 in this video I'm going to be reacting to some music battle stations. Hi folks I'm Mike and I hope you're well. At the time of making this video I am planning to rebuild my music battle station which you can see back there. I'm planning to do that next week it's quite a lot of effort to do that reinstall everything get it up and running again for production so I'm making this rather easy video to make in advance I'll be releasing it next week. What I'm going to be doing is reacting to some music setups or some recording setups and I'm doing that by going to Reddit and looking at a subreddit. Now if you are not familiar with Reddit a subreddit is a kind of like a group or a page on Reddit and I'm going to be reacting to a subreddit called music battle stations where people show pictures of their studios and it's just going to be interesting to see what gear people have the way they have things organized and I'm going to give my suggestions where it's appropriate of ways in which they could improve their setups. Let's get stuck in and look at some music battle stations. So I'm not going to be looking at every single post on here I'm just going to be scrolling through until something catches my attention so starting at the top we'll just scroll down here and let's start off with this one station of battles okay we're going here get it up to full screen what have we got well this is a nice neat little setup isn't it well I say neat hang on look at those cables oh my goodness this is this I've heard about this but I haven't experienced it because I do have a MacBook Pro but it's a much older one this is the modern approach to the MacBook Pro don't put hardly any ports on it and then the user has to extend it and that's what they've had to do here look at that well I'm going to call it what it is it's a mess of cables they're both sides there uh yeah just sorry just put more ports on the device please um oh we've got a bit of cable stuff happening on there let's stop going on about cables and look at the studio so we've got some interesting gear here so we've got double monitors if you don't have a dual monitor setup then definitely think about spending some money there that is going to improve your workflow enormously you'll hear me going about that quite a lot actually some M audio monitors I haven't used that maybe years ago I used them but good sort of budget monitors is what I hear from there we've got some audio technical headphones there which are very popular even though I don't have any myself let's have a look at the audio interface oh here we are we've got it down here this is um the Roland octa capture I haven't used this but um in my recent show uh with featured artists one of my favorite artists on there I think was called Brad Peterson if I remember correctly um he was using one of these and he was getting a great sound from his little studio so um I'd love to try these I believe though that you can get great results from them um let's just look over here this kind of interests me there we go a Roland Juno 60 I've only got emulations of this or an emulation of it from Arturia in in one of the the V collection I think it's called um which I love by the way but to have a real one must be really awesome these are not cheap this is a 1980s synthesizer sort of mid 80s and you'd be lucky to pick one up for around about four thousand US dollars something like that I don't know what this is over here if we look just at the bottom here does anybody recognize what that is let me know in the comments down below if you do I think it may be some sort of mic reflector something like that you know those um reflection things maybe a homemade one maybe I'm insulting some company's effort of design looks a bit homemade to me but yeah if you recognize that one can you let me know what it is I'm quite intrigued looks a little bit small but uh photographs can be deceiving it I think that's a neat little setup there nice bright room um no room treatment at all I noticed um that's going to be something you'll hear me talk about a lot as well but anyway you know not bad at all let's move on from there let's go back to music battle stations and scroll down what's this worth five thousand dollars is it worth five thousand dollars well it's there's a old couple of old tape machines in there so probably is to someone I don't know let's move on from there oh my goodness look at all these screens hey this is somebody who really enjoys their workflow productivity from workflow here it's actually a neat little setup I'm not sure I can't count but is this an 88 key keyboard something along those lines a full size keyboard there in just the right place in my opinion looks like it's got some hammer action keys on there as well which I personally prefer not everybody does um but yeah they're great um we've got I've never used one of these keyboards I guess they're supposed to be super um ergonomic or something like that great for your hands there's a trackball there do you use trackball um I thought about it I'm like if you're in a small space and I guess it's really really good maybe a backup mouse happening there I'm not sure um moving over here fader master now this I've seen this before um it's by company called what are they called jl cooper or something jlc jl cooper um it's not like uh I don't think it's like a door controller I think this is