subject: Determining What You Need for Your Home Recording Studio [print this page] Home recording studios can vary tremendouslyHome recording studios can vary tremendously. A home studio can be as simple as a cassette deck and an inexpensive microphone set up in the corner of your bedroom. Of course, you can opt for something elaborate, like a multitrack digital recorder with thousands of dollars in outboard gear and expensive instruments residing in an acoustically treated addition built onto the side of your house (whew!). Your first step in choosing what type of home recording system to buy is to determine your recording goals.
Use the following questions to help you uncover what it is that you truly see yourself needing (and wanting) in your home studio. As you answer these questions, remember that most recording studios aren't built all at once pieces of equipment are added slowly over time (a mic here, a preamp there). When getting your first home studio system, start with only those pieces of gear that you really need and then add on slowly when you get to know your equipment.
For most home recordists, the weakest link in their recording system is their skill as an engineer. A $2,000 mic is useless to you until you gain an understanding of the subtleties of mic placement, for example. You may want to wait to buy that next piece of gear until you completely outgrow your present piece of equipment.
To get an understanding of what kind of home studio is best for you, ask yourself the following questions:
* How much money can I spend on equipment? For most people, this is the ultimate determining factor in choosing their studio components. Set a budget and try to stay within it. The sky's the limit on what you could spend on recording equipment for your home studio, but you don't need to spend a ton of money. If you know your goals and do your research, you can create top-quality recordings without having the best of everything.
In fact, your skill as a recording engineer will have a much greater effect on the overall quality of your sound than whether you have a $3,000 preamp. As you get to know your equipment, you can make recordings good enough to compete in the marketplace.
Determining What You Need for Your Home Recording Studio
