F
FlipsMT
New member
I'm just starting out and I need help. What basic equipment does a home studio need?
R
Richard Monroe
Well-known member
OK Flips, you have taken the cake. You have just asked the biggest question in the shortest post in the history of homerec.com. I'm not busting your balls, but the answer, as in most cases is- it depends. It depends on what you intend to record, what you intend to do with the recordings, and what's possible, based on the amount of money you have, or can borrow. I'm going to try to cover the basics very, very, briefly.
First, you need something worth recording. That sounds stupid, but it's the most important thing. I've seen rich kids spend thousands of dollars on a rig from hell to record a band of punks that sucks with hundred dollar guitars and Crate amps. Guess what? They suck, and their recordings suck because they suck. So first, you need instruments, if you play them, and vocalists, if you vocalize, that are worthy. Before you spend a lot of money on recording gear, get the best possible instruments, take lessons if you need to, and learn how to really play. Or find somebody that really can play and record *them*
Second, you need a room or rooms that *sound good*. If your room sucks, no amount of close mic'ing will really save your ass. You need a room that has thick walls, that keeps out a lot of outside sound (basements are good for this). You need enough room for whoever's playing. It's good if there's enough hard surfaces to reflect some sound, but not enough to make an echo chamber. Wood is good. Flat surfaces can be broken up with bass traps, diffusers, acoustic partitions, known as gobo's, short for go-betweens. On the cheap, you can do a lot with mover's carpet and sleeping bags. But here's a key- a good percentage of your budget should be spent on changing the sound of the room where you are going to work.
Third, you need furniture. At least a chair that doesn't creak no matter what you do in it, a solid desk or table for gear, and probably a rack for all of the cool gear you are about to shell out for. You will need a bunch of electrical outlets, and they really should start with a good voltage regulator, which will level the output of cruddy commercial electrical supplies, and reduce radio frequency interference on the line. Listening to the AM radio coming out of your speakers while you record sucks big time.
Now you are ready to look at what you have to record, and how you are going to do it. Basically, there are about six ways to record stuff, and several of them are not so good for studio recording, because they are not versatile enough. The main options are analog cassette, analog reel to reel, standalone hard drive recorder, removeable media recorder, all inclusive recorder, often called SIAB (studio in a box), and computer based recording. In order to know what you need, you need to settle this first. Cassettes are not the highest quality for studio recording, but you can get pretty good ones cheap, and they are easy to learn on. Reel to reel is pricey to do it well, and many of the good machines are out of production. They require constant maintenance, but can still make great recordings. The best machines run tape real fast, and it doesn't come cheap. I wouldn't recommend this for a beginner. Standalone hard drive recorders just record stuff digitally. They have to be fed signals from outboard gear, especially mic preamps. Thr best of them produce very good sound at a reasonable price, but a lot of other gear will be required. Removeable media digital recorders use flash memory or smart media, like a digital camera, digital audio tape (DAT) or record straight to CD. These rigs can be great learning tools, are very portable, and lend themselves well to remote location recording. Not pro studio stuff, but good for traveling. SIABs are built to do it all. They usually contain effects (FX), are capable of editing, importing and exporting tracks, and have microphone preamps built in. The highest end models can pretty much take you from raw tracks to a finished CD. The downside? Things that are made to do everything can't do everything well. They usually can't be upgraded or customized. The better ones can be pretty good for demos and as a learning tool, and are often good for more serious remote recording. They win on portability, but only the very good (read expensive) ones are up to recording a real album. Computer based recording, used by most pro studios today (that aren't on reel to reel), is probably the way to get the most versatility and recording quality for the money. They can be upgraded and customized. Downside? They're noisy, requiring fans to cool them, and often need to be placed in another room. Portability is not a strong suit. You can record with a laptop, but most laptops don't support the kind of high quality soundcards that are needed for complex multitracking. Newer badass laptops, and firewire and USB interfaces are starting to change that, but for equal computers, a desktop is always cheaper than a laptop.
