Finally got my studio together! (and I've got pictures!)

[bduersch]

Some of ya know, some of ya don't, that I've had a busy few months... I bought a new house in March, moved in April, sold my old house & got married in May, then honey-mooned and started back to school part time in June. So most of my studio & guitar gear has been sitting in various crates & boxes & rubbermaid storage containers all over my basement for the past 10 weeks. The big goal of the past week has been to get my studio up & running again, hopefully better than ever (well, my last studio was set up on a couple of card tables in an unfinished basement, so anything would've been an improvement.)

Anyway, here's my new studio room. First time I've ever been able to have my recording gear, guitars & amps, and piano in the same room!


Of course, there's the obligatory guitar wall!
Left to right: EB MM John Petrucci 6-string, EB MM John Petrucci 7-string, Dean Evo 7, PRS McCarty Rosewood, PRS McCarty Soapbar, PRS Singlecut, PRS Standard 24, (4) PRS Custom 24’s, PRS EG-1, Takamine EF-385 12-string acoustic, Guild DC5E-NT acoustic, Guild F47M-CE acoustic, Baldwin Acrosonic piano, PRS Hollowbody II (on the wall)


Here's my studio desk. It's cool, but nowhere near as cool as the Randall MTS amps in the rack cases to the right!


This is up close & personal with the studio desk. It's definitely smaller than the 2 card tables I used to have everything set up on. I had to do some "creative modifications" to the desk to make room for all the gear.
Top to bottom: M-Audio BX8 monitors, Alesis SR-18 drum machine, Carvin HM40 headphones, Korg Triton workstation, Creative ProdiKeys keyboard, Cakewalk/Peavey StudioMix console


And finally, the current studio rack, which as time goes by, actually has fewer & fewer pieces of gear in it!
Top to bottom: (2) ART Tube Channel preamps, (2) ART TPS preamps, Behringer Multicom compressor + Optimus SSM-50 DJ mixer + Behringer Bass V-Amp + Custom-built P4 system


So anyway, that's the fruit of my labor. I managed to record a couple short demos on Saturday, which came out beautifully aside from the fact that I was playing like total crap. But at least when inspiration strikes I'm ready to record!

--B

PS--Just to put things in perspective, here's a picture of my old studio setup:

[bpd111]

Sweet! Air conditioned, I hope.

[the.godfather]

Very cool, pleased to see all the PRS are still there, as well as a few EBMM JP models too. Looks like a nice space!

[bduersch]

Originally Posted by bpd111

Sweet! Air conditioned, I hope.

Well, sort of. After being in the house for 2 months just about every component of the air conditioner died (compressor, condenser, blower). On the bright side, we have a home warranty that covers most of it, but the flip side is that it takes an eternity for claims to be processed, so we've been without A/C for 2 weeks and it'll probably be one more before everything gets replaced. At least the weather's been cooler the past week.

Only thing that's made this tolerable is that the studio is in the basement, so it's relatively cool down there. My original plan was to set things up in one of the upstairs bedrooms, but once we moved in I took over the basement since it's bigger and would allow me to record at night after my wife goes to bed. It's been a good excuse for me to get the studio in order... "Honey, I'll be in the basement where it's not 95 degrees."

--B

[jemsite]

Nice. congrats & best of luck with everything (new home, marriage, studio, etc) ... glen

[JESTER700]

How humid is it down there? I'd get a hygrometer and (if warranted) a dehumidifier. My basement needs the dehumidifier in summer, big time. The upside is, in winter I can leave guitars down there without humidification; it doesn't drop below 40%RH.

[sniperfrommars1]

Sir you have a paul reed smith G.A.S. issue that first needs to be sorted out. Your A/C is one thing but that G.A.S. is really causing major issues for your home. Ill be glad to take some of those off your hands for shipping and handling only please kind sir.

[bduersch]

Originally Posted by jemsite

Nice. congrats & best of luck with everything (new home, marriage, studio, etc) ... glen

Thanks!! It's good to be back... felt like I've had a 3 month sabbatical from Jemsite, e-bay, even e-mail in general.

Originally Posted by JESTER700

How humid is it down there? I'd get a hygrometer and (if warranted) a dehumidifier.

I have no idea (numerically) how humid it is down there. I do run a dehumidifier in my basement almost non-stop, for no other reason than habit (my parents had a leaky basement and always ran a dehumidifier to dry things out). It would be nice to stabilize the temp & humidity downstairs somewhat, if not for the guitars, for the piano, which has pretty much never been in tune since I got it!

Yeah, the PRS G.A.S. has been slowing down lately. Recently it's been more Randall G.A.S. as I've been getting MTS amps and modules like they're going out of style. And studio G.A.S. And the ever dangerous photography G.A.S., which is a whole other story.

--B

[the.godfather]

Some of those PRS are pretty damn nice. Whats your favourite one though if you had to pick?

[bduersch]

I think my favorite is my whale blue Custom 24. I've got 4 Custom 24's (3 w/ trems with standard HFS & Vintage bass pups, one fixed bridge with Dragon II pups), but the blue one is my favorite because it's got the regular neck profile, while the others have the wide thin profile. The guitar feels so solid that I sometimes think I could knock down walls with it... not that I actually would, but I just like that feeling. Well, and blue's my favorite color, so that doesn't hurt!

My second favorite is the McCarty Rosewood... it's got a more vintage tone than the Custom 24, but it feels even more solid (probably due to the thicker body & fixed bridge). The rosewood neck really warms the tone up a lot, and since it's unfinished, it's a real joy to play.

--B

[30yroldpig]

Wow, a PRS museum. Don't you ever feel guilty having all those guitars? I mean you can only play one at a time right?

BTW, how do those m-audio monitors sound?

Cheers
Pat

[guitarshredder7]

damn thats nice work can i hang out with you some time ?

[bduersch]

Originally Posted by Pat knup

Wow, a PRS museum. Don't you ever feel guilty having all those guitars? I mean you can only play one at a time right?

BTW, how do those m-audio monitors sound?

Well, I can play 2 at a time, but it's kinda Nigel Tufnel-ish where I strap one on and kick at the other one.

I like the M-Audio BX8's... they've certainly helped in my mixing ability recently. My favorite feature is that they have a series of switches on the back to allow the monitors to be "tuned" to your environment, in an effort to get a flatter sound out of them. I also use them as keyboard (Triton) and bass (through a V-Amp) monitors when recording, and am constantly impressed with their frequency range.

--B