Building a Better Home Recording Studio

Anybody can throw together a home recording studio these days. But how do you build one that will fit your needs and work well? That's what I want to cover in this quick article. You will find that building a better studio is all about planning. So get into "planning" mode right now, and start reading.

If you happen to be starting from scratch, that's a very good thing. You have a clean slate. That means you can build your studio from the bottom up, and everything will be as you planned it. But usually, you have some equipment lying around or pieced together. That stuff needs to be integrated into your studio somehow, right? Not always. Beware that temptation - building your studio around gear you already have can be frustrating and pointless. Sometimes it's best to just ditch the old stuff and start over. For instance, if you have a 4-track recorder... it's probably time to move on. Sorry!

These days, there really is no excuse for not recording to a computer. Even the big time studios are doing it. So we can start there. Get a newer computer - brand new if possible. Try to make this a dedicated "studio computer." You don't want your girlfriend surfing the web or checking her Facebook on this computer. And you shouldn't be doing your homework on it either. Having a single purpose computer means it will last longer, get fewer viruses, and work better when you are recording. In fact, just get a Mac. Apple makes the perfect computer for running a studio. But if you must stick with Windows, that's okay too. Plenty of studios use Windows for their software. One more tip - it really doesn't matter how fast your computer is. If it was built in the last year, it's fast enough. Recording software and equipment isn't keeping up with the computer manufacturers. You can get a $ 300 computer that will be plenty fast enough for your studio. But you should get a lot of hard drive space. Audio files can be huge, so make sure you have a big hard drive and a big backup hard drive.

Moving on, you need an interface of some sort. This gets the audio into the computer. Go for a USB 2.0 interface (most new interfaces will use USB 2.0 or Firewire - either is okay). You can get them cheap with minimal features, or you can buy the farm and get all the knobs and lights. Start with at least 2 channels, so you can record in stereo. But break the bank and get 8 channels if you can. You'll thank me when you have to mic up the drums. An 8 channel interface can be bought for under $ 500 these days. Oh yeah, and your software will come with the interface.

For microphones, you need a condenser mic and a dynamic mic to start with. That's the bare minimum. Later, you need to have a variety of mics so you can experiment with different sounds and combinations. Spend your money wisely. Sometimes 2 cheap mics is better than 1 expensive mic. Having backup equipment will save you a lot of headaches later on. Trust me - I've seen it all!

What's left?