Building a Home Recording Studio

Building a home recording studio is not at all that difficult and expensive these days. Fortunately, most of the things you used to need several devices for, can be done with a good computer and recording software today. And the results can be incredible. If you learn to use your equipment well enough, nobody will be able to tell if you recorded your songs in your bedroom or in a professional recording studio.

Soundproofing a Home Recording Studio

Before you start recording your future mega-hits, stop and think about your family and neighbors a little. Will they be happy to listen to you work on your songs? If there is a chance you'd disturb them, I suggest that you soundproof your home recording studio first. It costs some money and you can never perfectly soundproof a room but in most cases it's a necessary step in building a home recording studio.

What will you need in your studio?

Thanks to the amazingly complex and sophisticated pieces of multi-track recording software these days (that do most of the work in the studio), you'll need only a few things for building a home recording studio:

✓ Computer
✓ Recording software
✓ Studio microphone
✓ Preamp
✓ MIDI interface & Audio interface
✓ Studio monitors

Computer

Your computer is probably going to be your biggest expense when you're building a home recording studio. If you already have one (and most of us do), great. If you don't, you'll have to make some decisions now.


There are two main routes to choose from: Mac or PC. Personally, I'm a huge Mac fan. Macintosh computers simply work. And they look awesome. In addition, there are no viruses for Macs. However, they are more expensive than Windows computers. But if you consider that a Macintosh computer comes with its free operating system (including iLife, which contains GarageBand - an amazing entry-level music recording software program). It's not THAT expensive.

If you're serious about building a home recording studio, it's also important that you have a powerful computer. An 80 GB hard drive and 1 GB RAM probably won't do. Your music writing software will be painstakingly slow and most probably crash all the time. I suggest that you get at least a 250 GB hard drive and 2 GB RAM.

Another decision to make is if you should get a laptop or a desktop. A laptop is smaller, lighter and portable. But you can often get a more powerful desktop for the same price. I prefer laptops but it's your call. If you wouldn't like to carry your computer around, go with the desktop computer.

Recording Software

The single most important piece of equipment you have to decide about when you're building a home recording studio is the recording software. There are several of them that could work for your needs. Some pieces of software are made only for PCs or Macs so the type of computer you have will help you narrow down the number of choices. My favorite recording software programs are Logic (Mac), Pro-Tools (PC/Mac) and Cubase (PC/Mac). Click here to find out more about these and other recording software programs.

Studio Microphone

There are as many kinds of microphones as stars. The two main types are: dynamic and condenser microphones.

Dynamic microphones are used mostly on stage and in the recording studio. They are capable resisting humidity, dust, etc. Dynamic mikes don't need a power source of their own. However, their quality of sound is not as good quality as in case of condenser mikes. But they can record intensive sounds coming for people of musical instruments. One of the best and therefore most popular dynamic microphones is the famous Shure SM58.

Condenser microphones are more common in studios. Their output is somewhat louder than dynamic mikes' but they are also a little more fragile and sensitive when it comes to intensive, loud sounds and voices. Condenser mikes often cost more money but you can find some great but cheaper ones. Condenser microphones require a power source. The Rode NT1 is a good quality but not too expensive condenser microphone.

If you want something really cheap, simple but good, I recommend the Blue Snowball USB Condenser Microphone. You just plug it into your computer and you're ready to record.

Preamp

What's a preamp? Preamp is short for preamplifier. Preamps are essential when you're building a home recording studio. The preamp transforms the data coming from the microphone so that you can use them. A separate preamp is often unnecessary because nowadays a lot of musical equipment like audio consoles already contain it. If you learn to use the preamp you can make the recorded music sound even better and more professional. Preamps are quite cheap. I recommend the Behringer PP400 Ultra-Compact Phono Preamp.

MIDI Interface & Audio Interface

Although your computer comes with an audio interface (sound card) built in, for professional sounding recordings it doesn't give you good enough quality. Therefore you'll need to replace it with a more advanced one. I use the M-Audio Firewire Solo US35030 Firewire Audio Interface and it works like charm.

What's MIDI? The word "MIDI" is a short form of Musical Instrument Digital Interface. What does it mean? MIDI is a format that makes it possible for us to connect our electronic instruments, equipment and computer. Then they start talking to each other by sending digital signals that contain data like what note we play, how fast, how loud it is, how long it is, etc. You computer needs a MIDI interface so that it can "speak" this standardized language. I highly recommend the MIDIMAN MIDISPORT 1x1 Multiplatform USB MIDI Interface.

Studio Monitors

When you're building a home recording studio, getting studio monitors is essential. What do you use them for? They help you measure and hear the sound you're creating during the recording process. When sound comes from different sources and different angles, the same piece of sound can be perceived very differently by the human ear. That's where the studio monitors come in. They are quite reliably "show" you what your recording really sounds like. My favorite studio monitor is the M-Audio Studiophile AV40 Powered Monitor Speakers.

Home Recording Studio on a Budget

How much building a home recording studio costs is important for most of us. That's why I created a page where I list the things you should get depending how much you can spend now. Even if you can start out with less than the best equipment now, soon you might be able to upgrade your home recording studio a bit. So don't worry if you don't have $5000 for this purpose right now, you can create professional sounding recordings for much less. Click here for some home recording studio budget plans.

Learn to Use Your Home Recording Studio

When you're done building your home recording studio, you'll need to learn how to use it properly. It's a really fun learning process - provided you like music :) - and there are many ways to go about it. If you can find a mentor, great. But if you can't, the best thing to do is start with a course that teaches all you need to know about this topic. My favorite one is called Easy Home Recording Blueprint. Whether you're a beginner or a professional, you'll learn a lot from this course. It applies a so called "copy-as-you-go" method. You just need to follow the instructions to get great results. You don't even need a lot of extra equipment to do this course. Have fun!