You do not need more than 6 pieces of equipment in order to setup a home studio for recording music

Many people believe that they need to have a lot of equipment in order to setup a home studio for recording music. However, you can create a world class sound with just the following six pieces of home studio recording equipment

1. Computer

2. Recording software

Mac – free Garageband.
PC – Audacity (free).

3. Sound card/digital input and output

This is a simple, affordable and much better quality external piece of hardware known as an audio interface, digital converter or i/o (in-out) box.

4. Three cables

You need three types of cable:

Quarter inch (for instrument input).
RCA (output from i/o box to speakers) and
XLR (for the microphone)

5. Two Microphones

You only need two microphones:

A condenser Mic (for vocals and acoustic instruments and a dynamic mic (to provide an alternative sound option for certain types of vocal recording and instrument recording).

6. Powered monitors (speakers)

You need to purchase an excellent sounding home studio monitor or speaker. While the monitor will perhaps be the most expensive equipment in your home studio, it is extremely important in producing accurate playback and a professional quality.

Please DO NOT use consumer stereo speakers, because they are made to deliberately “color’ the sound to suit the tastes of the general population. This means that bass frequencies are accentuated and certain mid range frequencies are ignored.

WHY IT IS IMPORTANT TO AVOID OVER-STOCKING YOUR HOME RECORDING STUDIO

It is very important that you understand that the quality of the sound going in to the recording software will determine the quality of the finished mix.

This simple, fact that follows is often resisted by home recording artistes:

“A great sound cannot be produced from studio toys and tools. Your only job when recording is to understand how to “capture” all the elements of the sound.”

“Capturing sound effectively is ultimately achieved by removing as many obstacles from the path that it takes from the outside to the inside of your computer.”

In other words, the more barriers that sound has to travel through as it is recorded, the more risk there is of injury to the sound.

The temptation to overstock your home studio recording setup is strong and the advice to do so is everywhere. If you can resist the urge to hide behind a mountain of audio equipment and can meet sound on its own terms, the home recording process becomes organic and intuitive. Only then does the possibility of creating magic become a possibility.

Examples of big stars who used small systems to record outstanding ablums

This debate about setting up an effective home studio is really about quality of sound versus the quantity of equipment. A home studio does not have to cost thousands and history shows that large scale success can be achieved with very small recording setups. Here are .four examples:

1. Eurythmics – “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This” – recorded on an 8-track tape recorder in a living room.

2. Bruce Springsteen – “Nebraska” album. tracks recorded on a 4 track Tascam PortaStudio.

3. Oasis – Guitar tracks recorded on Garageband recording software for recent album while traveling in their tour bus.

4. Cowboy Junkies platinum debut record – recorded live to 2-track in a church.

Nothing should there.fore stop you from turning your next great song into a great sounding recording that the word can enjoy.