In this post I’m going to show you how to build a home studio and talk about what you need to build a home studio setup for beginners. We will talk the 10 things that you need when building a home studio. And once you get these 10 things, you will have a fully functional home recording studio and you can start making some money.

Number one. You’re going to need a computer. It really doesn’t matter what computer you have because most of them today will be good enough to at least get started. Unless you’re mixing some huge sessions that require a ton of computer processing power, you’ll be fine with the computer that you already have. One note on this though. If you’re going to be using Logic, which half of this course focuses on, you will need to be using a Mac computer. The other half of this course will be focusing on using Pro Tools, which will work on either Mac or PC.

Number two, you need a DAW, or a D-A-W, or a digital audio workstation. This is the computer program that actually lets you record produce and mix your tracks. There are many different DAWs out there. Some free, and some you have to pay for. And again it really doesn’t matter which one you use, but with that being said, this course will focus on two DAWs: Logic Pro – which is by far the biggest bang for your buck in my opinion. And Pro Tools – which is the industry standard DAW, which can be found in every professional recording studio. But we’ll get into the pros and cons of the different DAWs later on in this course. Now technically, if you have a computer and a DAW, you have enough to produce beats and sell them. Everything else on this list is going to expand what you can do in your home music studio.

If you’re truly going to build a home studio, the third thing you need is an audio interface. In short, the audio interface is what lets you record with professional quality microphones. Ultimately any sound coming in or out of your recording studio setup will be going through your audio interface. You plug your audio interface into your computer, then you plug your microphones into your audio interface.

The fourth thing you’ll need in your home studio is a microphone that connects with an XLR connector XLR stands for external line return, and that’s not important. Just make sure that your microphone is an XLR microphone and not one that connects with USB. You’ll need the XLR connector in order to plug your microphone into your audio interface. There are a ton of different microphones and it all comes down to what you’re wanting to record.

The fifth thing you’ll need in your home studio is a microphone stand to hold your microphone. You can get one of these for 30 or 40 dollars. As a heads up, if you’re gonna be putting a lot of wear and tear on your mic stands by moving them around a ton, you might want to spend a little more for a sturdier mic stand. I’ve had four or five microphone stands snap on me over the years because some of the cheaper ones are not very rugged.

The sixth thing you need in your home studio are XLR microphone cables. These cables have three pins they let you connect your microphone into your audio interface. If you’re using studio monitors, you’ll also need cables that connect them to your audio interface. The outputs on your audio interface should require a quarter inch connector. Your studio monitors can require an XLR input or a quarter inch connector, so make sure that both ends of the cable work with your gear.

If you’re recording a singer with your microphone, the seventh thing you’ll need is a pop blocker. It helps your singer’s plosives or the P and B sounds, so they don’t overload your microphone. If you don’t use one of these, your P’s are gonna sound horrible.

The eighth thing you’ll need in your home studio is a pair of headphones for recording. While you’re recording you’ll need to hear what you’re playing along to so you’ll need a pair of headphones. The kind of headphones you buy will depend on whether you’re mixing or recording with them, but one pair for both recording and mixing is fine when you’re starting out. If you’re strapped for cash, and you can’t buy some nice headphones, you can get away with using some standard earbud headphones in an eighth inch to quarter inch converter. That way you can plug your earbuds into your audio interface’s headphone input, which requires a quarter inch cable.

The ninth thing you need is a pair of studio monitors so you can hear your mix on some nice speakers. Studio monitors are a bit of an investment when you’re starting out so you can get around using them if you’re strapped for cash If you have other decent speakers, you can get an eighth inch to quarter inch converter and then plug those speakers into your audio interface’s headphone input. If that’s not an option, just use your headphones when mixing as well as recording.

The tenth and final thing you need in your home studio is a MIDI keyboard. This is a keyboard that you can plug directly into your computer and use it to play virtual software instruments. You don’t really need a MIDI keyboard because you can actually draw inside your DAW’s MIDI editor, and some people like to produce tracks this way. Now I’m not a piano player, but I personally find it really annoying and tedious to draw everything from scratch. So I do use a MIDI keyboard for mapping out basic melodies or drum beats then I edit them inside the MIDI editor to make them sound good.

