New to Production...Any setup recommedations?

So the story goes, after working for a while, I decided to buy an MPC, I just rescently bought the 4000 and I don't know where to go from here, in terms of a setup. I was wondering if anybody who has been in my position before could help me out and steer me in the right direction.

It may seem stupid, but never ask never tell

So what would I need for a setup as of this moment I just have an MPC 4000, I haven't bought anything else yet. I haven't had much time to really look into what I need to buy, have and how to use it. I'm at the point in my life where im completely out of the water in terms of working for someone else, i've been working since I was 16 years old fixing computers and rescently my employer announced that there will be major lay-offs, Fortunately I have invested my money in entertainment ventures and it has paid off and now I need a new profession. I know people may have a tendancy to say that it is a risky business and it's hard to make it in, but right now as I said im ok, in terms of finances.

I know I need

a sampler/drum machine ( which I have)

keyboard or racks modules (differences between both (racks and
keyboards) an example being a fantom x8 and fantom xr rack mount, diference in sound,price, quality, how to use a rack etc.)

monitors ( good monitors)

protools? ( difference between all the protools setups, m-powered,LE,HD, I
have no idea how to use protools and the differences between all those,except the price of the HD is very expensive)

computer system (I have a powerbook laptop 2004 model and a g5 with cinema display)

turntables (which turntable is best, I know the stanton has the pitch and speed faders to use, which is fairly easy, but can I sample from a stanton?)

mixer ( I am completely lost when it comes to this, what does it do/how do you use it?, how many tracks would I need 16? 8?)

I know that is alot to ask, im not too sure, but I have a feeling that there are more producers besides me that is not too sure about what I need and how to use some things.

in terms of price, it could be negotiated with me because I have friends that work at music stores and I could get a better deal than most.

If someone could help me with all my questions I will be very greatful

holla at yo boi

thats a lot to explain and really just depends on how comfortable you are making your beats. (i.e. sample based or composing)

sample based- a decent turntable to sample from, unless your going to be scratching and pursuing deejaying as well, then a higher end product would fit this more appropriately.


composing- a decent workstation such as one of the big three. (Triton, Motif, or Phantom). and if your budget doesn't call for it a smaller workstation or softsynths. i suggest reason for a softsynth, which im currently using. set-ups not to difficult and it gives you a decent range of instruments and effects out the box. although tweaking the preset sounds may aquire sometime of getting use to, once you become comfortable with it, you can create to your hearts desire.

rack module- no keys just sounds
keyboard - well if i gotta explain this one i let someone else tell ya.

mixer wise i would suggest something that supports usb/firewire compatibility. Being that you've gotta mac why not take advantage of being able to use your mixer as you audio interface as well. PRO TOOLS offers what they consider reasonable interfaces as well as the very user friendly software, but before going and spending what money you do have stashed on a pro tools system, try any multitracking software to get familiar with what and how the basics work. I'm using the mobile pre from m-audio ($150) with adobe audition 2. and can get a suprisingly decent sound for what i have.

for the stuff i didnt mention check out tweakheads.com lots of useful info.

also dont overwhelm yourself with to much your unfamiliar with other wise you'll get frustrated with the technical/ set-up aspect. which can really destroy your motivation as well as inspiration.

YOUR LOST MAN.

you gotta figure out what u wanna do. If u wanna sample off vinyl,make sure you have a reliable source for records first. get a turntable, and mixer(if necessary). If you wanna make keyboard sounding beats, u should buy a midi keyboard and hook it up to the mpc.

like i said" YOUR LOST MAN-YOU GOTTA FIGURE OUT WHAT U WANNA DO"

and the more equiptment you buy at once the more confused youll be.

www.tweakheadz.com

Hit guide and u good to go.

Nicole

Mike Dugan wrote:thats a lot to explain and really just depends on how comfortable you are making your beats. (i.e. sample based or composing)

sample based- a decent turntable to sample from, unless your going to be scratching and pursuing deejaying as well, then a higher end product would fit this more appropriately.


composing- a decent workstation such as one of the big three. (Triton, Motif, or Phantom). and if your budget doesn't call for it a smaller workstation or softsynths. i suggest reason for a softsynth, which im currently using. set-ups not to difficult and it gives you a decent range of instruments and effects out the box. although tweaking the preset sounds may aquire sometime of getting use to, once you become comfortable with it, you can create to your hearts desire.

rack module- no keys just sounds
keyboard - well if i gotta explain this one i let someone else tell ya.

mixer wise i would suggest something that supports usb/firewire compatibility. Being that you've gotta mac why not take advantage of being able to use your mixer as you audio interface as well. PRO TOOLS offers what they consider reasonable interfaces as well as the very user friendly software, but before going and spending what money you do have stashed on a pro tools system, try any multitracking software to get familiar with what and how the basics work. I'm using the mobile pre from m-audio ($150) with adobe audition 2. and can get a suprisingly decent sound for what i have.

for the stuff i didnt mention check out tweakheads.com lots of useful info.

also dont overwhelm yourself with to much your unfamiliar with other wise you'll get frustrated with the technical/ set-up aspect. which can really destroy your motivation as well as inspiration.

