My Computer

It was more expensive than I had originally expected. Here's my parts list as invoiced by NewEgg. Italic numbers are parts I purchased locally. Locally purchased items' prices are from memory.

As you can see, the whole thing ran around $1200. This is more than my original estimate (of around $750) because I upgraded some parts, and didn't shop around for the absolute best price.

I saw a poll recently on a computer hardware website that asked where people bought their computer parts. Most of the people who responded said they bought their hardware from a single trusted online retailer. Well, I did the same. I chose New Egg for most of my computer parts.

The CPU, Case, and Monitor I bought locally because I didn't like New Egg's CPU return policy, and I didn't want to have a monitor & case shipped to me.

The parts that I upgraded are:

• Hard Drives - up to 80gb from 40
• Monitor - 19" instead of 17", also I bought this locally to save on shipping and back breaking
• Motherboard - Soyo rather than MSI
• Video Card - I went with an advanced Radeon so I could use my TV as a second monitor

Triple Boot System

I used Partition Magic 8 (Powerquest Software, $80) to create a triple boot system. That is, I can boot into 3 operating systems. Right now they're all Windows 98, but I may upgrade to Windows ME or XP on one or all of them.

1. The first OS is for general computer use. Browsing the web, checking e-mail, maintaining my website, etc.
2. The second OS is for Pro-Tools. Pro-Tools wants to be configured so other applications can't access the hardware as a sound card, so this OS is basically for Pro-Tools only.
3. The third OS is for non-Pro-Tools audio, currently just Reason, but I may want to purchase Cubase SX.

Depending on your BIOS, either the first 2GB or the first 8GB of your primary hard drive are available to install operating systems on. Most modern BIOS' will allow you to install an OS on the first 8GB of the drive. You can have up to 4 primary partitions per drive, so I installed 3 equally small partitions for OS, and used the 4th partition for files.

Since each OS only has around 2.6GB, the 4th partition is just for files and applications. Samples, for example, take up a large amount of space, though they should probably be on a dedicated drive. Audio files also should be on a dedicated drive. Since right now I'm not mixing MIDI with Audio files, the same drive should work for both Audio and MIDI, though I may want to get a dedicated drive for samples.

I put the computer together myself. It all went surprisingly easy. The biggest stumbling block was realizing that the monitor took a few second to recognize the signal - I thought the video card was somehow broken and re-booted several times before I realized that the "Video Connected?" message on the Monitor would go away if I just gave it a few more seconds.

Audio Equipment

Of course, what separates this studio from your ordinary computer is the fact that I can get high quality audio in to and out of it. There are two main ways to get audio in to a computer.

1. The first is through an Audio to Digital converter, or A/D Converter. Nearly every sound card in the world has a little 1/8" jack (the regular little headphone jack like on most walkman's), but the quality generally isn't good, and you can only get one channel in at a time.
2. The second is via MIDI. MIDI is a digital signal that tells the computer to "play this note now," and either the computer plays the note, or it sends information to an external MIDI source and tells it to play the note.

The Digi-001's primary purpose is as an A/D / D/A (Audio to Digital / Digital to Audio) converter, and it does this job nicely providing 8 inputs (2 with mic pre's) and 8 outputs. It also has a MIDI port, but I had trouble getting this to work.

I purchased a USB MIDI controller (keyboard), the Roland ED PC-300, manufactured by Edirol. It uses USB to send your computer MIDI information.

I already talked about the speakers in another article. While they're not as flat-response as, say, the Event 20/20bas, they were $300 for the pair, and I like how they sound. Plus, I use them as my main speakers for everything from TV/DVD watching to listening to music, so I have a good sense of what they sound like.

Software

I thought I'd be using ProTools (the Digi-001 is a hardware/software package - you can't use one without the other) all the time, but I find myself in Reason (Propellerhead Software, $279) most of the time right now. It's an all-in-one sampling program whose only real shortcoming is that it doesn't do audio tracks. All it does is MIDI/sampled stuff. In other words, I can program sampled drums, keyboard parts, string parts, bass parts, guitar parts, loops, etc. but I can't record voice or "real" guitar or "real" bass in it. The User Interface is super straightforward, especially to someone who's used to plugging cables into things - it has virtual cables on the virtual back of the virtual rack of virtual instruments.

I think much better in guitar than in keyboard, so I think I'm going to be using ProTools more now, probably recording electric & acoustic guitar as bed tracks and working around those. I'm a lot more at home on guitar than on keyboards, though I do plan on writing some classical style stuff using the keyboard. I'll also use the keyboard to trigger drums.

So How Does It All Come Together?

Fairly well, actually. While the Digi-001 hardware doesn't play nicely with the other software, it does play with it, allowing 2 tracks of input and output with other software. This allows me to use something like Reason, or Cubase with it on my non-ProTools partition.

I chose the Digi-001 because I know a lot of people with Pro-Tools, including the studio down the street, and I wanted to be able to trade sessions with them. They are all on Mac, however, so I will need to purchase software to translate the sessions between PC and Mac.

And while it's limited to 2 tracks in and out (instead of 8) while working with other software, it does work with other software, so if I buy Cubase, I can trade sessions with my Cubase friends as well. I don't really imagine using more than 2 inputs at a time most of the time anyway. I mean, I'm only one person. If I had another person hanging around, then I would need more than two inputs, but then, that's when I would jump into ProTools.

I do wish ProTools had a better Midi interface, and while it works, you have to get sounds for it and work with it to get what you want. And you'd probably want plugins, and all of that costs more money. With Reason, I get a solid program with a lot of great sounds out of the box. Unfortunately, to track audio I have to export the whole session and bring it into ProTools. Which means changing back into Reason and re-exporting any time I want to change something.

