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[scrooooge]

hi everybody, i'm new to this site and i need to know some different ways of how to set up a home recording studio and what equipment i need to get started!

thanking u in advance, scrooooge

 

[apl]

Hey, Ebenezer.

The question is as broad as, "What is the meaning of life? Tell me what I need to live!"

I spent the last couple of years hanging out at forums like this one and a plan for a newbie home studio has emerged.

It starts out with the inexpensive but quality stuff I have now (a Tascam US122, Cubasis, a Rode NT3, still looking for monitors). That is enough equipment to keep me busy for a long time, and it's stuff that will be useful no matter how far this goes. If after a couple of years I'm still doing this, and am really getting limited by my equipment (right now I'm experience, skill, and talent limited), I'll move to phase 2.

In this phase, I'd graduate to a dedicated room in the house, dedicated PC, and a multi-channel front end like the Aardvark Q10 or RME Multiface. That will require much more equipment like mics, mic pres, etc., and a move to higher level software like Sonar or Cubase. This move will probably cost about $5000 in equipment.

If things keep expanding beyond that, and I find myself equipment limited again, I would think that this would be a hobby that would start paying for itself as a small business. Then it would move into a dedicated building, and step up to even more inputs, higher end electronics and mics.

The first level can be done for <$1000 (if you can find a monitor system your happy with in that budget.) The second level can get up to $10k pretty easy. The third can cost $100k. Or, to make it sound less painful, 60dB$, 80dB$, and 100dB$.

People say that you will get hooked. They say that because they did and most do. If you'll carefully develop a long term plan, you'll be able to get started, see if you like it, and grow from level to level. I spent a long time being frustrated because I thought I'd have to spend $5000 to get started, and that just wasn't going to happen. Now I'm happy, my bank accout's happy, I'm having fun, and I have future if I want it.

 

[Cyrokk]

Setting up a studio in your home depends entirely on what your musical needs are. The most basic setup will require a microphone, a preamp, a tracking device, a final two track recording device, and monitors.

Are you recording more than one instrument at a time? Then you will need a mixer before the tracking device, which usually has a preamp per channel for each microphone. Do you have more than two tracks in your track device? Then you will need that same mixer to combine (mix) all those tracks down to two tracks recorded on your final recording device, usually a cd or cassette tape.

That's all you need. Of course, what kind of tracking devices you use depends on how you want to record: digital, analog, or a combination of the two. Analog generally requires the purchase of seperate components in the recording chain. Digital typically has all tracking devices and either a software driven mixer inside the unit or a physical digital mixer mounted to the computer (such as DAW's). PC driven setups require soundcards. And the soundcard you choose depends entirely on the inputs/outputs you need to record/mix with, much like the mixer I described in the second paragraph.

I suggest you figure out exactly what your recording needs are (how many instruments you will record, how many tracks you will use, whether you want to use your pc or buy a separate tracking device, how much cash you have) and spend the majority of your time reading posts in this forum.

 

[Treeline]

Welcome aboard and if you're hailing from somewhere east of the Pacific, try to make it to our jamfest the weekend of August 13th in Andover Connecticut. The threads about this are all over the Cave forum and the experience is worth traveling across the country!

 

[mawtangent]

$5 Home Studio

You could buy a shoebox cassette player/recorder (with a built-in microphone) for $5 at a yard sale and start recording. This is pretty much what I used as a teenager until I gradually grew and sought out higher-tech possiblities. I would trade the $2000 worth of equipment I have now with the drive and creativity I had then (which I am trying to get back). I think if you are going to develope as a songwriter, arranger, melody maker, this (a simple mono recorder) might help you more at this time than a (burdensome ?) 100,000 studio.