Studio equipment?

Question

I hope to make a little home studio and i wondered what is some good equipment. such as software, mics ect. i need alll the things necissary to make a good sounding, professional song. please help.

Answer 1

The simplest place to start from, in my opinion, is:

A computer with a decent sound card. M-audio, for instance.

A recording program. I use Reaper. It's awesome. Link below.

A 4-track mixer. I use Behringer, works just fine.

A small collection of mic's. I would definitely get a Shure SM57 and SM58 for instruments and vocals, respectively. These are some of the better mic's on the market, in terms of price, quality, and ruggedness (very important!).

A decent set of studio quality headphones. These become critical when multi-tracking.

Some decent relatively flat monitors with decent bass response, a boombox, and a walkman with normal headphones.

So, the idea is that your soundcard has two in's - a left and right. So you can use the mixer to manage levels and volumes of two microphones. This means you can record in stereo, record one mic, record two different mics at the same time for different purposes, etc. A quality soundcard is crucial here, as stock sound cards have noisy, crappy mic in and line in's.

Any compression and equalization can be done digitally, just use the mixer's indicators to make sure nothing clips during recording. Of course you can get rackmounted compressors and equalizers if you need them, but focus on the basics first.

You can also use condenser mic's as well - the mixer should have phantom power.

Make sure you've got decent soundproofing or distance from other noises, and you've got a good starting place.

Saul

Answer 2

You will need the following:

A good set of studio monitors: I use the Samson Resolv series

An interface of some sort: I recommend the M-Audio FireWire 410 Computer Recording Interface

A good computer: I use a macbook pro 2.6 ghz 4gb ram and 7200rpm hdd

Recording software: I recommend Logic Studio

A midi controller (if you dont have a full band): M-Audio Keystation 88es

Good Mics: M-Audio MXL 990/991 Recording Mic Duo and M-Audio AudioBuddy Package

Answer 3

You dont say if you are working alone, and doing everything yourself, or are going to also be recording a band.  If just getting into the "recording world" , and doing everything yourself, I would advise along the lines of a Tascam DP-02 with the built in CD burner.  This unit allows 2 tracks to be recorded at once, and has onboard reverbs, delays, chorus, flangers.. etc..   Any of the Samson Resolve, or KRK powered monitors you can use with this to.  Add a couple of mics... your instruments, and you have everything you need to record, mix, and master your music to a finished disc.  

     Another option is look into some of the Boss stuff.  Some of these have built in rhythm sections as well, and you can create your own drum tracks and bass lines without having to use a drummer and bass player.  Would still need the monitors and mics.

   If your planning on recording a band.. then something like the Tascam 2488MK ll is a very good unit.  Up to 8 tracks can be recorded at once, and theres a full library of effects, eq's, compressors,.. with the end result being a finished product to disc.  Also.. with any of the units ive mentioned, you dont have to have a mixer... they are built into these units.

    Finally....to start out.. I would advise against anything like pro-tools or any computer based gear.  The learning curve is so high, that you just might be spending more time reading manuals than making music.  My very first home set-up was in 1982, was a 4 track tape machine, and with some knowledge of effects and what they do.. I didnt use rack-mount eq's, reverbs, delays, etc.  Just used my guitar effects pedals, and they did the job.  One thing it taught me... What turning a k**b does on something, or moving a fader.  Pc based recording has very little of that.  Its all "virtual k***s and faders."   Over the years.. Ive used everything from the home "porta-studios"... all the way up to 24 track Professional Reel to Reel recorders.  I would still prefer to go that route, but due to the cost of tapes, 150 bucks plus for a good one.. plus the age of my Recorder, ive retired it for the time being.  One good thing about these Workstations that ive mentioned.... back in my day.. it would have ran almost 100,000 dollars to get all the outboard gear that one of these 800 buck units runs today!  

   Happy shopping.. and good luck!