My Music Production Equipment As Of 2018

Music Gear , Music Production Talk , Music Software , Uncategorized

My Music Production Equipment As Of 2018

I’ve gotten questions before about my Music Production Equipment I use. Therefore, I’m going to leave this link here for anyone interested in checking out the gear I use. I will be posting links to where you can buy the equipment, so if you click the name of the product, you will be taken to Amazon where you can purchase it.

Computer

Hard Drives

WD Black 6TB Performance Hard Drive

One of the first hard drives that I own is a WD Black 6tb hard drive. The reason I own this is that I have a large amount of data on my computer that I use through video editing, music production and so on. So I use this as a storage place to keep old projects, vst’s, data and so on without running out of space too easily.

Toshiba HDTB420XK3AA Canvio Basics 2TB Portable External Hard Drive USB 3.0

I have a few of these external hard drives laying around ranging from 1TB to 3tb or so. I keep these for external data purposes and back-ups in case I can’t access my computer files and I need to take my files on the go with me. I recommend buying at least one of these so you can either access your data on the go without having to download it from the cloud or in case something happens to your hard drive as a back up.

SSD

Samsung 860 EVO 500G

Now, I have both the 500gb and 1TB version of this hard drive, but I started off with the 500GB which is around 86.00 dollars or so last I checked. This is a worthwhile investment because I’d recommend having all your primary programs, plugins, projects and software on your SSD so that you can boot most of your projects faster and not have to deal with a lot of slow wait times. As the primary difference between an SSD and a traditional hard drive is the fact that it has no physical components to slow it down and it reads data much faster than a mechanical hard drive. If you cannot afford anything else, please do yourself a favor and just get an SSD to start.

CPU

Intel Core i7-7700K

This is my baby right here. Since I built my computer around early 2017, I bought an i7 7700k. And, for the most part, I’d say this is more than sufficient for a lot of my editing needs. I haven’t really seen too much reason to upgrade since my CPU has handled most projects rather well without crapping out on me. It’s hard to strain it, it doesn’t get hot for me and handles a lot of my high-performance needs. I’d definitely give it a checkout if you want something that can handle demanding projects. It’s a staple in my Music Production Equipment

Motherboard

MSI Pro Solution Intel Z170A LGA 1151 DDR4 USB 3.1 ATX Motherboard (Z170A PC Mate)

I decided to get this motherboard because it had a lot of connectors for multiple hard drives, it had the capacity to hold 64GB’s of memory and it could support the CPU that I wanted at the time. So these were all buy signals to me since I trust MSI as a brand and I’ve used them for most of my motherboards over the years and they haven’t failed me ever. So I stand by this brand and recommend it to you especially since the price won’t break your wallet.

RAM

Corsair Vengeance RGB 64GB (4x16GB) DDR4 2666MHz C16 Desktop Memory

This is probably overkill for most of you, but I decided to opt for 64GB’s of RAM since I get more usage out of it when it comes to the render times with my video editing and because photoshop is a resource hog. It’s also nice since I can run an asston of programs and I never really have to worry about running out of memory unless I do something retarded like open 324324323242343232 tabs in chrome or something. So I’d recommend getting a 16GB or 32GB version of this instead.

Monitors

ASUS VS247H-P 23.6

I’ve got about four of these and this might be overkill for some people as well, but I like having most of my stuff spread out over multiple monitors. You should probably only need two or three of these since I recommend dual to triple screens so all of your stuff isn’t hunched together on one screen. They are affordable, look nice and get the job done when it comes to my video editing projects, photoshop stuff and having room to work when it comes to my workflow.

GPU

ASUS GeForce GTX 1060 6GB

Nothing too super duper special here about this piece in my Music Production Equipment. I decided to get an ASUS GeForce 1060 6GB since it handles most of the games I want to play and because I wanted to focus my specs more so on the editing aspect since I don’t have as much time to game hardcore and thought it was a better investment for my build to be able to have big storage space and everything. I may upgrade this later since it looks like GPU prices are finally calming down, but if you are on a budget, this isn’t a bad choice in my opinion.

Case

Cooler Master Storm Scout II Advance, SGC-2100-KWN3

I’m not really a fan of super big or super small cases. I don’t like super big cases as they are a pain to throw around when you are moving places and can be hard to store in your home, and I ain’t a fan of super small cases either because they are prone to overheating and not having room for your equipment. So, for me, a mid-sized case fit my needs the best and these may vary for you. I’d give this case a look if you are looking for a mid-size case that has good cooling, can store most of your equipment and looks pretty badass if I say so myself. Contains all my computer based Music Production Equipment nice and well.

