mix stand out. A lot can be learned by trial and error before you grasp the terminology of decibels, etc.; but for some tips on how to do it, check out the FAQs at www.homerecording.com. Or for more info on audio terminology, read the EQing article at Harmony-Central.

MONITORS

To monitor your mixes, you can go for headphones and/or studio monitors. Our headphone authority, Headroom Corporation, recommends the Grado SR60s as the best open-air studio headphones under $100. If you need phones that hug your ears for live performance, Sony makes a couple of snazzy, flexible models (including the MDR-V500) in the $75 to $125 range that are quite popular. As for speakers, hmm, what a huge can of worms. The Yamaha NS10s have long been considered the industry standard because of their ability to convey a flat, uncolored sound, which is what you ideally want when mixing. (Because if you get used to mixing on monitors that sound too sweet, you may take liberties in adjusting levels and EQ that will translate crappily to other people's speakers.) The NS10s are still popular (though no longer manufactured, available on eBay), and there are now several rivals, including Event and Tannoy monitors. The best approach to speakers, like any other studio component, is to test them out and discuss options with a sales professional, keeping in mind that a "flat response" is usually best.

SEQUENCER

For beat-oriented music, to make your synths, samplers, and drum machines work together, you'll need a sequencer, the central compositional tool in many studios. Remember that your sequencer must be your friend; if you have a fussy relationship with your sequencer, your music will be a long time in the making. The main choice here is whether to use software or hardware (or both). The software/hardware debate usually boils down to how you like to work: whether having a large visual display is more appealing than a tiny LCD screen (editing music with your eyes rather than your ears); and whether you prefer to twiddle knobs or hit pads rather than work with a computer keyboard and mouse.

Some popular hardware sequencers on the market are the Akai MPC2000XL and the Yamaha RM1X. The MPC is basically a sequencer with drum sampler built in, while the RM1X is a sequencer with synth capabilities. The MPC is the classic machine favored by hip hop producers and many other electronic musicians. Some complain that as an all-in-one box, it offers less capability than the combination of a dedicated sampler and dedicated sequencer. But, no doubt, the MPC shines as a drum sampler, especially because of its velocity-sensitive drum pads.

I opted for the Yamaha RM1X, which at is half the price of the MPC and doesn't require externals like a Zip drive for storage. People tend to love Yamaha interfaces or hate them; personally, I only wish my life were as organized and easily-navigable as a Yamaha interface. As a sequencer, the RM1X offers a nice structure for developing tracks, than gets out of the way and lets you make music without hassle. While it has a comprehensive batch of onboard sounds, many people tend to find these rather weak, so it may be best used in conjunction with strong external sound modules. Its tweakable knobs make it a joy to use live; it works especially well for live morphing in conjunction with a Yamaha A-series sampler.

Good, smaller sequencers to learn on (though not the workhorses of the MPC and RM1X) are Yamaha's QY70, the equivalent of a Palm Pilot for musicians, which has a host of okay onboard sounds; as well as Roland's MC Grooveboxes (favored by Peaches, for one example). Other sequencers with cult followings are the Doepfer MAQ 16/3, developed with the help of Kraftwerk and the Notron, a 4-track sequencer that's supposedly a monster for live performance.

Before I forget, I should give a shout to MIDI, the protocol that makes synths and related machines communicate with each other and operate in sync. The interfaces of most music machines these days are so intuitive, you can make a lot of music without extensive knowledge of MIDI. But you still kind of need to know the score. For a good overview of MIDI, check out Midi World and Midi Farm. You may also want to check out Rob Young's book The MIDI Files, and Paul Lehrman and Tim Tully's MIDI for the Professional.

A few closing tips:

1) Buy only one piece of gear at a time, and learn it well before buying something else. It's tempting to accumulate things as quickly as you can, but nothing is more stressful and unproductive than having three pieces of new gear staring you in the face when you barely know how to use one. You'll end up taking a nap.

2) Great music can emerge from very minimalist studios; in fact, having limitations often forces creativity that wouldn't otherwise happen. When you sit down with a good sampler and synth, it's like facing infinity plus infinity in terms of sonic possibilities. Buy a few pieces of kit that are deeply programmable, and you will never exhaust their possibilities in your lifetime. More minimal studios are also easier to pack up and tote around to gigs.

3) When budgeting for a studio, don't forget to take into account the mundane things like connecting cables and, if you plan on gigging out, road cases. These can add a bundle to your overall cost; better to plan ahead.

4) Don't take anyone's opinions terribly seriously. Much of sample-based music (hip hop and dub come most immediately to mind) has been created by artists who broke conventions of production, and used equipment for reasons unintended by manufacturers and unexplored by earlier producers. It's your thing; do what you wanna do.