If I had it all to do over again, would I do it this way? I think so. While there are better A/D converters out there, this gives me compatability with my ProTools friends. The total cost was just under $2,500, which is reasonable for both a state of the art computer and home studio. Not to mention home theater and stereo system - the speakers serve many purposes.

Also, I'm tied to PC. I mean, I've been using Windows since... since there was a Windows to be using, and I'm not about to switch. Sure Digital Performer integrates MIDI and Audio much better than ProTools, but I'm not going to change my primary OS for one program.

Alternatives & Upgrade Options

I don't know that I would reccomend this setup to other people. If, for some reason you're tied to ProTools, then yeah go for it. Otherwise there are potentially wiser routes you can take. Below are some options, some of which I may follow in the future. Note that since I haven't used any of the below products, I can't endorse them.

• A/D Converter
  Someone contacted me after reading some articles on my website and mentioned RME Hammerfall DSP as A/D converters coupled with Focusrite Pre's. Or some MOTU gear, which I was originally considering. The Echo Mona (discontinued) also looks like a good product. 4 inputs with 4 mic pre's. Especially if you're going Mac, MOTU with Digital Performer seems like a good way to go. I took a long hard look at this option before I decided I wanted to go PC.
• Microphones
  I have a couple of SM-58's laying around, so they're my mic of choice until I can upgrade. There are a million microphone upgrade options, so I won't go into that right here. I also haven't really explored it at all, so I'm not qualified to comment.
• Mic Pre
  The Grace 101 is, by all accounts, a nice Mic Pre, and probably the best bang-for-your-buck. While Focusrite is also a well respected brand, something tells me that the Grace would be the way to go for me. FMR Audio also just came out with a Mic Pre (The Really Nice Pre, or RNP) that's probably very good.
• Compressor
  If you're looking for a compressor, I think that FMR's Really Nice Compressor (RNC) is the way to go. At under $200, it's been called (by many people) the best compressor under $1,000.
• Software
  While I haven't used it, I hear nothing but good things about Steinberg's Cubase SX and Nuendo. A friend of mine is using Syntrillium's Cool Edit Pro, and I've been hearing more and more good things about that package lately. I may be evaulating each in the future, especially Cubase. On the Mac there's also MOTU's Digital Performer.
• Speakers
  When I listened to them, I wasn't too crazy about them, but the Event 20/20bas have been very highly reccomended. While these are substantially more expensive than the Studiophiles, their frequency response curve is both much more linear, and it goes down farther.
• Computer
  An article on Barefeets.com has caused me to rethink the cost of an equivelant Mac - The $1600 dual CPU would've done fine, and a few extras would've upped the price to $2300 - probably less if I shopped somewhere other than apple.com. In fact, the old single CPU G4, probably available on e-Bay for around the price of my PC, plus a few upgrades (added RAM, extra HD), would've been good too.

So if you're building your own studio, feel free to follow my path, or choose your own. You may want to choose a program that integrates MIDI and Audio a little bit better than the ones I've chosen, though I admit I haven't explored Pro-Tools' MIDI options fully.

Why Do It? Where do I go from here? (the editorial bit)

I know at least four other people off the top of my head who have home studios. Dozens more when I include the whole host of people I don't keep in touch with anymore. Some attempting to build their home studios into pro studios, some who are in it for the love of it and are more concerned with artistic merit than quality of sound, others who simply want to be able to record themselves. Why do we build home studios?

I quit my band nearly 2 years ago, and during that time I've been doing next to nothing musically. I bought an amp and a bass, but I wasn't doing anything with them. I was trying out for bands, but most of them sucked. So earlier this year, I decided to build a home studio so I can make music and attract other musicians to me. I enjoy the creative process, but not nearly as much as the act of playing with other musicians.

So I stare at my computer for a couple of hours a night, keyboard (piano) in my lap, trying to make something that I think sounds good. I fall back on my classical training but the sounds in my head just aren't coming out of the computer.

Is it the limited sounds I have, should I be buying and downloading more sounds? Or is it me? Maybe it's the process. Yeah, that must be it, I'm exploring uncharted territory, of course I'm stumbling around. I know all this stuff, I feel all this stuff. I just don't know how to make it all work yet. At least, not in this medium.

When I play bass or guitar, I allow the instrument to shape the way I play it. The sound, the shape, the feel of the instrument all affect the way I play. The sound, shape and feel of a computer are somewhat new to me. At least, in the musical sense.

I've also been a collaborator for my whole musical life. A bass player, a side-man. I'm used to the discussion, the interplay, not the one man sitting at a computer. I'm much more used to counterpoint than melody.

Also, the fact that this computer is the same one I use for surfing the internet... maybe I need a space where my mindset changes.

One thing I'm doing more of now than ever before, and that's building a vocabulary. Every time I hear a chord change that I like or a melodic figure, I figure it out. Why does What Becomes of the Broken Hearted work so well? I notice that it's got a similar I, iv motion to it like What's Going On. Of course, I, iv is easy. It's what you do with it, and where you go with it that seperate the men from the boys.

I've started my first song. A slow a-minor progression. I've named it "Permission to Suck" because I have to constantly remind myself that I'm not going to live up to my standards just yet. I guess I could've also named it "Work Through It." I know some of you are thinking that I should've been writing music all along, but that's not the way I work. Like I said, I let the instrument shape the music.

Building a home studio was the easy part. I hope it's not a case of I want to be a musician, so let me spend thousand of dollars instead of I'm a musician. Let's make music.

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