Home Music Recording

Home recording - the Essentials? - Part 3

Did you miss Part 1? Click here:
Home recording - the Essentials? - Part 1

Did you miss Part 2? Click here:
Home recording - the Essentials? - Part 2

Essential Home Music Studio Requirements

Although there’s huge range of choices when designing your home studio, there are a some essentials to provide the basic functionality you’ll need.

This is just a brief introduction. In later articles we’ll cover each component of recording studio equipment in more detail.

You can influence our publishing schedule - see the Poll below, or top right.

Computer : Can be a PC or a MAC, but it must meet the pre-requisites of the [tag]recording software[/tag] that you plan to buy. After that, the main priorities to consider are

• processing speed
• RAM
• a decent sound card

Click these links for some examples of music computers:

Input devices : You will need:

• a Microphone
• instruments
• a sound module

To get started, you may not need all three, but you’ll have more options to work with if you do. If you only have a [tag]microphone[/tag] you will have to mic everything, and with a sound module you don’t have the ability to record voice or instruments.

Click the links below to see examples of studio mics:

Sound Mixer: A mixer:

• routes your input sources to your recording device
• enables you to set proper signal levels so you can get a good mix down for your final recording.

Recording software will have a built in mixer which means you can mix on screen with your mouse. So you don’t have to have an external physical mixing desk . It’s a matter of personal preference and budget priorities.

To give you an idea, here are some mixers, both digital and analog

Signal Processors:This can be:

• part of your recording software, or
• an external device (again a matter of personal preference)

Signal processors are used to tweak the sound(s) in your recordings; there are three types:

• [tag]Equalizers[/tag]
• [tag]Dynamic Processors[/tag] (compressors/limiters)
• [tag]Effects Processors[/tag] (reverb/delay/chorus)

Click here to see some examples of signal processors

Studio Monitors : There are two main types of [tag]studio monitors[/tag]:

• Passive (require an external amplifier to power them)
• Active (has a built in amplifier in each speaker)

The main difference is price, since active monitors include an internal amplifier. You will see either type of monitor in a home recording environment. Again, it comes down to personal choice of what sounds best to your own ears.

Here are a couple of examples. Click the links for more information.

The wish list – If you don’t know what everything is, by the time you want it, you will.

• MIDI Keyboard
• Headphones
• Software for recording audio: ProTools, Cubase, etc
• Microphones (Dynamic and Condenser)
• Sound Modules: External Hardware and software based
• More than one computer
• Mixing board
• Additional instruments: Guitar Bass Drums etc
• Dedicated Vocal Booth / separate room for recording and likewise for mixing

Additional Outboard Gear or software:

• EQ’s
• Compressors
• Reverb Units / Delays
• Limiters etc
• Extensive Sample Libraries

Buying Gear without breaking the bank

When buying your equipment it is important to shop around. It is very much a buyers market, with several vendors and types of supplier.

Do your research; there are a lot of options today, so learn as much as you can so you make educated decisions that suit your needs.

You will want to try out each piece of gear before you buy it so if you’re in a store that does not allow this, don’t shop there.

Lastly, you don’t have to buy everything at once. Building a home recording studio is a creative processes that should develop as you develop your talents and your needs grow.

If you’re wondering how to go about selecting the right gear for your home studio, make sure you get our free 7-part course “Choosing Great Gear” (top left of this page)

This is the last of our 3-part introduction to Home Recording. Next in this series we’ll be covering the topics listed below.

We can change the order of publication, if you tell us which is your priority.

As far as possible, we’ll publish the topics with most votes first.

(We’ll outline several scenarios, from $100 to $9000)