How to Setup Home Recording Studio Less Than $450

Recording studio used to be so costly to have access to let alone set it up in your own home. This digital era provide all the necessary tools for high quality recording at a very low entry point. You can start your very own home recording for very little investment. I will show you exactly what you need and how they all connected to get it up and running. But before showing you how to connect them all together, I will talk about all the components (for our purpose) of a recording studio.

Computer

The first thing you need is a computer, either desktop or laptop with at least 4gb of ram is sufficient. Preferably, you would have at least 8gb of ram and SSDs for faster operation. Although a dedicated computer for recording would run smoother, but use whatever computer you have. Computers produced within the last couple years shouldn’t have any problem for recording.

Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)

The recording program that you use for recording is called digital audio workstation (DAW). The DAW would take the place of the recording console and tape machine in the analog world. All DAW would also come with compressors, reverbs, electronic instruments, and other sounds and sound effects for you to use. You can add more of these sound and sound enhancement through installing plugins to your DAW for your specific need.

Midi Controllers

Although you can use your computer keyboard to control the electronic DAW instruments, midi controllers are designed to control the electronics instruments in your DAW for much better workflow. By itself, midi controllers do not produce any sound. They are connected to your computer with a USB cord. Midi keyboards will play sound from your DAW’s piano and other key instruments, and even drums. Some midi keyboard with drum pads that you can use to program your drums.

Audio Interface

Midi controllers allow you to play your electronic instruments in your DAW, but to get external instruments and other sound into the computer you need an audio interface to convert your analog signal to digital signal that can be manipulated in your DAW. Audio interfaces also include microphone preamps with phantom power for microphone input(s).

Microphones

There are three different types of microphones; dynamic, condenser, and ribbons. Dynamic microphones are a less sensitive to the surrounding noise. Dynamics have a cardioid pickup pattern. It will pick up what’s directly in front of the microphone and less of the atmospheric sound. Dynamics are sturdy and no external power is required so they are commonly used on stage. Dynamic mic is more ideal in an untreated room but they will also require more gain from the mic preamp. Condenser microphones are more sensitive and some are capable of multiple pickup patterns. The possible pickup patterns for condensers are cardioids, figure 8 (pick up sound from the front and back), and omni-directional (pick up sound from around the mic). They also required 48V phantom power, which all modern audio interfaces provided. Condensers are more susceptible to environmental noises. These should be used when the room is acoustically treated and fans and other equipments are off while recording. Ribbons pickup pattern is only figure 8. Phantom power will damage ribbon mics. Ribbons, like dynamic mic, also required higher gain input from the mic preamp.

After the basic understanding of the recording chains, we can now look at the specific components that you can get to get your home recording setup. Disclaimer: there are other products but base on my understanding, these are the best bang for buck given the budget. The links provided from Amazon are affiliate links.

For the computer, you can use whatever you have. Mac or pc, desktop or laptop with at least 4gb should be sufficient. For audio interface, the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (2nd Gen) , which also include a copy of Protools and Abelton Live Lite as DAW for $95.49, as of this writing, is a great deal for two preamps with phantom power. This Rode NT1A Anniversary Condenser Microphone Package, include the condenser microphone, shock mount, pop filter, and XLR cable for $229. You also need a microphone stand for your microphone at $15.99. Optional would be the 49-Key MIDI Keyboard Controller for $83.69. You also need a USB 2.0 Cable to connect your midi keyboard for $5.99. The grand total comes to about $430. Prices on Amazon fluctuate, so check the prices before you make your purchase.

You connect your audio interface to your computer with a USB cable. Then install either Protools or Ableton Live to function as your DAW. If you get a midi keyboard, you connect your midi keyboard to your computer with a USB cable. When you need to record external sounds, you can set up your microphone stand, attach your shockmount, attach your pop fillter to the mic stand, connect your mic to the shockmount. Then connect your mic to the audio interface with an XLR cable.

Happy recording and music making!!!