The Home Studio

With today's technological upheave, the home studio is becoming more and more present in the music world. People had home studios years back, but they were nothing compared to today's work, and there wasn't nearly as many. In this article I am going to address the topic of a home studio and try to help those who seek to have one attain that goal. 

The Home Studio

  To put it basically, the home studio refers to a set of equipment used by an artist or music producer/sound engineer to create, edit, and master music. Home studios can be used for other things but here I am only referring to music. If there are enough questions about how to create one for another topic such as painting then I will gladly add that article later, but for now just remember we're sticking with music.

The essentials you will need before you can say you have your very own home studio are as follows. 

The Microphone or Input

This is the instrument with which you will get your input from.

The Recorder

This can be digital or analog, and this will be the device with which you record your sound on.

A Computer

In my personal experience, this is the most essential part of the home studio since you need a work station for your music. A computer give you that, allowing you to have multiple programs and devices all in one shell. Of course, you can have a home studio without one, but this wouldn't be the advice I would give.

Now although I have only three parts listed to a home studio, there can be many more. Towards the end of this article I'll give you a small, basic build that should be all you will need just starting out. The benefits of the build I am going to give you are, it is a cheap way to start out, and you can do almost everything you need to to get a great sound.

In addition to the equipment list, you will need a quiet, well built room for you to work in. In the start of things, a bedroom with a decent sized closet will usually work but if you have a basement with concrete walls I would recommend that. I don't know what it is about concrete but it gives great reverb and sound quality to vocals.

So now that we have the basics of the workings of a home studio, let me go into depth of each and explain why you need them. First, let's start of with the input.

The Input

This is usually a microphone, but it can be a number of things. The input is important because this is where your sound comes from. It can be a guitar, a piano, drums, etc.. The input is hooked up into the recorder, directly or through another piece of equipment called a sound mixer. A sound mixer, or more commonly referred to as an audio mixer, is a unit that allows you to change, mix, or raise and lower the sound coming from the input. These are very useful pieces of equipment and I would advise getting one early if you can. I will go more into depth about these pieces of sound equipment later on, but for now just ask if you have questions about them.

The Recorder

From the mixer and in to the recorder. The recorder is also one of the most important parts because without you will have nothing to show for the work your doing. Recorders are also dynamic pieces of equipment that I will get into on later articles, but for now here is a basic description. A sound recorder is a piece of equipment that records sound into a form that is easily stored on the recorder, or on a device such as a computer. The most common form is wave. This is the most basic form of a sound that has been recorded nowadays. It is also the best quality you can get before mastering, editing, etc.. 

Speakers

This is kind of common knowledge since without speakers you won't be able to hear what your doing with the recorder. Speakers are not just speakers. There are many different types and each type has a separate function than the last. In a home studio, the type you will need will be monitor speakers. These are speakers that have a very wide frequency range and are used for mastering your work. Again, i will cover these more in depth later, but for now just know you need them.

That's the basic requirements of a home studio. The input, the recorder, and the speakers. With those two things you can record and save music or other forms of audio onto the recorder or a computer. Also, with these two things you have the basics of an audio studio. Without these thing you can still record and play the sound you want through a computer since a computer has these components already, but having real sound equipment will benefit your work greatly. 

The Basic Build

So as I promised, I will now give you a cheap, basic build for a home studio. This build was designed mainly for a vocalist, but it can be used for any number of recording styles such as recording tracks for a band. The microphones needed for a band will be different, but I'll add that in just in case your not into doing just vocals.

For the record, the products listed below are NOT through an affiliate of mine and I will make no money by you purchasing these products. I have my own store through Amazon's affiliate program and it will be up and running at a later date. I say this so that way you can see for yourself how helpful and customer friendly Musician's Friend can be.

The Speakers

M-Audio StudioPro 3 Desktop Audio Monitors 

M-Audio isn't top of the line but for a starting studio it is one of the most affordable when it comes to monitors. You can find them at this link here.

The Input

MXL 990/991 Recording Microphone Package

The MXL series of microphones has to be one of the best there is for they quality they bring. Since I started recording 6 years ago I've used a lot of mics but none that reach the quality MXL brings. The reason I suggest this package instead of a single microphone is this package is amazing for the price and it gives you the MXL 991 acoustic microphone. That microphone can be used for more than vocals and has a wide range for dynamic sound. You can find this package here.

