Does anyone have advice on how to address start-up costs for an at-home, sound design studio? The initial investment is pretty steep and I am trying to assess the order/priority of equipment. Are there grants you can apply for (entrepreneurial, small business, etc.) that would alleviate some of the difficulty? Also, what advice do you have in regards to prioritizing purchases. Here is my set-up as of right now: MBOX 2 Pro-Tools LE 7.4 EMU PK-6 61 Key Synthesizer Audacity AT 2021 & 2022 Condensor Microphones with stands and pop-filter Small SFX Library Small selection of free plug-ins I am disregarding computer hardware right now and seeking suggestions for purchase of sound design software/hardware. What would be the next logical step? Thank you for your time and suggestions!

For really effective sound design you need a bundle of highly effective plug-ins. Since you have Pro Tools, what I'd recommend is:


GRM Tools Classic for RTAS ($350) A bundle of 8 plug-ins

Waves Gold TDM ($2,000) A bundle of 20 plug-ins


Get the TDM versions of Waves instead of the Native since you're running PT. This does increase the cost but the TDM runs a bit better than Native on a PT rig. If you cannot afford the TDM version, the Native version will also work and runs about $975.

Get the plug-ins first because then you'll have great flexibility over your current collection of SFX assets. From there you can get more royalty-free SFX collections or start creating your own. In my own studio I go with both options. For some of the less realistic options (like recording a live tank firing and moving around) I use collections. For what I can record (outside ambiance, stores, crowds, nature) I do my own.

How much will all of this cost? Depends on how many SFX collections you purchase. You can NEVER have too many! :)

The one thing I didn't see in your list: a portable field recorder. I use the Edirol R-09 for this. It costs about $430 and does a good job.

Great feedback, Nathan. Thank you! Follow-up question: The Waves plug-ins seem to cover the features of the GRM Tool Classic. Are you suggesting purchasing both or buying one for now and upgrading later?

How do you feel about VST Instruments? Is this something you use and, if so, what preferences do you have? I've heard really great things about Vienna and GPO (but the GPO samples I wasn't all that impressed with). I'm not all that impressed by the orchestral samples on my synthesizer, but I don't know if it's something I need at this point.

Thanks again!

Hey,

If possible buy both. I first started using both of these packages while at Funimation and I loved both of them. We had a few other plug-ins as well, but these two were my main, go-to plug-in bundles. Some of it does over lap, but I love some of the approaches GRM takes as well as some of the Wave tools.

I do use VSTs alot and have used both GPO and VSL. I'm not very impressed with GPO and you really don't get much bang for your buck. VSL is better but all of the samples are dry out of the box. This isn't a bad thing, as it gives you more flexibility in the long run. Two other great VST packs are East West which has a slew of bundles to choose from and Project Sam which mainly focuses on orchestral and percussive.

You'll need a powerful computer to really be able to handle these sample libraries though. Especially on a PC- it is very easy to run out of RAM when using quite a few of these samples in one session.

Thanks!

nate

The packages Nathan suggested are great. I own them both now and can't live without them.

I had for a long time only the waves gold bundle (which is painfully expensive for a starting studio and if you emptied your wallet, you are going to empty your brain of frustration with the registration :P, but if that has all passed, you'll notice it is really worth the money and trouble).

Nathan suggested me on yahoo one time the GRM tools and I purchased them recently and they are AWESOME :)
The waves bundle is great for mixing, mastering and also for some sound tweaking aspects in your sound designs, but the GRM tools really shiver on this point. You can do amazing things with it and manipulate sounds beyond believe. The descriptions of the tools does not describe enough the enormous complexity that is behind it.

For sound libraries:

The East West libraries are amazing. They have indeed some really good bundles which can give you for a nice price a very stable and well covered set.
For example they have the composers bundle and it covers a large orchestra, choir, rare instruments (great :P) and piano. It could be that the bundles have been slightly adjusted after they went into their new sampler PLAY, I haven't checked out, but for sure similar bundles are there.
East West really knows very well what the customers wants and I have hardly seen such complete packages as theirs.
The valua for money is great since you have different options with the orchestra library:

Silver Complete: lowest priced and less extensive library
Gold Complete: mid prices and full library with all articulations, but only in 16 bit and with 1 mic position
Platinum: highest priced and same sample set as Gold, but then with 16 and 24 bit samples + 3 different mic positions.

I am still working with gold and I love it. If you want to spend more money you can always decide to upgrade to Platinum for the different mic positions or extend your libraries with other products such as VSL, Sonic Implants etc. They blend very well in the mixes with other libraries.

Gentlemen,

This is all very helpful, so thank you for you in-depth suggestions and expertise. At this point I will have to make the most with what I have and really spend time learning each piece of equipment's strengths and weaknesses. I think the best approach, when I'm ready to upgrade, will be a "turn-key" operation and buying things one at a time.

I think in the situation of instrumental solos and looking to achieve a more realistic sound, I may employ strong, student performers in the area to come and record and fill in the rest with my synth instruments.

Again, thanks for sharing - it's nice to have people here that are willing to do so.

Cheers!

George

By the way, have either of you used Kyma? It's an extremely potent modular system that has tons of fun toys. The start-up package is about $3500 and comes with external hardware for processing. If you haven't used it before, you can hear and see demos at:

Kyma

re: Grants

The Small Business Administration (SBA), a government organization designed to help small businesses get their start (including grants, co-signing loans, etc), is mainly interested in helping businesses which sell a product--a physical product--rather than services.