a midi controller okay um in in other words you know work through midi and it's going to be sending like cc and messages and things like that I don't think these buttons are actually transport controls or anything like that so um this could actually be quite a useful device I'm not sure how old it is we can see that midi automation controller I don't know that much about it but definitely I'm going to put a link for that in the description um because it may be the sort of thing that some of you midi enthusiasts if that's such a thing would be interesting I don't know what this controller is over here maybe this is transport control oh I'm asking you guys for a lot of information today do you know what that one is not really sure but you know um the screens look at these screens look if you want to have more than one screen then why not have four you could put your door right in the middle there you could perhaps have your console off to the side there some plugins over here some more plugins up here or maybe just your operating system or maybe if you were working with other artists this could be for a video feed to um one of the live rooms or something like that um you're not sure but look I'm sure they love it and I'm sure it's very very useful oh my goodness so this is very interesting actually these are some adam audio studio monitors the s3a's I've never heard these I do have some adam audio monitors myself so I'd love to check them out adam if you're watching or federal audio here in Australia if you're watching um but I fear that they're not just going to send them to me because these um monitors um in Australian dollars I think they cost around about nine thousand dollars they're going to be something like seven thousand or something like that several thousands of dollars anyway so we've got some really serious um monitors there and that's really interesting because look over here we've just got bare walls yeah so this person has got this set up they're definitely focused on workflow love that um and then they've definitely focused on sound quality the position of the speakers is great they're on stands they look as though they may be forming the equilateral triangle which is where you try and make an equilateral triangle between your ears in your sitting position and where the monitors are so they set up perfectly on those stands there but no room treatment that that seems odd to me I think I'd sort of rather buy four thousand dollar monitors and spend you know three thousand dollars on room treatment I don't know maybe that's just me but uh that's what I think anyway but yeah it's a neat little set up that I like it let's go back by the way if you're finding this video enjoyable please go ahead and hit the like button for me do it right away so that you don't forget and if you do like this kind of content make sure you subscribe and ring the bell so that you're notified about my other videos now back to more battle stations oh this is a cute again multi monitor set up here um I've saved a four do you like this above configuration so the monitors are not side by side do any of you try that out um how do you think that is better than having the monitors side by side I'm not sure um this is a neat little set up as a very basic setup okay I'm not sure oh they've got their audio interface over here so a Scarlett 2i2 supposedly the biggest selling audio interface on the planet and I probably believe them with that I find this interface good it's not feature packed or anything like that but it gets the job done and it's got a certain quality to it which you know make sure it's you're going to deliver a certain quality that you'll want uh some Yamaha monitors there while they are probably HS 8th I'm guessing by the look of it here the only thing I'll say about this setup um is the monitors are very close together yeah so talking about the equilateral triangle again um yeah if from what I can see you want you definitely want to have these further apart than they are at the moment so you'll probably improve your mixes just by doing that but yeah that's a nice little um kind of almost everything you need kind of setup okay let's move on from here oops sorry going through to this page yes that's the one okay so move it oh didn't have to go far before we sound something interesting yes I'm interested in this bit you will see why in a moment but let's just go through the basics um nice guitar over there probably an ovation or something like that left hander um we have a keyboard which we saw on a similar show I did to this where I looked at cakewalk setups um this is a I think it's called the um mk mpk midi from akai something along those lines anyway seems to be quite popular I see it around in a few different studios I'm not sure what the interface is there looks like a fairly basic one it's just got one xlr jack there maybe and a high z input there but anyway regardless a fairly simple straightforward interface that's fine um krk rocket six is here so I've owned krk before um I don't like them as much as my adam audio monitors but these are decent monitors and uh they're kind of not ever so budget but kind of budget monitors the latest generation of these which I think is the fourth generation if I'm not mistaken I am told are really very very good compared to previous generations anyway um nicely these are on stands okay so um