Digital Audio Workstation software makes producing high-quality music at home a reality for most people. What your needs for creating your home recording studio may vary depending on who is recording.
Home recording requires a computer with sufficient processing power to run music production software, an audio interface, MIDI controller and speakers or headphones.
Computer
Home recording studio equipment can cost as little or as much as you like; a modest budget should get you going with essential items like microphone, headphones and recording software on either a desktop or laptop computer. A computer equipped with fast processing speeds and ample memory may be better suited to handling the demands of digital audio workstation software for handling larger-scale projects with multiple tracks and effects.
For optimal recording quality, you need a quiet environment free of unnecessary background noise and vibrations. A dedicated room would be best, though a home studio still can deliver high-quality results with the appropriate setup and software.
Plugins and virtual instruments provide additional tools for manipulating recordings and creating music, including delay, reverb, EQ compression. Furthermore, these can also help create virtual instruments like drums pianos and synths for playback.
A great desk is another essential home recording studio element that’s easy to overlook. In ideal situations, this desk should provide enough room to comfortably house audio equipment and MIDI keyboard, along with ample storage space for computer, software, cables and more. Furthermore, ergonomic designs will ensure long hours can be spent sitting comfortably at it without aggravating existing back problems or exacerbating existing ones.
Since home recording has become so increasingly popular, musicians and producers can produce high-quality content themselves without paying expensive studio time fees or hiring an outside expert to do the work for them. Setting up your home studio has never been simpler; equipped with appropriate gear you can produce content comparable to professional recordings.
Audio Interface
An audio interface is a piece of equipment that connects your computer with other parts of your studio, with microphone preamps to bring microphone or instrument signals up to line level for recording in much clearer and crisper quality than through your computer’s built-in sound card. Furthermore, these interfaces typically offer more inputs than standard USB devices for simultaneous recordings from multiple instruments or microphones.
Before choosing an audio interface, it’s important to determine your input requirements. While some interfaces offer just two XLR inputs that can be used with microphones and instruments, others offer various other options, including additional XLRs equipped with phantom power for condenser microphones, MIDI inputs for connecting devices like keyboards and drum machines, full-size RCA inputs or even USB connections.
Some audio interfaces feature a cue output for monitoring your recording while you make adjustments to it, saving time by not switching between computer speakers and studio headphones to hear what’s going on. This feature can also come in handy when making adjustments that may affect how your music sounds when making modifications or adjustments during production.
Finally, an audio interface typically supports various sample rates and bit depths; 24 bits at 192kHz may be overkill for home recordings; generally speaking 16 bit and 48kHz provide excellent quality for most projects. When choosing an interface make sure it matches up well with both your computer and type of recording you intend on undertaking.
Microphones
A quality microphone can make or break a home recording studio setup. Placing it properly saves hours of fiddling around with sound-editing software until everything sounds just right.
As your first step when choosing a microphone, it is important to decide whether or not it will be used for vocals or instruments. Vocal microphones tend to feature higher treble response for clarity purposes while instrument mics cover a much broader frequency spectrum. For home recording studio users wishing to record both vocals and instruments simultaneously, consider investing in a multi-pattern large diaphragm condenser such as Neumann U 87 that has become a classic since its release in 1967, still used by professionals today.
Rode NT-1-A microphones provide another great choice for versatile home recording studio mics. Boasting an extended frequency response with smooth transitions between tones for precise recordings, as well as low self-noise to reduce any background noise, they make excellent choices when selecting the ideal recording solution.
Windscreens and pop filters are essential components of a quality home recording studio, particularly windscreens and pop filters. A windscreen is a foam cover that fits over the microphone to reduce popping sounds known as “plosives”, caused by certain sounds recorded close to it such as “p” and “b”. A pop filter acts similarly by trapping soundwaves before they reach the mic, thereby eliminating or at least significantly reducing plosives during vocal recordings.
Other essential accessories for home recording studios include headphones, an audio interface and speakers. Headphones allow you to listen back and adjust the mix in real-time as you work; speakers will let you hear how your recordings will sound once mixed; near-field monitors may help eliminate reflections off walls and ceilings in the studio environment.
Speakers
Sound waves produced by singers, acoustic guitar players or even pregnant elephants hitting a flexible diaphragm inside your microphone create an electrical signal which travels into a pair of speakers or headphones to cause their cone to vibrate with similar frequency waves that replicates your source audio source.
Home recording studios require speakers that reproduce accurate and neutral sound reproduction in order to make adjustments to music. Voices Insiders suggest investing in studio monitors that offer excellent price/performance ratio. Harbinger VARI SM505s and SM508s from Harbinger offer exceptional clarity, power, compact footprint size, plus feature the unique X-ART ribbon tweeter for extended high frequencies.
KRK ROKIT series speakers feature an attractive yellow driver, and are known for their accuracy at an economical price point. Furthermore, ROKIT 8s feature a DSP-powered room correction feature to partially compensate for nonideal speaker placement in a room by reducing distortion, echo and standing waves.
When selecting studio headphones, comfort for long periods of time should be top of mind. Our Voices Insiders suggest over-ear models which provide a natural, even sound and are easy on your ears. Open and closed back models may also be available; closed back headphones offer greater isolation while open back models permit air to pass freely through ear cups reducing ambient noise levels.
Acoustic treatment systems can vastly improve the sound quality in any non-music-recording space. Acoustic panels may prove particularly helpful for home studios in reducing unwanted reflections and absorbing sound energy.
Mixer
For music production at home, a computer capable of running production software will be necessary. A basic laptop or desktop with sufficient storage space should suffice, but for advanced users consider purchasing a dedicated home studio PC equipped with advanced features and plenty of processing power so as to run audio-making programs without performance issues.
A mixer is an invaluable piece of equipment for connecting various sound sources to an audio interface or hardware, creating an efficient method to blend music that can be heard through headphones or studio monitors. Furthermore, mixers provide connectivity to your music production gear such as synths, samplers or drum machines.
When shopping for a home studio mixer, look for models with multiple channels to allow simultaneous recording of instruments or microphones. Select models equipped with premium preamps and digital converters for optimal sound quality; many mixers also include EQ controls to customize recordings or performances to specific environments or situations.
Pop filters can help your vocals sound less plosive by filtering out imperfections such as pops. Other useful mixer features include pads that lower an instrument’s volume when it becomes too loud, helping prevent distortion. And many models include meters so you can monitor both input and output signals to make sure everything remains at healthy levels.
Although it may seem unimportant, an ergonomic chair is a necessary component of home recording studio setup. Spending long hours at your computer recording or mixing can be tiring and sitting in an uncomfortable chair can cause future back problems.