QuestionHello sir.
If one was to build a top-quality from scratch, what would the pricerange be, and what kind of equipment would be used?
Best regards - Nicklas Stender Kastrup
AnswerNicklas,
Entire books are written on this subject, but I will try to summarize as much as possible. You can spend as much as you want, tens of thousands to millions. I will give you a breakdown of what will get you a very good result without getting into the ridiculous. Remember a studio is only as good as the weakest part of the signal chain.
Starting with mics, you will need at least one top-of-the-line condensor mic. Microphone technology has not changed much in 50 years so consider it a lifetime investment. I personally prefer Neumann. Look to spend about $1500-$3000 on this, but it's worth it. If you are looking to record live drums and guitars you will need a wide array of mics and it's all up to personal preference, but you will need alot of whatever you get. You can't go wrong with Shure Sm57s. They are the industry standard for snare drums and guitar amps. Fortunately they are less than $100 a piece. I would get a specialty mic for the kik, like the AKG D112. You will also need several tom mics. I recommend Sennheisers, but there are quite a few out there. I recommend a pair of condensor room mics for ambience. You will need at least one active direct box for the bass and several passive direct boxes for keyboards and any other electronic instruments. You will also need enough sets of headphones for everyone on the floor with a central base for all of them. That should cover the floor. At this point, you will have spent about $8000-$10000 with all the incidentals. Let's move to the control room where it can REALLY get expensive.
Fortunately, it can actually be quite a bit less expensive than when I owned a atudio due to the fact you won't really need recorders, unless you want them. A really good CPU and Pro Tools has replaced most of those. Lets focus on outboard gear first though.
If you don't spend a quarter million on your console you can get one of the best parts of it for $1500+...the preamp. Having an exceptionally good preamp for your exceptionally good mic is a very good idea, Next, I would think about a pair of good compressors. Consider Avalon or something of that caliber. They are about $1500 each. You will need quite a few compressors though, sometimes 6-8 running at once, but you can settle with cheaper ones for other instruments. Again, a really good computer with a huge external hard drive and a ton of RAM memory loaded with Pro Tools and the HD hardware. Lastly, the console. You will decide if you just want a controller for Pro Tools or digital or an analog console. There is where the huge fluctuation in price is.
There will be lots of other little things, incidentals and items you can invest in.
After all that the bottom line is wildly big range, but minimum for top quality covering the basics is around $40000(US), but it could be a lot more. Hope this abridged version helps. It's a big topic so feel free to ask any follow-ups you would like.