My recommendation here? For dirt cheap entry level, start with a 4 track cassette or a 4 track removeable media digital recorder. If you already have a good computer, use that. If portability is a must, get a higher end SIAB.
Then you will need a microphone or microphones. This is dicey, as mics can run from $25 to $10,000 or more. Mics are tools, and they have different uses. I won't even begin to cover that here, but I think anything that calls itself a studio should have at least one good dynamic mic, at least one good multipurpose condenser mic, a pair of more or less matched small diaphragm mics, and a dedicated low frequency mic for bass and kick drum. Expect mics to be a big part of the studio budget. You need to mix the multiple tracks. Siabs have a built in mixer. Computer software can be used to do mixing, and some digital computer interfaces are mixers that are used to control a computer, giving you real sliders instead of doing it with a mouse. If you intend to record a lot of tracks at once (live studio recording of a whole band), you will absolutely need a mixer.
You will need one or more microphone preamps. This is critical to your sound, and good ones can be expensive as hell. Mixers will give you a lot of "OK" preamps for things like drums, but you will generally need a few channels, or maybe only one, that really kick ass, for things like vocals and acoustic guitar, where cheap preamps usually suck. Computer recording utilizes specialized soundcards, and they usually still need a preamp. Some interfaces, or DAW's (digital audio workstation) have built in preamps, which usually are middle of the road, like the pres in a mixer.
You will need signal processing, most especially reverb, compression, and EQ. There are many other specialized forms of processing, including delay, de-essing, gates, and many others. You can get these functions from computer software, or dedicated rackmounted hardware. SIAB's will have them built in. They vary widely in quality and price. You can get a pretty good little $200 box that will do all of that, or a multi-thousand dollar box that's just a compressor. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for, often.
Then, my man, you will need a shitload of cables to hook all this gear up. Cheap cables will beak when you need them most, and will often sound bad, too. The price of good ones will leave you with sticker shock. Learn to solder your own. You will need mic stands, which vary depending on the mics and what you're using them for. There are also some mic accessories, such as pop filters and shock mounts, which may or may not come with the mics.
Are we done yet? Hell no. You have no monitor chain. You have to listen to this stuff, right? You will need reference monitors, specialized speakers that are designed to tell the truth rather than just sounding good. Some are passive, and are driven by a separate power amplifier. Others are active, and have their own built in amps. The price of good monitors will also give you sticker shock. No, you can't do good mixes with headphones, you need monitors, and more cables to hook them up. You will need good closed back headphones for tracking, and probably some extension cables. You will almost certainly also need a headphone distribution amp, so you can send the signal to multiple sets of headphones.
Some kinds of material that is electronically generated, especially techno or rap, will require samplers, sequencers, or drum machines. It just depends on what you are recording. These also, like FX, can be computer software or dedicated outboard hardware.
Well, I said I'd be brief, and believe me, I have been. You could easily write hundreds of pages on the different options in each of the categories above. Lastly, what you need is an engineer and a producer. Someone with the expertise to capture the sound you want, and someone with the vision to plan and organize the creation of a finished audio project. The producer has to deal with everyone involved, and make the final artistic calls when it comes down to it. Even if you're just producing a home demo, someone has to do those jobs. You also need an executive producer, who figures out how much you can spend, where it's coming from, and deals with marketing and distribution, copyrights, royalties, residuals, and all other legal and financial matters, if you're going to try and sell what you have recorded. If you are recording a commercial CD or demo, you also need an artistic director, to deal with the jacket layout, insert, and CD imprinting. Trust me, these human resources are more important than any piece of gear. My best personal advice is not to try and do everything yourself. Very few people can be the recording artist, the songwriter, the tracking engineer, the mixing engineer, the mastering engineer, the producer, executive producer, and the artistic director. How those jobs are done is usually the difference between a cruddy home recording and an album. Best of luck-Richie
First, you need something worth recording. That sounds stupid, but it's the most important thing. I've seen rich kids spend thousands of dollars on a rig from hell to record a band of punks that sucks with hundred dollar guitars and Crate amps. Guess what? They suck, and their recordings suck because they suck. So first, you need instruments, if you play them, and vocalists, if you vocalize, that are worthy. Before you spend a lot of money on recording gear, get the best possible instruments, take lessons if you need to, and learn how to really play. Or find somebody that really can play and record *them*
Second, you need a room or rooms that *sound good*. If your room sucks, no amount of close mic'ing will really save your ass. You need a room that has thick walls, that keeps out a lot of outside sound (basements are good for this). You need enough room for whoever's playing. It's good if there's enough hard surfaces to reflect some sound, but not enough to make an echo chamber. Wood is good. Flat surfaces can be broken up with bass traps, diffusers, acoustic partitions, known as gobo's, short for go-betweens. On the cheap, you can do a lot with mover's carpet and sleeping bags. But here's a key- a good percentage of your budget should be spent on changing the sound of the room where you are going to work.
