Necessities for a Simple and Budget Home Recording Studio Setup



Posted: Tuesday, October 06, 2009

by Peter Webber
Dot-Dash Innovations

To record your own music at home and start establishing a studio you need some elementary components to get moving. They are:

1. An instrument and/or microphone
2. Something to record into like a basic mixing desk
3. An interface from your mixing board into your computer
4. A computer with adequate speakers and/or headphones.
5. Some software to record and manipulate your work.

These days you can purchase a combined solution for items 2 and 3 in the form of a computer audio interface. This is a device that you can hook an musical instrument or mic into and the other end is attached to your computer either as a soundcard or via a USB cable. This will work as an audio input and the mixing desk part is all covered in the software.

Depending on your requirements this might be the way to go or it might not. If you intend on only recording one audio track at a time then a computer audio interface makes sense. If you need to record a whole band with many tracks at once then you'll need a mixing desk with sufficient channels to cover this.

One thing you will need to deal with when attaching your interface and putting down your instruments and voice is latency. This is the time lag between the sound you create and it being played back to you by the computer. Latency can altogether throw off your rhythm if you don't negate it. A method to achieve this is to use ASIO device drivers for your computer interface. You can download free universal ASIO drivers at asio4all.com. Also be sure that your interface includes a preamp.

When you have your audio interface set up and can record and monitor your work without latency you're nearly good to go. All you need now is some decent computer software to behave as a mixing board, sequencer and sampler. Just about every good computer interface will come packaged with some recording software, normally a cut down version of a full product but sufficient to get you started.

Alternatively there are several low cost and even free programs you can download. There are also many communities on the internet where you can share your ideas, get assistance and support and get royalty free samples to use in your music.

Those really are the bare requirements for a home recording studio setup assuming you want to record your own music (as opposed to just play with loops) and that you already have an instrument and/or microphone with the necessary cables. Aside from these it's also necessary to get some high quality speakers and earphones. These days things like effects and processors can all be found in software, although as you advance you may want to invest in some hardware versions of these down the line.  

You'll also need to make sure that the acoustics in your recording environment are optimal. Don't forget soundproofing as well. There is a lot to learn and do to get a good home recording studio setup but in the beginning you can simply focalise on the essentials. A decent computer, an audio interface and some software can start you out very nicely. For more information there are some very helpful free guides you can download off the web to get you started.

Peter Webber is the owner of dot-funk.com which has a free ebook download Home Recording 101 which will get you started on your home recording studio setup
 
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