I think that's important not to have monitors like this sitting on a desk like this and talking about the desk it really is just a desk probably an old school desk or something someone's painted it on on the bits that you can see but not on the bits you can't see so done on a budget there that's fine because I think that this person has spent their money in just the right places a decent instrument and now we can't see what microphone they've got um but I assume off screen here there's going to be some sort of microphone they've got a keyboard which is good enough to to make it much better than using an on-screen keyboard or something like that so that's good they've probably maybe overspent on the monitor they've got a curved monitor there we probably don't really need that for a monitor of this size but um that's fine um and they've got their studio monitors um up and running there they've got them on stands but most importantly what they've done is they've got some room treatment there they have some broadband absorbers by the look of it which are so much better than using foam tiles um if you make that transition from foam tiles to broadband absorbers you will go oh wow how did I manage without this um some sort of base traps in the middle there I'm not sure if it's just a regular absorber just put in the corner um it's not a bad start but it's nice if you've got something with some depth to it but the point is is that they've spent their money wisely on the right kind of things in my opinion for a basic setup you can make an awful lot of good music in this space in my opinion so um well done to them whoever they are so moving on from there I don't know how much we're going how are we going for time are we fine we've got lots of time here um scrolling down down we'll look at that one oh I don't know anything about tape machines so I won't I won't go in there uh this one my new mastering room look at that whoa give it a moment high res photo wow that looks so nice doesn't it hey just aesthetically here very very nice um I don't know anything about these uh monitor speakers or anything like that at all but it's interesting they call it the sort of mastering studio this is what you pay the money for partly when you pay for a mastering engineer a room that was specifically designed for mastering monitors I'm talking about speaker type monitors that are specifically designed for mastering and usually going to be some outboard gear which is designed for and then of course the skills of the person who was yeah probably learned about all kinds of audio things but has decided to focus on the art of mastering how much better is it this is often asked if you go to a mastering engineer um and and get it done properly by an expert um you probably pay a lot more money to squeeze I don't know five or 10 percent better quality out of your masters and that could well be worth it to you if you're releasing to a large audience and it's going to make a difference to you so yeah but what a beautiful room just all in all that's all I'm going to say about that um moving on from there let's go to our next one um oh I haven't had to go far again let's go and take a look at this one this has got something really uh typical that I see in studios in it we'll get we'll get onto that in a moment but let's just go through the basics um looks like they've got some sort of gaming piece uh laptop there which is often a good choice if you're thinking about what kind of um pc or laptop to go for if you're going to buy one off the shelf um because they're sort of they're usually overpowered gaming laptops generally have faster processes and more memory that kind of thing so um it's good rule of thumb to look at gaming laptops and desktops now moving on from there excuse me what we have is some eave audio what are they um the sc205s I believe I reviewed these ones on the channel if it wasn't the next model up now I'm pretty sure it was these ones and I really did enjoy them a nice compact high quality um home studio monitor and I love the fact that they've got the controls on the front which is a bit of a bugbear for some other monitors for me so they've got that and that they're using the audio and id uh 14 there um for their audio interface I've reviewed that recently as well um very very impressive as an audio interface and I have one down by my knee somewhere here and I still continue to use it in my productions um and also some bad dynamic probably uh by the looks of it dt 770 headphones which are a fantastic solid headphone if you just can't make up your mind what headphones to buy and you've got budget for those get those you definitely won't be disappointed be careful which ohms you get because um if you get the wrong ones then you may not find that they're all that loud with certain audio interfaces now the thing I wanted to talk about was this um we're always going to talk about this but foam tiles on the wall in so many different places I mean I can't see the whole room so I don't know how strategic they have been placed but as I've said I prefer broadband absorbers over foam tiles they do a lot more for you but you know if you've got some available to you maybe you've got some you brought some cheap off ebay what have you just need a quick solution um fine you know make do with them I'm not going to say you shouldn't get them you could get just as good a result potentially from things on the walls I think like I know curtains or bookshelves and things like that that's something to bear in mind but hey you may like the look of them what have you but there's there's nothing really being gained in the corner over here these are not serving as any kind of um bass trap for for the the low end that gets um built up in the corner of a room they're not really doing anything in terms of that so that's my opinion anyway and down here what have we got an uh Akai MPK mini mini sorry with black keys looks nice that doesn't it just a very popular little keyboard I think I might have to get one for the channel and to review on it at this rate so yeah moving on from there nice little setup though enjoyable place to go and make music I think okay what I've got here now we'll go past that one move down oh look there's a little hamster there hello my friend moving down from there I'm just going to keep going until I find something which is really super duper okay uh note to self don't get drunk and take pictures of your studio before you send them to the internet okay yep nice shoes okay moving on now from there scrolling through let's have a look at this one here this looks very homely doesn't um oh there's a lot of interesting things about this one actually let's start off with the big screen uh monitor there do you use one in your studio I've seen lots of people use them I would think you'd be better off to have it like mounted on the wall is it mounted on the wall no it's not it's on a it's on a stand I just feel like wow that's really in your face um right there and if the resolution is not great then I don't anyway I would prefer to see that on the wall that's up to them but yeah if you use one let me know in the comments down below another monitor off to the side here not sure if this is all being run off of this laptop over here probably is so they've got three screens all in all it's great what I like about this is the way they've been economical with the space here so you can see they've grabbed some sort of stand here which hooks onto the side of the desk so that you can put your laptop on there I love that um great use of space uh looks like this is the uh what do they call this the Steinberg is it the you are 22 see not sure my mate Pete Johns over at studio live today uses these I haven't tried them but he swears by them reckons they're really really good and if he says that I believe him um looking over here we've got uh personas atom here I've got the atom sq which I absolutely love um but also I've heard people just love this smaller version of it there that's an interesting little stand they've got that on there as well isn't it look if you know what that stand is could you let me know because I think I could make use of a stand like that if you're good at googling and you can find a link for me on amazon or ebay what have you yeah let me know um looks like this is this part is built into the desk isn't it this this bit here and so yeah great use of space there uh little sm 57 there if you're going to get one dynamic microphone for your studio then I would definitely go ashore sm 57 and the keyboard here is a native instrument it's a little one of their smaller complete keyboards um I haven't used them much apart from in music stores um but they are great keyboard by all accounts in your case um but the one thing I notice about this although this is a great setup and people this person has put a lot of sort of effort into their basics up here I've got to say the monitoring in terms of the speakers is is really quite bad I don't recognize this speaker up here but the position of it is not good okay um first of all there's virtually no stereo image there and way up above you sort of looking down I don't find is really great you want to try and get your monitors like new enough to ear level if you can and of course you want to create a stereo image with that triangle I spoke about earlier and the problem with this setup with these monitor screens and the computer there is where are you going to put monitors when you buy them um yeah so that's a bit of an issue with that one but other than that uh neat little place to sit and make music let's go through and do one or two more here um yeah let's have a look at this one here this is such a lovely sort of bright space to be in this isn't it I mean I'm in a very dark studio as you can see and I kind of like that for various reasons but I also get that it's really lovely to have you know actual daylight streaming into a workspace it does something for your brain makes you really creative I reckon at times um this is a guitar studio primarily by the looks of it although there's some sort of decent keyboard going on here but we've got a fender jazz bass going there we've got a Gibson SG and a Gibson Flying V there um that together with an orange amp setup I'm guessing there's some sort of old style rock going on there that's what you would have all that gear for um some more 70s 80s style rock there and I don't mind a bit of that myself moving over to where the music is mixed not quite sure what the interface is there but some nice little Yamaha monitors there I think they're going to be the five inch version of their powered monitors um which you could I think you could go a bit bigger than that in a space like this maybe up to the seven inch version but hey I think five is absolutely fine as well in fact don't get rid of them maybe just back it up with a subwoofer at some point in the future the big problem with this setup at the moment it does look delightful but what I spy is bare walls of course a window which is a very reflective surface and also down here we've got tiles room tiles uh sorry floor tiles so I imagine the acoustics in this room could be pretty bad at times um so yeah shut the curtains get longer thicker ones would be something I would do there and get some sort of room treatment um of some kind you don't need like loads maybe one two three panels down this side a couple of bass traps in the corner um you can actually make them very well yourself I'm going to put a link in the description to a video by my mate Dan from the Lonely Rocker channel and he's got some great videos about DIY room treatment okay have we got time for one more I think we have let's do one more oh is that another mpk midi there with black keys such a popular keyboard what actually is what's going on with this one we won't count this one I'm just having to have a quick look oh I see so they're using logic on a MacBook here and they're using an iPad as a sort of a remote control if you don't use any kind of door remote I've got two I've got one of my iPad which I use to control studio one which is fantastic and I also control cakewalk with one on my android phone something called touch door if you don't have one then just you've almost certainly got a device which could um you could download an app for give it a try because you can't always be right next to your computer when you're recording especially guitarists and drummers especially you want to get away from your computer and it's just great to have a free app most likely which will control your door check it out um let's move on from there oops excuse me and moving on to our last one no not that one oh not that one I mean oh I want to do this one I want to do this one which one's it going to be this one or this or this one hang on let me just check down here okay let's go back up to the purple one the lights or the pink one the lights they drew me in I'm sorry I'm just a sucker for it I think I've said it before but I just reckon that the right kind of lighting in a room can get you in the mood it can make you feel really creative I'm sticking by it that's why we need RGB studios or at least some just tasteful lighting anyway moving on again we see the ever popular rocket speakers there I spoke about those earlier I think they're the five inch versions as I say I think these may be generation three I think generation four and the much better ones than your ones look out for those and again I think this may be correct me if I'm wrong that Steinberg interface we're looking at earlier some Bayer dynamic either DT 770s or 990s or 880s one of those these are great headphones definitely get hold of those if you're looking for some headphones I don't really understand why people use PA monitor speakers in their studios I mean first of all they take up a lot of space I'm just not sure they've got the right sort of what can I say sonic qualities for mixing or anything like that do you use them in your studio let me know I mean why would you use them maybe I'm missing something here but what they are using and it kind of catches my attention here I know lots of people who watch my channel use PCs there's a lot of cakewalk users there but I will mention they're using a Mac mini here now I don't know if it's the new Mac mini but that's what I want to talk about I've known a couple of people maybe three good friends of mine who have gone to the Mac mini since the M1 chip came out that new processor from Apple and by all accounts even if you go for a fairly basic version so with only eight gigs of memory a fairly small hard drive these things are lightning fast really really efficient really good to use I mean you're in that Apple ecosystem I guess you could install windows on there I haven't seen anything about that not sure what it would be like with drivers and things don't go down that rabbit hole maybe but yeah if you're thinking about going down the Apple route and you want to keep things fairly modest in terms of budget I do hear that these are very very good and I look at bench tests and things like that for processors and they're right up there with some of the most expensive Intel and AMD processors good value for money those little units there so yeah that's what I think I'm going to leave it today with a Mac mini do you own any of the gear that we've seen in today's video let me know in the comments down below if you do and what your experience has been with it I would love to hear from you guys on that and let me know also what was your favorite studio that you've seen in today's reaction video I'd love to hear about that as well now check the link in the description down below for the music battle station subreddit if you just are not satisfied and you want to see more studios you can go there and scroll down and scroll through until your heart's content also check the link in the description down below for my patreon dot page where for as little as one dollar per month you can help me help you by making more videos just like this thanks so much for joining me today and please join me in the next video