Third, you need furniture. At least a chair that doesn't creak no matter what you do in it, a solid desk or table for gear, and probably a rack for all of the cool gear you are about to shell out for. You will need a bunch of electrical outlets, and they really should start with a good voltage regulator, which will level the output of cruddy commercial electrical supplies, and reduce radio frequency interference on the line. Listening to the AM radio coming out of your speakers while you record sucks big time.
Now you are ready to look at what you have to record, and how you are going to do it. Basically, there are about six ways to record stuff, and several of them are not so good for studio recording, because they are not versatile enough. The main options are analog cassette, analog reel to reel, standalone hard drive recorder, removeable media recorder, all inclusive recorder, often called SIAB (studio in a box), and computer based recording. In order to know what you need, you need to settle this first. Cassettes are not the highest quality for studio recording, but you can get pretty good ones cheap, and they are easy to learn on. Reel to reel is pricey to do it well, and many of the good machines are out of production. They require constant maintenance, but can still make great recordings. The best machines run tape real fast, and it doesn't come cheap. I wouldn't recommend this for a beginner. Standalone hard drive recorders just record stuff digitally. They have to be fed signals from outboard gear, especially mic preamps. Thr best of them produce very good sound at a reasonable price, but a lot of other gear will be required. Removeable media digital recorders use flash memory or smart media, like a digital camera, digital audio tape (DAT) or record straight to CD. These rigs can be great learning tools, are very portable, and lend themselves well to remote location recording. Not pro studio stuff, but good for traveling. SIABs are built to do it all. They usually contain effects (FX), are capable of editing, importing and exporting tracks, and have microphone preamps built in. The highest end models can pretty much take you from raw tracks to a finished CD. The downside? Things that are made to do everything can't do everything well. They usually can't be upgraded or customized. The better ones can be pretty good for demos and as a learning tool, and are often good for more serious remote recording. They win on portability, but only the very good (read expensive) ones are up to recording a real album. Computer based recording, used by most pro studios today (that aren't on reel to reel), is probably the way to get the most versatility and recording quality for the money. They can be upgraded and customized. Downside? They're noisy, requiring fans to cool them, and often need to be placed in another room. Portability is not a strong suit. You can record with a laptop, but most laptops don't support the kind of high quality soundcards that are needed for complex multitracking. Newer badass laptops, and firewire and USB interfaces are starting to change that, but for equal computers, a desktop is always cheaper than a laptop.
My recommendation here? For dirt cheap entry level, start with a 4 track cassette or a 4 track removeable media digital recorder. If you already have a good computer, use that. If portability is a must, get a higher end SIAB.
Then you will need a microphone or microphones. This is dicey, as mics can run from $25 to $10,000 or more. Mics are tools, and they have different uses. I won't even begin to cover that here, but I think anything that calls itself a studio should have at least one good dynamic mic, at least one good multipurpose condenser mic, a pair of more or less matched small diaphragm mics, and a dedicated low frequency mic for bass and kick drum. Expect mics to be a big part of the studio budget. You need to mix the multiple tracks. Siabs have a built in mixer. Computer software can be used to do mixing, and some digital computer interfaces are mixers that are used to control a computer, giving you real sliders instead of doing it with a mouse. If you intend to record a lot of tracks at once (live studio recording of a whole band), you will absolutely need a mixer.
