Having your own recording studio at home is a great way to start perfecting your skills in order to become successful in your music career. It allows you to get familiar with the equipment and work at a pace that you find comfortable, to help perfect your music producing skills.
If you are a beginner, then starting off simple is best. It reduces the chances of you getting overwhelmed, which can lead to discouragement and eventually, quitting, wasting time and money in return. However, you shouldn’t go too cheap if you are truly serious about recording music. Most people think that building your own home recording studio is a huge task that requires months of research, preparation, and planning. Although this is true to an extent, it actually isn’t as hard as you may think, as long as you have the basic essentials to get your studio up and running.
To get you started, here are six things you need to build your own recording studio.
A Computer
Purchasing a computer for your home studio will be the largest expenditure by far. Ideally, you should purchase the fastest and highest spec that you can afford. All computers tend to be fast enough to get you started, so if you already have a high-quality computer, then you can save yourself some money, while you get started. Once you feel more comfortable or if your current computer doesn’t perform well enough, then you should take a look at the best computers and laptops for music production.
Digital Audio Workstation
The next item you need is a digital audio workstation (DAW). This piece of equipment is required for recording, editing and mixing music on your computer. You should combine this with an audio interface, which is a hardware that can be used to connect your computer with your other. These items can be bought individually or together. For your first studio, you should consider the combo. This is because it is cheaper and they’re guaranteed to be compatible with each other.
High-Quality Microphones
As your studio begins to mature, you will find that you will end up collecting dozens of microphones over time, which will each have their own purpose. To get started, all you need is one or two microphones. For recording vocals, you should go with a large diaphragm condenser vocal mic. The second one that you decide to go with will depend on the instruments you plan to use when recording music. For example, for high-frequency instruments, a small diaphragm condenser mic will work best.
Headphones
A decent pair of headphones is essential for recording music. If you are just starting out with your home studio, you will only require one pair. There are two designs you should consider. The first are closed-back headphones for tracking, which are a necessity. These offer lower sound quality while optimizing isolation. The second are open-back headphones, which should be used for mixing. These offer fantastic sound quality with lesser isolation and are considered to be a luxury.
Studio Monitors
The majority of music producers with home studios will be able to do most of their mixing using open-back headphones, however, mixing is traditionally carried out using studio or nearfield monitors. These monitors can get relatively pricey, but there are many affordable options out there. If you are struggling to differentiate and choose the right monitors for you, MusicAuthority reviews the best ones to use to help you make the right choice for your home studio.
XLR Cables
Once you get all of your new equipment together, you will notice that there will be cables all over the place. You will only need three cables to start off with. This includes a long XLR cable for your microphone, then two shorter ones for your monitors. There are many lengths available, so check that they will be the right length for your room. Before buying cables, check the stereo output of your audio interface to see whether it has XLR connectors because sometimes they’ll use TRS connectors.
These are the main items you will need to get your home studio started off. Tables, a mic stand, pop filters, chairs, etc., are the little extras you will need to purchase alongside the expensive equipment. Keep these extras in mind when you plan out your studio budget.
