studio

Studio gear list, links and Johnny's advice for beginners

Computer

Intel P35 based PC running Steinberg Cubase 5 under Windows XP32

RME HDSP 9623 soundcard

2x SSL Duende Classic DSP units

TC Electronic Powercore PCI mk2 DSP card

"A decent, but not necessarily super expensive PC or Mac is important for music. One separate to your Internet computer is handy as you won't have to run virus software that can slow power hungry audio applications to a crawl. Choose a PC with a decent in-built soundcard and this should be fine to begin with - when you need, or fancy, an upgrade I'd recommend RME as I've been through many manufacturers' cards and none have been nearly as stable or easy to use."

Monitoring

PMC FB1 speakers

AKG LSM50 speakers

Quad 520 amp

Cambridge Audio Dac Magic D/A converter

SM Pro Audio M-Patch 2 passive monitor controller

Sennheiser HD 600, Beyerdynamic DT100 headphones

"The cheapest upgrade for any studio sound system are cotton buds - cleaning your ears thoroughly every day can be the equivalent of a many fold budget increase on amps and speakers. With clean ears, an intimate knowledge of the equipment you can afford and a couple of tweaks in mastering, professional results are attainable on a miniscule budget."

Selected VST plug-ins

Access Virus

Camel Audio Chameleon 5000

DiscoDSP Discovery

Eastwest Ministry of Rock, Symphonic Choirs, Symphonic Orchestra

Izotope Ozone 4

Native Instruments Battery 3, Komplete synths, Ohm Force Ohmicide

Prosoniq Orange vocoder

Re-Fx Nexus, Vanguard

Rob Papen Albino

SSL X-EQ, X-comp

TC Electronic Classicverb, Filtrator

Twisted Lemon Sidekick

"I'd always advise buying legit software. Pirated software rarely works efficiently and you will have no tech support if it puts your system tits up. By mastering just a few favourite plugs - perhaps those bundled with your DAW - you can attain a great individual sound."

Other

ART power conditioner

Clavia Nord Lead synth

CME UF7 keyboard

Samson USB mic

"My current house has a nasty buzz on the mains electricity which the ART unit has solved: Sound on Sound's website and forum offers useful advice on issues like this. I find it most cost effective to record vocals in a commercial studio, and the little Samson is just for the odd shout or noise I'll do myself."