Recording Studio Essentials

Recording Studio Stuff

Studio shopping lists get long fast. A better way to find the essentials is to follow the signal: sound in the room, into a microphone, through an interface into the computer, and back out through speakers or headphones to your ears. Every link on that path is essential. Most other things are optional.

I follow the signal chain below using Chris Korff’s June 2015 Sound On Sound guide to putting together a home studio and Paul White’s August 2000 feature on buying the equipment you really need. The second one is old and its brand and price examples are out of date, so I use only its general advice.

1. The room comes first

White says that when people are unhappy with their vocal sound and ask him for an alternative microphone, it is often obvious from their description that the microphone isn’t the main problem. His example: a boxy sound is generally as much to do with a boxy room, or a badly built vocal booth, as a boxy microphone, so blankets and sleeping bags may be needed to tame room resonances. He also advises working with the mic away from the edges of the room, using a pop shield, and not singing more than about nine inches from the mic, or the room acoustics become more noticeable.

A man wearing headphones sings into a large studio microphone with a round pop filter

Image: A singer wearing headphones in front of a condenser microphone with a pop filter by Wikiwaalabro, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

2. A microphone you can use properly

Korff says you’ll need at least one microphone for every instrument you plan to record at the same time, and that a drum kit may need several. For someone on a tight budget or who values simplicity, he says a USB microphone is worth considering, since you don’t need an audio interface with it, as long as you can live with recording one acoustic source at a time. He suggests looking for models with a headphone output, so you can record and monitor on one device.

White says a decent-quality dynamic microphone can produce great vocal tracks, and that many professionals have used them in preference to more expensive capacitor mics because the tonality may suit a particular voice. For a more detailed, transparent vocal sound, he says you will probably need a capacitor microphone. His advice for buying one is practical: different mics suit different voices, so audition a few side by side if you can. The series post Microphones Explained: Dynamic, Condenser and Ribbon explains the differences.

3. An interface to get sound into the computer

Korff says you need some means of getting audio into the computer, and the details depend on what you want to record. If you plan to record a full band including drums, he suggests at least an eight-channel interface. If you are only doing vocals, a simpler interface with a modest channel count will do. (He wrote that in 2015, so check the options available now.)

A small red desktop audio interface with cables plugged into its front inputs

Image: A small desktop USB audio interface with cables plugged in by Peter Placzek, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

4. The computer and recording software

Korff says a modest laptop and interface can offer more power than a large rack of equipment once did, and that the old meters and switches are now more commonly found as images inside plug-ins. Recording software is a big topic of its own, which I leave to another post.

5. Monitoring: speakers and headphones

Korff says physical tools are needed at the beginning and end of the chain, meaning an interface and some means of monitoring. He argues monitoring is arguably the most important part of a studio: if you can’t hear accurately what you’re recording or mixing, how can you be sure it is any good? His advice is to get a good set of speakers and a good-sounding room to put them in, and not to skimp on this.

6. Cables, stands and small things

Korff lists cables, mic stands and similar sundries as the only other things you need to begin making music. My own addition: budget a little for these at the start, because a recording stalls when a cable fails.

What can wait

Korff explains why people spend money on outboard gear: the sound, and also the satisfaction of using it. He says racks of outboard aren’t strictly necessary, but are worth having if they make a studio owner happy and more creative. White’s summary is that choosing an adequate microphone and using it correctly in an acoustically neutral environment probably makes more difference than anything else in a vocal chain.

The essential list, in order

This is my own condensed list.

  1. A room that is as quiet and dry as you can make it.
  2. A microphone, and a stand and pop shield.
  3. An interface with enough inputs for what you record.
  4. A computer with recording software.
  5. Speakers or headphones you trust, and a good place to put them.
  6. Cables.

Everything else is a refinement. The series post Audio Interfaces, Preamps and Converters Explained goes into the interface step in detail.

Sources