Setup a Basic Studio Mixing, Production.

 

With ATH-M20x Monitor Headphones: INR: 12,541/-
With KRK Monitors: INR: 35,422/-

My on the Go Setup consisting of:

Monitors: KRK Rokit 5s
Audio Interface: Scarlett 2i4
Headphones: Sennheiser HD280 Pro
Microphone/Interface with Line In: Samson G-Track
Driver: Mac Book Pro 13 with 8Gigs and an i5.

Others: A Powered USB Hub connected to the mac extending a USB port to 7 Ports all powered connected to A Novation LaunchPadS, Novation Launch Control.

When I started with Production, I had very low resources and had to work on many DIY projects which helped me save a lot of money, you need this when you’re getting started. Keeping the right balance between the amount you spend on your tech versus the amount you’re spending on the promotion.

Let’s start with requirements:
What is your primary intention of setting up a production workstation?

If you want to produce music, you can do a setup at as low as 10k or less. Study a little about Sound Acoustics as where you want to place your Mixing, Production studio plays a vital part in how you’re mixing. You don’t want a particular frequency resonating in the room causing you to perceive something in the mixing room, but when you play it in the car, all of a sudden you notice that frequency range boosted of cut. Using Wideband Sound Absorbers, Curtains, Beds, Cotton and create a Live End and Dead End.

Getting Started with your Basic Music Production Studio Gear

Let’s get to the basics, what do you need to get studio quality sound with 44100khz, 48000, 96000 sample rates at 16, 32 bit depths. The CD standard is 44100khz at 16bit BLURAY is at 48000 at 24bit.

The Audio Interface is your Sonic Camera, its capturing sound waves and the better the job it does, the better your sounds will reflect in your mixes.

The Audio Interface:
I highly recommend the Scarlett 2i4 for its 4 outputs, great for live musicians who need headphone cue. So if you’re planning to DJ with high-end resolution, you can route your sound so that 1/2 goes to master and your headphone cue is coming out of channel 3/4. This can be done is any DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) by setting the output configuration as needed.

If you’re looking to play live with Headphone Cue or DJ with your interface, here’s what I suggest:

The Focusrite Scarlett 2i4: 

INR: 15,650.00

The Scarlett has a very clean Preamp and at this cost, It makes a great first audio interface as this red steel can record up to 192kHz / 24bit. The Front is very convenient with the mid-sized monitor volume knob reminds me of the Apogee One Knob Interface. The two inputs can be switched from Line to Instrument with a flick of the switch, along with gain control and Pad to attenuate those loud guitar amp DI signals. You can insert both TRS and XLR in the same input with the neatly designed input plug. The 48V turns on Phantom Power for both the inputs, now you can use your favorite condenser / Tube / Ribbon Microphone.

The crossfade knob between input and playback allow one to switch the signal going to the monitor knob from the direct input that is from the XLR/TS Line into the playback coming from the USB (Computer). I personally think I have a faulty unit but when I turn this knob while mixing, I get a lot of 60Hz noise and its kind of annoying so I usually set it at 12 O clock as it causes some panning issues at certain positions. Focusrite…Please correct this issue. You can choose your Direct monitor in Mono or Stereo, I use this often when I need to sample from a 1/4 TRS to dual mono L and R and record in stereo when in mono you can check for phase issues and that is helpful.

The Back is clean, with the USB input which connects to the Computer, the Midi in Midi Out for sending and recieving MIDI signals. There are 2 TS mono Outs 1- Left, 2- Right – These are the ones that connect to your monitors, (KRKs).

There is 4 RCA Outputs, 1,2- are auxilary of the TS balanced 1/2, 3,4 are the separate outputs, this is where you can put RCA to TRS (Stereo) 1/4 connector to the headphones and get your headphone cue set.

For those who don’t need 4 outputs and a separate headphone cue send, there’s the Scarlett Solo:

192/24bit, RCA Outputs, 1 Headphone Out with Direct monitor A/B Switch.

INR: 8,343/-

As this Interface records at the same sample rate and the preamp is at par with the rest of the interface in this the Scarlett line, This is a great interface for Producers who don’t need headphone sends. This one gives 2 inputs and 2 outputs, note that the first input is an XLR which does not accept TRS like the Scarlett 2i4 or others above, and the Channel 2 input gets TRS INSTRUMENT cable input. This interface does have the 48V Phantom power as well, so you can use any microphone out there. For the cost, its a great buy.

Monitors:

The KRK Rokits are great monitors, although they have a bit of a boost on the low end, its nothing a pre-monitor eq can not adjust and balance.

KRK ROKIT 5 Gen 3:

INR: 26,600.00/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are great monitors for Production, They do tend to have a pronounced low end, but this can be balanced out with the RT60 calculation and a master EQ on the monitors to get a balanced sound.

HEADPHONES:

If you don’t want to invest in monitors, although they are the best way to avoid ear fatigue and you can work longer with lower amplitude set at around 85db for comfortable mixes.
You can go for studio headphones like the Audio-Technica ATH-M20x

INR: 3,699./-

CABLES:

You’ll need to have atleast 4 TS/ TRS Cables and 2 XLR Cables.
For A simple Productio Setup just the 2 TS Mono Cables from the interface to the monitors are sufficient, if you plan on using a guitar DI or a microphone you’ll need an instrument cable or an XLR for the microphone. As the KRK have RCA inputs in the back, you will need 2 RCA cables if you’re going for the Scarlett SOLO Interface as it gives its main monitor output via RCA.

TS CABLES:

INR: 241/-

XLR CABLES:

INR: 199/-

RCA CABLE:

INR: 499/-

 

This cable is essential if you’re going with the SOLO Scarlett. This is made by Amazon Basics and my experience with them has been great, they make cables that have a professional quality low-level signal loss with minimum distortion.

Here’s a few setup options: