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for example, what order would i want to get these:

monitors (active)
sub
pre amp (if at all needed)
headphones
treatment for walls
any other stuff you would suggest


note: this is for my home, at the moment i dont even have monitors i have shitty computer speakers and want to know the importance of the above items for producing and eventually mastering my own stuff

thanks for any help

Well I would say Fast Computer then Sound Card then Monitors and the rest of your list.

Good computer -> soundcard -> monitors -> good speaker placement -> sub (if necessary)-> everything else
imho

How much can you actually hear what a soundcard does?

I'm putting off replacing mine because I might be getting a new computer anyway. I'm using one of the m-audio fast-track boxes and every time stuff gets turned on/off in the house there's a thump and reason says 'your audio driver is not connected/failed.'

Don't mean to hi-jack here, if you're getting a decent computer to start is it likely you'd need to upgrade the soundcard anyway?

tbh with you I couldn't / can't really hear a degradation in the D/A side of my card, it may colour the sound a little but I think it will do as a money saver, when you decide to start recording then you will need to upgrade for sure.

1.Computer that is fast enough to cope with what you're projects require (processor/ram)
2.Monitors, I'm guessing at this stage you don't have too much cash to splash around so passive/active I can't really advise on which is better.
3.Room treatment, gonna do a whole lot more for you than upgrading that sound card. and adding a sub when you haven't even got the sound accurate from you're main monitors is a bad move imo.
4.However if you can't afford room treatment then headphones are possibly a good runnerup, they are good to check mixes on anyway so I'd get this shortly after.
5.When all is fine and dandy then a sub may be nice to have, remember about proper room treatment though and how you are going to process the output (lowpassing sub, splitting frequencies between the main monitors and the sub) this is something I still don't know much about so woudl appreciate if someone could give advice?
6.Again if you are recording then you might need a preamp, depends on the soundcard/interface you upgraded to though

I would say that's it, 1-3 are essential, 4-6 are nice but will only be effective if you know what you're doing otherwise it could just be a waste of money/time.

I'd say keep the mixing in the box for now, no use spending money for the sake of it, eventually somewhere down the line you will find that there's something not working in you're workflow, you can then deal with it.

lytr wrote:for example, what order would i want to get these:

monitors (active)
sub
pre amp (if at all needed)
headphones
treatment for walls
any other stuff you would suggest


note: this is for my home, at the moment i dont even have monitors i have shitty computer speakers and want to know the importance of the above items for producing and eventually mastering my own stuff

thanks for any help

From that list:
Monitors
Headphones
Treatment
pre amp
sub

Sub/preamp vary depending on if you use something like microphones or guitars a lot. I wouldn't say a sub is necessary, more of a luxury. I would put a soundcard as #1 though because it's hard to make music without one, you will run into problems very early if you start to use virtual instruments or effects with just your default sound, the latency will start to drive you crazy pretty quick.

might sound a bit whack but a good chair can make all the difference same time. got a mate who couldnt sit for longer than an hour before his shit started fucking out cause of his seating position.......if you relaxed you'll get the best out of yourself and at the end of the day its you making the music not the computer

i would say:

1. Pc
2. Monitors
3. Soundcard (if planning to record stuff or use midi controller, if not then proceed to step 4)
4. Roomtreatment (if too expensive or not possible, then get some decent headphones)
5. Other stuff

So what's the real advantage of having a good soundcard over say the ASIO4ALL drivers? I got mine for the extra mic inputs but besides vista not being able to handle the drivers (so I'm told) I didn't really notice any change in sound quality. Not saying there's none, just my ears may not be as well trained as some of yours!

Monitors are first. If you can't hear what you're doing the rest don't matter.

Symbiant (Local DNB producer) writes on a 400mhz mac and does a fine job.
Has grabbed the number 1 spot on beatport with that machine!)
You can always mix down.
Speed is a luxury to let you work in a more dynamic manner. Resampling is always fun though!

Maybe sound dampening next. You don't need a sub IMO - just get something like HR824s.
XI writes on 6inch KRKs (the VXTs last time I visited) and produces kick assed tunes w/o a sub.
It aint necessary.

Sound card isn't necessary unless you're going to record all kinds of shit at once or yours is really noisy.
ASIO4ALL is fine for drivers.
If you want to record one channel or mix down pristine, you're better spending money on a dedicated adac (even a cheap one by behringer or something) and getting a simple cheap soundcard with spdif in and out.

thanks for all the advice guys, guess i need to go buy some monitors and treat my room!

Monitors... there's no point in making music if you don't know exactly what it sounds like... well, unless you're literally only making tunes to play on your own system for fun (which you may well be... it's all I've managed so far).

The sound quality of my tunes increased a LOT after getting a set of monitors...

better d/a conversion will lead to better mixdowns-- once you know what to listen for. If you're just starting out, i'd honestly say get a $50 mixer and run your headphone outs from your computer into that. when you start to develop ears for clarity, jitter, etc, then you'll start to think about upgrading. if you start with an apogee ensemble, you'll never know what to listen for.

a sub really isn't necesarry. it's fun, certainly not a detriment, but not entirely useful.

the most important thing is, of course, GOOD IDEAS. the rest of it all follows in a chain ( a machine to document those ideas, speakers/cans to hear them, etc) but you know how it is... shit in, shit out.

Are there any budget room treatment techniques anyone knows? I've got the sh**test speakers as it is, but they're facing some french windows, in a square room with wood-laminate flooring. I don't know much about this stuff but that is bad acoustically isn't it?

> Midi keyboard (makes making music waaay easier and more fun!)
> Decent sound card (as much as ya care to afford. Anything over £100 is better than on board sound. Make sure it has an XLR input!)
> Mic (industry standard model like the SM57 or 58)
> Decent monitors
> Vinyl cutting machine/tour bus filled with rack gear/Freddy Mercuries pubes framed in jewel encrusted platinum.

therapist wrote:Are there any budget room treatment techniques anyone knows? I've got the sh**test speakers as it is, but they're facing some french windows, in a square room with wood-laminate flooring. I don't know much about this stuff but that is bad acoustically isn't it?

these work amazingly well; built 6 of 'em so far. only hard part is getting the rock wool (hint: ebay)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyYUpkpL0gw

So wait, the sound card I just bought is waste? I have two of them and I kind of wanted one (just the little fast track) to just make beats with so my audio was clean sounding as it has no stereo in for recording. (I do notice a difference in sound quality v. my onboard on my laptop). I already had one that I was use to record DJ mixes in and use to sample records and such, but that fucker would start to buckle up if I loaded too many VSTs up.. So I have two. Are there any benefits to this?

comp>soundcard>monitors>acoustic treatment>comfortable chair
rest is just add ons

I master proffesionally and mix 24+ track projects on a 300 quid laptop.. do the math

Monitors and Treatment always first.


worry about whats coming out of your PC when you can hear it properly.

^ right there holmes.

I think a good soundcard is important - you'll get low latency glitch free operation without freezes or crashes. The thing I love about my emu 1616m is that its got a mixer - I can use traktor, send that through the sound card into abelton, mix that all together and shit, send it to fl if I wanted to, maybe drop a little youtube in there. The ability to internally route and mix digital signals is f'ing priceless.

EDIT, fuck, little foot squeezed in there, was referring to deadly's suggestion.

Comp - soundcard - monitor