Lemme first start off by saying I am a hobbist/enthusiast. I began by producing my own band's demos a few years ago since we wee collectively broke, yet I had some money for a soundcard and a mixer. I loved doing it and was from then on obsessed with this apsect of music. Let's get to the mandatory:

PC:
3Ghz P4 PC
2 300GB Seagate HD
2GB RAM

Software:
Sonar 6 PE
Dimension Pro

Gear:
2 Yorkville YSM1P's
Delta 1010
Mackie 1604 VLZ-Pro
FMR RNP
Behringer headphone channel splitter
SM57 x 2
SM58
Apex SP2 Studio pack
Apex DP2 Drum Pack
3 or 4 other vocal mics that are rarely used

Instruments:
Sonor Force 2003 Series 6-piece kit.
Iron Cobra double kick pedal
Ibanez AX
Trusty ol' Fender Squier =\
Ibanez Bass
Amps, etc etc....

The goal of my little operation is to simply put out some quality demos for hardworking local artists and bands for a little cash. The local 'big-time' studios seem to want to take the artists for a ride, soak out the cash by making everyone record a full-length record, and then leave the artists/band wondering where their bank account went. I realize it costs money to get somewhere in music, but that's why I focus on the demo and don't pretend to be better than I am. A 4-song disc can get a talented person somewhere just as much as a 11-song epic production can.

My wishlist includes some bass traps and acoustical treatments. Other than that I'd love some high-quality preamps, a nice power-conditioner and maybe some time in one of the boot camps =)

So far I've worked with my own band, a few close friends who are into their own styles of rock music, a local post-hardcore band, and have a country artists lined up. I'm starting out well I'd like to think. Besides this obsession, I drum for my own band Ontology. I've recorded much audio, and am really looking into learning my way around the midi world with this new artist since I think i could speed things up considerably by learning how to program a drum loop or two.

I'd like to document my next venture on here. hopefully someone finds it amusing

Welcome, fooman!

Looks like you've got a good start on a project studio. I would agree on room treatments--they're a must; tamed rooms make the recording and mixing proccess much easier. Ronan's Boot Camps are good. I walked away feeling like I got a good set of practical basics and felt like recording wasn't such a mystery afterall. Mostly I have found that the key is some basic knowledge and most of all gaining experience by practice, practice, practicing!

Cheers

Well, as I've ventured into the midi world I made a huge leap today! I finally figured out how the hell to use Sonar to replace my drum sounds with midi samples using the drum maps!! That's HUGE for a midi newb like me.

I can also now program my own drums pretty darn well, being one myself alls I had to do was wrap my head around midi a bit. This will speed up the sessions for vocalists and whatnot. Man this was a good day...

It seems the basement is having some work done to it (seeing as there is a leak in the wall), so 1/2 the basement is being redone with hardwood flooring! This is awesome because now the 'live-room' can be a bit more lively! No more dead carpet.

The basement is done, and over half of my tracking/mixing room is hardwood now. I plan on getting into contact with both guys from Gik and Realtraps in regards to treating the room now that I have the option to treat the room if needed.

I record a few pre-production songs "live" with my band so our producer in Toronto would have something to listen to before we arrived for tracking of our demo. The drums sounded beautiful. The overheads sounded a lot livelier, and the toms seemed to ring out a bit more. Maybe it was the placebo effect, but I found that the OH's sounded much better with the hardwood flooring.

After the holidays I have a death metal band coming in to record a small demo. It should be interesting to say the least!

It's been awhile since I had some time to post! I have a bit to tell though...

First off, I still am an idiot for putting off investing in treatement for my room. It's a live floor, dead ceiling room so it's not as bad as a totally 'shiny' room, but obviously I really need to aquire some bass traps for the corners and then treat the first reflection points.

I have been pouring a LOT of my cash into a DIY rack. Not the materials, because I saved $200 on materials building it myself, but more money went to patchbays, a Tripp-lite power conditioner, and a reverb unit I needed. I'm really psyched about this rack because I hate how my plain black frame 12-space rack has wires hanging around it and is a mess. It looks kinda cool and complicated to people who come to the room and look at it. I'd rather have a nice, slick, wooden rack that has everything totally enclosed and pretty. It will say 'professional' more than an open-backed rack in the middle of the room.

I also bought a new desk. It's a pretty nice multi-levelled computer desk I bought from Office Depot, but it fits my Axiom 61, both monitors on two ears that flank the PC monitor stand. There's the standard keyboard/mouse desk area that's a lot bigger than usual. It also room on the bottom for my PC tower and knick-nacks. I love the desk. My gf bought me a nice chair for my b-day as well last week!! The room is really starting to look a heck of a lot more professional and put-together. Especially with the lighting additions I made. =)

Without anyone to record all this is for fun, which is fine... but I like to put out music for others as well. I mentioned the death metal band in my last post, but they broke up so that fell through. I have mostly been working with a guy named Woods. He's a local rapper who has some honest-to-goodness talent and a wicked voice. I had never done rap, so I cut him a crazy good deal and got him in to see what happens.

He gave me a cd of 'beats'. Some of them were pretty good. He rapped a chorus or two for me and it was catchy. The beats themselves had the regular midi-piano and whatnot, but for the most part were good enough to get the vibe across. He uses FL Studio, so he zips up all his seperate tracks for each song and send them to me via sendthisfile.com. It works nicely. I put them all into a Sonar project and away we go. I have the freedome to mix as I see fit, re-arrange, add in synths or audio, and basically do as I see fit!

I usually load up a similar commercial rap song since I've new to the rap game. It has helped a lot. I find that since I'm not recording a band with 3-4 people who all want to be heard loud and clear, the vocals are easier to put out front and number one. The kick needs to be bangin, and the snare needs to come out as well and establish the beat with the kick. His inital beats had everything panned up the middle and was pretty muddy. I managed to pan things nicely, EQ a bit, and get things to sit nicely around the vocal. I also had to home-brew master the songs. I think I did a really nice job considering I had never produced a rap artist before. It was fun. The songs aren't as slick or perfect as you hear on the radio, but they vibe and the artist is coming back for more at the regular rate.

I also have started a project that has a classic mood with acoustic guitars, slap-back drums, piano, and possibly some sax. It's an evolving project for a guy I know who has ideas he wants to put onto tape over the next few months.

I'm about to take a visit to a rehearsal for a local band who is interested in coming in to put out a project. They are a technical metal band with an amazing drummer. I'm a drummer as well, and I'm very excited to be able to tape someone else play on a different drumkit. I don't often get to use different drumsets since ppl come in and see my nice kit and are stoked they don't have to drag in a full drumset. This guy is left-handed and has a monster kit so it should be fun! And the bass player plays slap a lot... think Mudvayne... cool stuff. I'm confident I can bring out their style in recording.

The last thing I'm working on is my own band. I'm fairly busy with the music and working my day job, so all is well for now.
=)