Power Supply

EVGA 600 BQ, 80+ Bronze 600W

I recommend buying a 500-700 watt PSU. As, chances are, it will handle whatever power load you can throw at it. Sure, you can buy higher wattage ones, but they won’t make much of a difference in the long run unless you are doing something like having mulitple GPU’s plugged in to your built. In which case, I would not recommend this and would seek higheer wattage in my personal opinion.

Keyboard

Microsoft Wireless Desktop 850 with AES (PY9-00001)

I’m really not super finicky about my keyboards. As long as it works? Hey, it’s good for me. So I bought me a wireless USB since I like the feel of this keyboard and I hate having a bunch of wires scattered across my desk. It’s also pretty cheap and the quality of it has last me a pretty long while. Didn’t go nuts for this item in my Music Production Equipment

Audio Equipment

Midi Keyboard

Akai Professional MPK Mini MKII

Another good weapon in my list of Music Production Equipment. I use the Akai Professional MPK Mini MKII because of the fact that it is a very beginner friendly midi keyboard. It is perfect for adding percussion to your song, good for making melodies on the fly and can have pre-programmed sounds put into the keyboard based on how you configure your set-up. Additionally, since it’s pretty small, it’s very mobile friendly and can plug and play wherever you go. So if you are starting out and have 100 dollars to throw around, I’d recommend investing in this as I like having it in my Music Production Equipment.

Studio Monitors

x2 M-Audio BX5 Carbon Black Speakers

These are my studio monitors and I bought two of them since they help me hear a lot of things I wouldn’t normally when using regular headphones or speakers. They are meant to give a neutral frequency when you are producing so you can more accurately hear your songs and are well worth the investment since you’ll be able to produce a lot better with the right audio interface and monitors in my opinion. You will need an XLR cable for both of them to plug into your audio interface. I recommend buying TWO GLS Audio 25ft Patch Cable Cords since you WILL need them to plug in your speakers. Which then leads me to my next piece of equipment in my Music Production Equipment

Audio Interface

PreSonus AudioBox 2×2

This is another gem in my Music Production Equipment. An audio interface gives you a more clear signal to the audio that comes through your computer. More or less, if you buy this, you’ll be able to have a crisper and less static-filled sound. Since there is a lot of interference that comes from all the equipment plugged into your computer, you won’t be able to hear your audio as well and this is well worth the investment. Since, when I first had my studio speakers/headphones and audio interface together, it was a world of difference as I’d always get this weird noise in my headphones/speakers from my computer and I could actually hear a whole new world of details that matter when you are composing a song. I could hear the percussion, sub-bass and low notes all so much better with it and I stand by this investment.

Studio Headphones

Audio-Technica ATH-M40x Professional Studio Monitor Headphones

These studio headphones are something else that is vital in my Music Production Equipment. I use the Audio-Technica ATH-M40x since it gives me an accurate representation of how my stuff will sound on headphones. How I use this in my projects is that I will create the song on my studio monitors, but I will switch over to my ATH-M40x when I need to hear more subtle details or how it may sound across many different headphones. So this helps in that process as I do not recommend you fully mix/master/create a song totally on studio headphones or monitors. I recommend you use both throughout the process so you can get a more accurate feel for your music.

Mircophone

Blue Yeti Silver

This is my microphone and I use it mostly for streams, discord and sometimes doing some private vocals. Since I’m a beginner in vocal music, I feel this was sufficient enough. I’ll most likely upgrade this later as I get better in my singing. I still heavily recommend as a good tool in my Music Production Equipment arsneral as the quality is clear, crisp, loud and of good quality and should MORE than fit most of your basic needs.

Software

My Audio Editing Program

FL Studio 20

I use FL Studio 20 as my current audio workstation at the moment. This is HEAVILY recommended if you have nothing else and are looking for an easy to learn software to where you can start producing your own music. I’ve utilized it in all my songs and I cannot recommend it heavily enough as if you buy nothing else, PLEASE buy this to get started on your music producing path.

Online Backups

Backblaze Back-Up [5 Dollars Per Month Plan]

Backblaze Back-Up is a cloud storage database that I use in order to keep automatic backups of ALL the data on my computer. It does this automatically and only costs you about five dollars (the cup of an overpriced coffee from starbucks) and I feel it’s a worthwhile investment since it gives me a sigh of relief at night that if my hard drive and external drives mess up, I still have something in the cloud. So I’d give it a checkout, try it for free and see if you like it.

Opearting System

Windows 10 Operating System

I don’t think this needs much explaining, but I got Windows 10 since it was the primary operating system I wanted to use for my music equipment since it’s the most up to date version of windows and supports most of the software I use. Really, don’t bother pirating this, it’s worth it in the long run since it’s too tedious to bother pirating operating systems.