That’s how to set up a home studio, and you now know how to build a recording studio at home.

If you’re putting together a home studio you can begin with just a few items. Here’s my list of the essentials – everything you need to start making music. I’m also going to reveal the one piece of music gear that has made the biggest impact in my studio setup.

First you’ll need a computer. I use a 2018 MacBook Pro. It’s got a 2.7 gigahertz i7 processor, 16 gigabytes of memory and 2 terabytes solid-state drive. But you really don’t need the latest and greatest. If you get a computer with an i5 processor and 8 gigabytes of memory you’re off to a really great start. If you spend more money on upgrading the specs I suggest adding more RAM.

Next is a digital audio workstation or DAW like Ableton or Logic. A DAW lets you record multiple tracks, instruments, and then mix and arrange them into a song. It’s going to be the center of your music workstation. I use Logic sometimes but mostly Ableton. They basically do the same thing but there are lots of inexpensive options out there like Reaper if you’re using Windows and some free ones for Mac like GarageBand. Most DAWs come with a bunch of different sounds built-in so you can get started making music right away.

Everyone wants to spend their next pile of cash on speakers also called studio monitors, but honestly you can wait. A good set of headphones goes a long way I use the Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro headphones.

More importantly whatever headphones you get once you learn how to adjust your mix with them you can get pretty good results even without expensive speakers. Whatever you get it’s always good to check your song on different speakers, headphones, earbuds, and even computer speakers. Whatever you have laying around.

I start creating a lot of songs on the train during my commute and actually begin a lot of them by using the computer keyboard like a piano. You can do this in most DAWs. But a MIDI keyboard is going to make things easier and more expressive. Now I get this question a lot so let me clarify. Most MIDI keyboards are controllers only, meaning they don’t make any sounds on their own. You connect them by USB to your computer and they send signals to your software which then generates the sounds which you hear through your speakers. This is actually a good thing because you’ll be able to add more sounds through software instruments later. And there are some amazing software instruments out there. There are so many options for MIDI keyboards but if you’re looking for something small to get started with.

If you are a vocalist or guitarist or you just need to get some external sound into your computer, you’re going to need an audio interface. I use the Focusrite 2i4. It lets me connect a microphone, electric guitar, or hardware synthesizer and works with my DAW to get those sounds into my computer. The way you do this is by connecting your audio interface to your computer. Next, in your DAW, select the audio interface as the input and output device. To connect a microphone, plug it into the audio interface. Once you’ve done that, you can start recording directly into your DAW. Now if you want to go higher end, I like the UAD Apollo interfaces.

Now I use the Shure SM7B mic with my audio interface. Audio Technica makes some great affordable condenser microphones as well. There are a few USB microphones out there which allow you to record sounds without an audio interface.

Once you’ve got your audio interface, you’re really going to want speakers. Let’s talk about studio monitors. I’m using the Presonus Eris, which are small monitors for a really great price. If you’re on a budget I highly recommend this setup. I paired them with the Presonus subwoofer. The Temblor T8. Studio monitors let you hear your sound with as little coloration as possible. This means you’re getting a more neutral sound that will sound pretty good on different speakers. That’s really the purpose of studio monitors. Now there’s always more gear you could add depending on your needs.

Software plugins which add more instrument sounds or effects to your arsenal or drum pads like the Maschine Mikro MK3, if you like finger drumming. And even external synths for hands-on control. So what have you added to your studio that’s made all the difference?

So which of these pieces of gear has made the biggest impact in my studio? If you’d recommended this to me a few years ago I probably wouldn’t have put my money into it. I probably would have spent it on plugins or something else. But this has improved my sound immensely! It’s my Beyerdynamic headphones. Now Beyerdynamic is not paying me to say this. I bought these myself and I would buy them again. An excellent set of studio headphones lets you hear your mix differently. There’s so much I don’t hear from my studio monitors. Little imperfections in the sound, the tone of the bassline, and the stereo width of individual sounds. They sound different on headphones and I’m able to tweak my mix a lot faster when I’m using headphones in addition to the monitors. Not to mention that I’m also improving the sound for people who are listening with their headphones.