Thanks alot mike, I see that you can be quite sympathetic to my position and thanks for not ridiculing me when it comes to where I stand. Right now as I see, I feel that I want to go into the vinyl sampling range of producing, although Since I have played keyboards since I was young, I will be trading in my motif es6 for a roland fantom x8 today, So I will have a workstation keyboard. Do you have any suggestion on what turntable will be best for sampling?, im looking at the stanton, technics 1200, gemini or numark turntables right now

If you only want to sample with the keyboard. Go with something like the Numark TTUSB. It's belt-drive so you can't really scratch with it and stuff but it has a USB interface which makes sampling into your computer extremely easy(no need for a dj mixer, turntable preamp, etc). Then once you have the section of the record you want to sample from recorded(use a program like audition or audacity), load it into Recycle to chop it into small pieces. Then just load it onto your mpc.

Though I've never sampled and chopped on an mpc4000, so I don't know if the computer would be the easiest route. It seems to be for me with my mpc1000.

Now besides all that, since you have the mpc and keyboard all you really need is an interface so you can plug all this into your computer and record it into software. You're going to want to use firewire because it's faster than usb and can handle more data. You could go with a Presonus Firepod (which I just bought) that has 8 mic preamps, and the inputs double as line or xlr. It'll run you about $500. If you don't need that many inputs, there's the Presonus Firebox which I think has 2 mic preamps and like 4 inputs total. I also hear good things about the MOTU Ultralite i think it's called.

You could also go with a mixer, but the quality firewire mixers tend to cost a lot more than an interface.

Good luck with this music thing, I'm also really just getting started on buying up hardware and getting serious with it. (mpc1000, numark ttusb, presonus firepod, friend has a yamaha mo8)

nydacaun wrote:If you only want to sample with the keyboard. Go with something like the Numark TTUSB. It's belt-drive so you can't really scratch with it and stuff but it has a USB interface which makes sampling into your computer extremely easy(no need for a dj mixer, turntable preamp, etc). Then once you have the section of the record you want to sample from recorded(use a program like audition or audacity), load it into Recycle to chop it into small pieces. Then just load it onto your mpc.

Though I've never sampled and chopped on an mpc4000, so I don't know if the computer would be the easiest route. It seems to be for me with my mpc1000.

Now besides all that, since you have the mpc and keyboard all you really need is an interface so you can plug all this into your computer and record it into software. You're going to want to use firewire because it's faster than usb and can handle more data. You could go with a Presonus Firepod (which I just bought) that has 8 mic preamps, and the inputs double as line or xlr. It'll run you about $500. If you don't need that many inputs, there's the Presonus Firebox which I think has 2 mic preamps and like 4 inputs total. I also hear good things about the MOTU Ultralite i think it's called.

You could also go with a mixer, but the quality firewire mixers tend to cost a lot more than an interface.

Good luck with this music thing, I'm also really just getting started on buying up hardware and getting serious with it. (mpc1000, numark ttusb, presonus firepod, friend has a yamaha mo8)

thanks man, yeah i'm going to look into that numark turntable and you got a nice keyboard, ive played the mo8 before its dope

anybody?.... bump

(Read my post below this first, I **** up). As far as you're computer system is, it seems good. I recommend using atleast 2GB of ram, and 100GB hard drivejust for audio shit. Defragging is your friend, but I'm sure you already know this. Also pick up a good external harddrive, the bigger the better, to save samples etc. in. As far as monitors go, the general rule of thumb is you pay for what you get. I hear the Event Percision 8's are awesome, alot of people use KRK, I use the Yamaha HS-80M/HS-10W package. You also need a subwoofer, and stands for your monitors for accurate mixing. Make sure to get active (powered) monitors though. Also a good pair of headphones for mixing is pretty essential as well.

These people are steering you in the wrong direction. Why would he want to sample into a computer and chop on reason when he has an MPC 4000? I suggest buying a Digi 002 Rack, or the Digi 002 (which is a quality mixer, and audio interface, and one of the few necessary pieces of equiptment to use Pro Tools LE). Pro Tools which is the industry standard. HD is for professionals recording shit, but since your stuff is going to be sample based you don't really need it. Also, buy as many tutorials as you can, and read synthesis and sampling tutorials at samplecraze.com for free. MPC-samples also has good tutorials on drum layering mixing, eq, etc. I have a pretty similar set up to you minus the rack/work station as I use softsynths, but this is how my set up is.

Vestax Belt Drive Turntable ---> MPC 4000 (Sample) ----> CPU (USB) to edit samples using Sony Sound Forge 8 (use either this or Steinberg Wavelab, both are pretty similar). Then back into the MPC 4000. Then I use MPC 4000 ---> Digi Rack into Pro Tools to mix music, add soft synth plugins etc. I recommend Trilogy for a good bass plugin (check it out, many will attest to it's quality.) Your Workstation (Triton, Fantom, whatever) also can be tracked using the Digi 002 into the computer. For mixing, I recommend using the Waves Native Gold bundle or Platinum if you can afford it to **** with your sounds and give it a warmth / sound you are looking for. ALSO, BUY the ADAT Expansion and the 8 Out Expansion for your MPC 4000 (You will eventually find it to be extremely useful). You can find them by searching "MPC 4000 Accessories" on Google Search. For DIGI 002 and MPC 4000 Tutorials check out samplekingz.com because MPC-Samples.com doesn't offer them.
I hope this helps man. There are alot of programs you can use besides Pro Tools that many people will try to steer you towards such as cubase, logic, etc. that MAY be just as good but these are the facts: You will want to invest and LEARN how to use Pro Tools if you are considering making it your profession, because Pro Tools is the Industry standard and ALL studios use it, there for it is invaluable to learn it. The reason all studios use Pro Tools is because they have Pro Tools HD, which blow all other competition out of the water. I hope this helps man. Invest in lots of Vinyl too, and tutorials they will save you many many questions. Hope this helps.