The Recorder

TASCAM DP-02 Digital Portastudio

Tascam is one of the best when it comes to quality and usefulness. This one in particular I use myself and I honestly wouldn't recommend any other brand. The price is a little high for starting out, but it is well worth it. If you can, buy it new, but used products from this site are usually backed by a guarantee. You can buy this product by the link here.

Mixer

Behringer XENYX 1002FX Mixer

Behringer is by far the best in audio mixing equipment. I support them fully because they not only have equipment at great prices but their quality cannot be matched. This particular mixer I used for 3 years before upgrading to a 24 channel Behringer, and the reason behind suggesting this one is it not only has the features of a mixer you will need, but it comes with preset effects. You can find it here.

Accessories

Some accessories you will need will be cables and stands. The ones below are the cheapest (for the quality provided you will need) I could find and are required to hook up all of your equipment together. Each has it's own link to where you can buy them. Just click on the name.

LiveWire Advantage Series 1/4" Straight instrument Cable

I suggest getting about 4-6 of these 6 to 8 feet long. These cables are used for hooking up guitars and speakers. Also used for hooking up other equipment.

Musician's Gear Lo-Z Microphone Cable

These cables are used for microphones. Some microphones require Phantom Power, which I will explain later, but all microphones will require these type of cables. I suggest getting two to four of these since you can never be sure of what you want to record and having them on hand can be extremely useful.

Musician's Gear MS-220 Tripod Mic Stand with Fixed Boom
I would suggest getting four of these. Like with the microphones, you can never be sure of the setup you'll need so having the extra equipment will be helpful in the long run.

On a Leaving Note

I am not a genius when it comes to this kind of stuff, and the only expert status I claim is with my own work. I know my work, and you should too, so that when you are finished with a song or a project you can say it was done to the best of your ability. The build for a home studio above will require a few hundred dollars, but i guarantee that you will be completely satisfied with the quality and the work you get out of it. Just remember to read all manuals on everything and you shouldn't have any problems.

Later on, I will add more articles on how to use the equipment I list, what it can do for your work, and how it works...in depth. Or at least to the best of my ability. This isn't the first time I have posted on a blog, but it is the first time I am taking it seriously. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions as to how I can improve this site for your benefit, please feel free to leave them in the comments below. 

Thanks for viewing -_-
Tha_Martian

Quick Introduction

For those who have seen my pages before it should be no surprise to know what I'm about. A few things in my life have changed and I no longer look at blogging as a hobby but I look at it as a way to teach people about the things I know and to reach people in a new, innovative way to help give them my own understanding of things. I am no saint and I don't possess all the wisdom I wish I did but I do know a thing or two...especially about music and music production. 

This blog will be about that. Music and music production are a passion for me and I hope to give people my own insight into the subject because what I've seen over the years is a saturated music industry filled with fakes and con artists'. It sickens me to see an artist with an ego the size of Texas and believe it or not, some have ones bigger than that.

My main goal out of this is to bring people to a level of understanding I like to call the "Outside The Box" Theory. It basically goes like this; When you come to the conclusion that you understand the whole of a subject in every way, take yourself outside of that understanding to a third or even fourth outlook and try and find a new and maybe even better way to improve the situation. Or in the case of someone who might call them self a scientist, a new possible answer to a extremely hard problem to solve.

On a leaving note, I am the co-head of The Martian Productions and anything you might find on that would completely be original work. I am also and will always be a partner and co-founder of The Lab Junkies and Lab Junk ENT. My partner's name is Prospect a.k.a Slim. We both have been working very hard on our work as artists and try to make it as legit as possible so please give us the respect for at least trying to do something worth doing. You can find any information you want about the Lab Junkies and our music @ www.Reverb.com/labjunkent. Check it out and tell us what you really think. Criticism is key in creating the music we do because we take all of it, including the negative, as a way to improve our work.

This is only the beginning of what I hope to be a successful blog for people seeking help in music promotion, music production, general sound knowledge, and possible success in their endeavor to become a great artist. My blog may take some time to get content but I am looking to add a lot of information about music and even help artists like myself find things that are normally hard to find. Any questions or comments can be emailed to me @ my company email Tha_Martian_Productions@live.com. Please be internet friendly and don't send spam. Anything without the words "production", "music", or "about your blog" will be disregarded as spam and treated as such.

I apologize for this post to be so bland but I had to put an intro to give anyone finding this an idea of what to expect from this website.

With all that said, if you don't find what your looking for I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors and hope that you become the artist's you seek to be.

Much regards and thanks to all who support our cause------Tha_Martian