Whatever your studio setup is, remember to make the music that you love and share it. That’s the best way to keep improving your craft.

Here we’re going to take a close look at home studio recording equipment. It’s a whistle stop tour of all the essential gear and software you need to make high quality recordings on your computer or iPad. So we’ll have a look at the software. What is an audio interface and why it’s the heart of your home studio? What is a MIDI controller, do you need one? Microphones, audio cables and connectors. And studio monitors and headphones. So all the basics of a home recording studio. And you may not need all this stuff, but by the end of this video you should have a good basic understanding of what all the components do so you can choose the best home studio recording equipment for you based on your budget and your recording needs.

So whatever you want to record with your home studio recording equipment whether it’s voiceovers, vocal tracks, acoustic instruments, keyboard, MIDI tracks. You have one simple goal. That is get high quality sound in and out. If we start at the heart of the home studio, it is your computer or tablet and your recording software. This is where you record, edit, mix and share your recordings. Whether it’s simple tracks or complex, multi-tracked, epic compositions. But before you worry too much about the software, it is important to get the hardware right. Because no amount of fabulously featured recording software will make up for poor quality studio hardware. Let’s come back to the software and focus on your recording hardware. So we’re going to start by getting good sound into your recording software. And it all starts with your audio interface which is at the heart of your home studio. Now, your audio interface should have the right number and the right types of inputs for all the signals you want to record at the same time. So you might want guitar input, line input, mic input. But remember you can overlay tracks. So the important thing is to make sure you’ve got the right kinds of inputs and then make sure you can record the right number of tracks at once that you want to record at once.

The audio interface is at the heart of your studio. To record high quality vocals or acoustic instruments, you will need at least one good studio microphone. And your audio interface must have an XLR mic input with mic preamp. The number of mic inputs you need depends on the number of mics you want to connect at once. So for example, this Focusrite Solo has one microphone input for a solo singer or guitarist. Whereas this USB mixer has four. A good large diaphragm condenser microphone will serve many purposes. It’s perfect for most acoustic instruments and for voice. However, a dynamic mic is easier to use as it’s more forgiving. Although it’s less sensitive and it’s good for certain purposes such as recording live vocals or a guitar amp. But that will be the next thing you need to buy after your audio interface. A decent microphone that suits what you want to record. After you’ve connected your microphones, you need to think about what other sounds you might want to record. For example, to make a direct recording of your guitar, you will need an audio interface that has instrument inputs so you can plug your guitar lead in directly. If you want to record line level instruments, such as a digital piano or a synth, electronic drums, turntables, a guitar amp, anything with line out, your audio interface should have line inputs. And then it’s a case of making sure you have the correct audio cables to connect everything up.

So far, I’ve just talked about recording analogue sounds like vocals, guitars and other instruments. MIDI is different. MIDI tracks don’t contain any audio. They contain MIDI events such as note on and off, pedal sustain and so on. But to just quickly look at the difference, have a look at these two kinds of tracks in this software. The MIDI tracks look different to the tracks that contain an audio waveform or recording. A MIDI controller is usually a dummy keyboard. It doesn’t make a sound itself. You use it to create MIDI tracks that can be routed to any kind of virtual instrument that you like even if you don’t play the keyboard. A MIDI controller keyboard can be really useful to enter simple basslines or to control synth sounds. MIDI controllers come in lots of shapes and sizes as well as your traditional MIDI keyboards, you can get pad controllers, or controllers with banks and knobs and faders which you can use to adjust controls on virtual instruments. Do you need one? Well yes if you want to work extensively with virtual instruments in a DAW, or digital audio workstation. Or if you want to use notation software. It can be very useful to enter all the notes. But no if you only want to record voice and acoustic instruments, then it’s not essential.