You will need one or more microphone preamps. This is critical to your sound, and good ones can be expensive as hell. Mixers will give you a lot of "OK" preamps for things like drums, but you will generally need a few channels, or maybe only one, that really kick ass, for things like vocals and acoustic guitar, where cheap preamps usually suck. Computer recording utilizes specialized soundcards, and they usually still need a preamp. Some interfaces, or DAW's (digital audio workstation) have built in preamps, which usually are middle of the road, like the pres in a mixer.
You will need signal processing, most especially reverb, compression, and EQ. There are many other specialized forms of processing, including delay, de-essing, gates, and many others. You can get these functions from computer software, or dedicated rackmounted hardware. SIAB's will have them built in. They vary widely in quality and price. You can get a pretty good little $200 box that will do all of that, or a multi-thousand dollar box that's just a compressor. Unfortunately, you get what you pay for, often.
Then, my man, you will need a shitload of cables to hook all this gear up. Cheap cables will beak when you need them most, and will often sound bad, too. The price of good ones will leave you with sticker shock. Learn to solder your own. You will need mic stands, which vary depending on the mics and what you're using them for. There are also some mic accessories, such as pop filters and shock mounts, which may or may not come with the mics.
Are we done yet? Hell no. You have no monitor chain. You have to listen to this stuff, right? You will need reference monitors, specialized speakers that are designed to tell the truth rather than just sounding good. Some are passive, and are driven by a separate power amplifier. Others are active, and have their own built in amps. The price of good monitors will also give you sticker shock. No, you can't do good mixes with headphones, you need monitors, and more cables to hook them up. You will need good closed back headphones for tracking, and probably some extension cables. You will almost certainly also need a headphone distribution amp, so you can send the signal to multiple sets of headphones.
Some kinds of material that is electronically generated, especially techno or rap, will require samplers, sequencers, or drum machines. It just depends on what you are recording. These also, like FX, can be computer software or dedicated outboard hardware.
Well, I said I'd be brief, and believe me, I have been. You could easily write hundreds of pages on the different options in each of the categories above. Lastly, what you need is an engineer and a producer. Someone with the expertise to capture the sound you want, and someone with the vision to plan and organize the creation of a finished audio project. The producer has to deal with everyone involved, and make the final artistic calls when it comes down to it. Even if you're just producing a home demo, someone has to do those jobs. You also need an executive producer, who figures out how much you can spend, where it's coming from, and deals with marketing and distribution, copyrights, royalties, residuals, and all other legal and financial matters, if you're going to try and sell what you have recorded. If you are recording a commercial CD or demo, you also need an artistic director, to deal with the jacket layout, insert, and CD imprinting. Trust me, these human resources are more important than any piece of gear. My best personal advice is not to try and do everything yourself. Very few people can be the recording artist, the songwriter, the tracking engineer, the mixing engineer, the mastering engineer, the producer, executive producer, and the artistic director. How those jobs are done is usually the difference between a cruddy home recording and an album. Best of luck-Richie
D
defconcepts
New member
WOW!!! A newbie changing the sound of his room?
Y
youwantmybass
New member
*Stands up*
CT representing
uh... for hiphop it really depends youre budget, size of room, what kind of stuff you want to do- if its just beatmaking and vocals, etc.
Glenn
CT representing
uh... for hiphop it really depends youre budget, size of room, what kind of stuff you want to do- if its just beatmaking and vocals, etc.
Glenn
SPINSTERWUN
Active member
FlipsMT ...
What's your budget?
What kind of music are you trying to create?
What's your level of music experience?
Peace...
spin
What's your budget?
What kind of music are you trying to create?
What's your level of music experience?
Peace...
spin