How to Set Up Home Recording Studio:6 Equipments you really need

Having our own music studio is a dream thing for all musicians and
especially for us, music producers. Many people think that making a studio
is a high budget task which needs expensive gears, analogue machines
and room acoustics, which is true. But nowadays we can achieve
professional sounds and recordings from our home setup only. You only
need to invest in a few essential things to set up a home recording studio
that can give radio-ready music.

Laptop/Computer –

Computers are the first big and expensive gear that you will need to invest
in for building a music studio. You can start with the laptop or desktop
which you already have right now. It is the most important piece of
equipment in your studio. You can choose any good configuration system
available in the market. Choosing the right computer also depends on the
DAW you are planning to buy.

Depending on the budget, you can choose between a macOS system,
windows powered laptops or you can even build your custom PC.
An ideal system for music production needs to take things under
consideration like –

RAM

• Ram
• Storage
• Processor

A powerful system makes your workflow easy and fast. Otherwise with
more tracks and plugins, the system will take more time to process and
also, system overload notifications will just blow your mind.

DAW

Digital Audio Workstation or DAWs is a software which records, edit and
plays audio and MIDI files. It is the place where you will mess with your
musical ideas and make your perfectly mastered track. Evolution of these
DAWs have actually made the process of songwriting and producing songs
from scratch to final to go easy as well as affordable.

There are many DAWs available in the market for every budget.
Some top music production softwares are Fl Studio , Ableton Live, Pro
tools, Cubase, Logic Pro X and many more.

Free trials or basic plans are available with almost every DAW to try before
buying the full pack.

Check my blog about best DAW for music production:

Best 6 DAW / Software for making Music in 2023

MIDI Keyboard

MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface.After installing DAW,
the next piece of equipment you need to play some musical notes is
Keyboard. A MIDI Keyboard allows you to transfer musical information into
your system. It enables electronic musical instruments like synthesizers,
drum machines and computers to communicate and synchronize with each
other. It transmits messages like pitch, velocity of notes, musical notation,
vibratos and many other useful parameters.

The MIDI keyboard is a helpful instrument for all kinds of music genres.
They are available in each budget and its range starts at nearly around
hundred dollars. They come in different octaves like 25 keys,49 keys, 61
keys and so on. If you are a touring musician and you travel a lot, you will
definitely need a portable MIDI keyboard which is easy to carry and short in
length.

If you’re still confused about which MIDI keyboard you need to buy
according to your uses, read my blog about Best MIDI Keyboards in 2022.

Headphones

Next you need good quality headphones to listen and monitor all the
recordings. Best part about headphones is that they connect directly to the
computer/laptop, so there is no need for any other equipment like a sound
card. A good professional headphones does all your work, from recording
and monitoring your own tunes and vocals or simply enjoying your favorite
artists song.
Headphones are very useful and most used equipment in the studio.It
helps in assessing the frequency balance, low-end, stereo imaging and
many other fine details in the track.Flat response headphones are always
the best one to choose for the recording and mixing process.They don’t add
any extra color to your sound like a little boost in bass frequencies or mid
range which normal headphones do.

Checkout best studio headphones to invest : Top 7 Studio Headphones For Mixing and

Mastering Music

Audio Interface

Audio Interface or sound card is a device which converts analog signal to
digital signal and vice versa.If you want to record vocals or guitar/any
instrument, you will definitely need an audio interface.Audio interfaces
comes with pre-amps and phantom power which makes it compatible to
work with any microphones. Most interfaces are powered by usb, which
makes it portable and perfect.They offer very minimum latency while
recording any signal.An audio interface takes the input from the
microphone,converts the signal, sends it to the DAW and again sends the
signal to the output channel which we listens through our headphones or
monitors.

Audio interfaces will have one or more input channels which are built for ¼
inch jack cables and XLR connections.Some audio interfaces offer only one
input channel, while others come with 2,4,8,16 or even more input and
output channels.Choosing a particular interface depends on your need. A
two input channel type soundcard is always a good one to have.It means
you can record two different signals at the same time in your DAW.

Best Budget Audio Interface for Home Music Studio

Microphone

After you have got your audio interface/sound card, now it’s time to record
some music through your vocals or guitar/piano or any other instrument.
But for that we need a microphone.

A microphone is a device which records an analog signal from a source
and converts it to an electrical signal.In the studio, two types of microphone
are commonly used, dynamic microphone and condenser microphone.
Dynamic microphones are made for handling loud noises, need no extra
power supply to run and they also cost less as compared to condenser
microphones. Condenser microphones are more sensitive to the signals,
require a phantom power and are a bit expensive too.They are considered
best for studio recordings.

If your room is not treated and lacks acoustic treatment then dynamic
microphones can be a good option as they are less sensitive and do not
capture room reverberation and unwanted noise.

Here are the list of best studio headphones for vocal recording: Best Studio Microphones for recording.

All this equipment is really necessary for building a basic home
studio setup. A radio ready track can be produced with this
minimal setup, it’s just how you use it. Your creative mind is
always bigger and more powerful than these gadgets.

There are many other useful accessories which are mandatory in the
studio.
Some of them are listed below –

• Mic stand
• Popfilter
• Cables
• Headphone Jacks

This blog was all about building a studio on a minimum budget.Hope this
reading gives you a clear vision of setting your home studio.
With time, you will make this home setup into a good professional looking
studio by doing acoustic room treatment, getting professional monitors,
analog gears, and making a separate vocal booth.