If you are a musician, the days of renting out expensive studios to record your music are over. With the advances in home computers, the amazing hardware and software available, and the flexibility of the digital format, recording your own music at home has never been easier. Wondering how to get started?? Read on for a few pointers….
- Get a high-quality computer with enough memory to run the hardware and software you need.
- Invest in a back-up hard drive. You won’t want anything to happen to these precious files while you’re working on them, or once they’re completed.
- Research the various software that’s available. Remember, free doesn’t always equal best!
- Invest in excellent speakers. If there’s one area that you should splurge, this is it. Replaying your recordings and trying to hear the intricacies over your tiny computer speakers is nearly impossible.
- Learn at least the basics of MIDI and digital audio, and how they work together.
- If you want to make your own CDs, you will need a CD burner.
- Know how and when to use EQ—sometimes less is more!
- Take advantage of the many online Music Forums available; follow the advice of those who have done this before.
- Plan your budget carefully, this equipment can really add up.
- Patience matters. Knowledge and experience will follow.
Whether you are an aspiring musician, have a fun garage band, or you’re a seasoned industry vet, learn production techniques and consider using your home computer to make your music. Why pay someone else to do it for you when it’s become so easy to do it yourself? And remember, it’s easy with the help of our friends, why not join the Music Community today, its free!
Visit: http://ixlproductions.co.uk and http://musiciswhatyoumakeit.com
Nice writing. You are on my RSS reader now so I can read more from you down the road.
Allen Taylor
Nice post, you got some good points there – thank you.
Please drop more of this 4me
All good tips. The only problem I can see is with number 4; acoustics are extremely important in all aspects of recording, and you could easily spend several thousand dollars on great monitors… But that will mean almost nothing without a great room – a space which can heavily distort the output (and input) of any transducer.
I would assemble diffusors, bass traps, dampening panels, baffles, risers and any other items necessary to make the room more balanced well before investing in monitors. Ideally you want this POV at construction, but this is a home studio we’re talking about. Work with what you have – in fact, always work with what you have in any aspect of production. If all you have is 10 SM57s, learn to work with those rather than spending more on the latest and greatest.
-Skye
great article!
good information. good luck all new producers – come visit http://www.musicproducerpro.net for further music production training
hi everyone! i also agree with synonym music’s comment. i think that choosing an area of your house which can be easily sound proofed (the basement is preferred by a lot of home producers) will have save you a lot of time and money. some of my friends don’t splurge on sound proofing, some even use egg trays and its hello music producer!
it great to know that there’s a lot of people who are reading my articles, I’m trying to think of topics I can write about, so watch out! thanks a lot guys!
A lot of pointless and common sense tips…like no **** you are going to need a CD burner if you are going to burn CDs.
I guess if you know absolutely nothing about audio this might be helpful, but I think that more important issues have to do with acoustics of the room, mic choice and placement. Like Syn said, if you drop a ton of money on monitors and the room has a specific coloration, that is going to affect your mix. A good performance and quality recording is probably the most important part of home recording.
good point Chris. People looking to start a home studio, should be doing a ton of reading before they buy their first piece of gear. The last thing you want is to go buy expensive equipment, and find out you didnt need it. If you plan and have the knowledge ahead of time, it will limit those mistakes and make way for pure productivity. P.S. the time I set up a home studio, I did not choose the right room, and really affected my mixes.
Exellent article as always. This may be advice for the next stage up, but another important key for generating a great sound out of your home studio is getting two items: an analog to digital converter with word clocking (i.e. apogee and/or crane song), and a very good to excellent pre-amp. These two things will dramatically improve the quality of your sound if and when you record vocals or live instruments. Some major producers I know who run studios out of their home say that their word clocking device is the second most important piece of equipment in their studio, besides their computer.