So now let’s move back to the software that you’re going to use to record, edit, and to mix your sounds. Once you have your basic recording hardware correctly set up, you’ll be able to use any recording software. For simple audio recordings, you could use Audacity which is completely free. If you have a Mac or iPad, then GarageBand is free. And you can record audio and MIDI tracks. Pro Tools First is a free version of the professional software to get you started. Or MuseScore is excellent free online notation software. So there are quite a few free options. Also, most audio interfaces come with free light versions of programmes like Cubase and Ableton Live Lite. So when you’re starting out, all those free and cut down programmes are perfect to begin with. You’ll be able to make multi track recordings, mix and edit them and be ready to share your finished works of art. Once you’ve had a go with some of the free options, you’ll be in a better position to decide which really fancy piece of recording software you are going to splash out on.

Once you have your audio interface set up, you’ll need to think about the best way to listen to your recordings. An audio interface is an input and an output device. It converts analogue signals to digital for recording, but also converts the digital signal back to analogue so that you can hear it.

For best results, you will not monitor your sounds through your computer speakers. Instead you’ll need good quality studio headphones and or studio speakers which you connect to the audio outputs of your audio interface. Let’s start with studio headphones. A good pair of closed back studio headphones are ideal if you want to overlay one track over another without any bleed into the microphone. If you want to record a vocal track over a backing track, you want maximum sound isolation so you don’t end up with the sound of the backing track on the vocal track. Closed back headphones are designed to provide that sound isolation while you monitor. Conversely, open back headphones are essentially almost the opposite of closed back headphones because optimal sound quality is the most important thing at the expense of isolation. My open back headphones actually allow quite a lot of sound out. However, they are excellent for lengthy monitoring sessions. If you can only afford one pair, buy a good pair of studio headphones for the task you will do most often. If it is editing and mixing, go open back. If you’re going to do lots of vocal recording over backing tracks, go closed back. The other option is to compromise and go for a pair of semi-open headphones instead.

Now let’s talk briefly about studio monitors. Headphones do have the benefit of not annoying your neighbours, but for really high quality editing you want the best studio speakers you can afford so you can achieve the perfect mix. For lengthy editing sessions, and more optimal editing environment, studio monitors are just better than only relying on headphones. When you set up your first home recording studio, if you’re on a tight budget then it may be that you could only afford headphones in the first place. But eventually, it is so worth saving up for a good set of studio monitors when you can.

If you’re starting from scratch, then you could opt to buy a studio in a box which is a pack that comes with an audio interface, mic cable, studio headphones, and microphone. It’s a very cost effective way of getting up and running. Focusrite make them, so do PreSonus. So that could be good way to kickstart your home studio. If you’re on a very tight budget, and you want to make nice quality recordings of vocals and acoustic instruments, you could consider a USB microphone.

The advantage is obviously budget. The disadvantage is they’re not as high quality nor as flexible as an audio interface because you don’t have line level and instrument level and MIDI and so on. But they are a very nice way of getting a better recording quality than you would if you were just trying to use your computer microphone.

Another thing to think about. If you would like to be able to record without having to switch on your computer is a portable digital recorder. These are perfect for making field recordings and making podcasts. They double up as an audio interface anyway. They have built in microphones but also often, inputs for additional microphones, line level, instrument level. So they’re definitely worth considering as an alternative to an audio interface. A few peripherals you’ll definitely need to think about. For example, a microphone stand and pop filter if you’re going to use a mic. A keyboard stand, you might need one if you’ve got a MIDI controller and you haven’t got room on your desk. Other cables and accessories.

And finally, if you’re going to use a large diaphragm condenser microphone, you might need to think about acoustic treatment. Whether it’s DIY with blankets and so on or you buy commercial acoustic panels, bass traps and so on to damp down the echoes and reverb in your home studio. Or you could consider a vocal booth, which is quite a nice portable solution for making vocal recordings.

Finally, if you want to record on your iPad, a camera connection kit is an essential bit of kit. Make sure you buy a powered one so that it will power the interface or the USB microphone or whatever other USB device you want to use. You could even connect a MIDI controller that way. So that is useful if you want to use an iPad. And also remember that audio interfaces come in all shapes and sizes. You could buy one specifically for Android phone and Android tablet. One that’s specific for Apple iPhones. There really is a very wide choice.

So here’s a quick summary of all the home studio recording equipment that we’ve had a look at:

1. The audio interface
2. Microphones and XLR leads
3. Other audio cables
4. MIDI controllers
5. Recording software
6. Studio headphones and monitors
7. Mic stands
8. Pop filters and acoustic treatment,
9. Alternatives such as a USB mic or digital recorder.

Are you looking for a simple means to invest in a house recording workshop kit or plan without needing to purchase lots of private components? You have come to the ideal place.

In this short article, we will certainly reveal to you several of our preferred recording studio packages to help you browse what tools are on the marketplace and also find the best package for you.

Whether your musician acquires the initial devices of a recording studio or a novice producer/ mixer. There are some fantastic options that can conserve you time, cash and problems by investigating what to acquire.

For more information concerning each of these studio packages and also plans, you can see even more information listed below, along with a few more choices.

The complete Rode NT1 & AI-1 workshop plan appropriate for practically anybody – from a beginner of computer tape-recording to an experienced taking a trip professional. Bring this plan with you in your luggage with your laptop supplies you with a mobile workstation for tape-recording like no other.

• The fool set of the studio consists of:

Rode NT1 condenser microphone with a big aperture

All-metal pop filter

Rode AI1 sound user interface

XLR microphone cable and USB cable

The Rode NT1 microphone has actually been among the most preferred condenser microphones with a large aperture for years. This is a wonderful audio condenser microphone that includes a shock absorber, a pop filter as well as also a microphone cable television to start with.

The set also includes an AI1 sound user interface, a 1-in-2 sound user interface that supports microphone and instrument degree inputs. It has an outcome for earphones, in addition to 2 outputs for audio speakers on the back. It also consists of a USB-C cable to connect the audio user interface to your Mac or Windows PC. It has every little thing you require, just attach 2 cords and you’re prepared to tape-record.

One of the terrific things about the complete workshop collection is that it’s so mobile. The user interface is mini, the microphone is portable, and also the user interface is powered by your computer. You do not need a separate power supply to power it.

The complete studio plan will certainly function extremely well for you. If you are preparing to release a podcast or document song suggestions, whether you are regularly at home or desire to tape and/ or relayed when you are away from your mobile device, this will be the ideal option for you.

• The Focusrite Solo workshop recording package includes whatever you require to begin producing wonderful recordings on your Mac or PC. This readily available bundle includes:

Scarlett Solo interface

Condenser microphone CM25 with a big diaphragm

HP60 shut headphones

XLR microphone cable television as well as USB cord

Software collection.

The Scarlett Solo interface is a small USB sound interface that offers 2 inputs as well as two results with a resolution of 24 little bits and 96 kB. It has one of the acclaimed microphone preamps. Thanks to the phantom power supply, independent gain controllers and also a large supply of microphone amplifier can support a wide variety of input sources, including microphones, guitars, key-boards and more.

The included CM25 condenser microphone will provide you a smooth as well as clear sound. This microphone is excellent for videotaping vocals, but it is additionally fairly delicate for recording tools such as acoustic guitars, strings and wind instruments. Simply link the low-noise XLR wire from the microphone to the microphone amplifier, turn on the phantom power switch, and also you’re ready to tape-record.

To pay attention to your music, this plan includes the HP 60 headphones. These in-ear headphones allow you to listen to the subtleties of your music while minimizing microphone leakage.

Along with excellent equipment capacities, this package also features the Pro Tools First Focusrite Creative Pack. These consist of hundreds of digital tool appears, 500 MEGABYTES cycles and also fantastic sound impacts.

It is a complete recording and also production workstation that enables you to produce specialist audio tracks, as well as the red module consists of reverbs, equalizers as well as compressors. You additionally obtain an example library of loophole masters, which includes gigabytes of examples as well as results to add to your tracks.

The Focusrite Scarlett studio recording package is a great overall option for videotaping Mac or COMPUTER proprietors. Start making top quality music right out of package with this budget friendly recording setup.

• The M-audio Vocal Studio Pro plan consists of:

Large diaphragm condenser microphone NOVA Black from M-Audio

M-Track C-Series 2X2 USB/ USB-C sound user interface

Shut headphones HDH40

M-audio Vocal Studio Pro is a flexible remedy for tasks with videotaping on a computer, which offers you the freedom to teach vocals to the last tune, talk about the next podcast or add voice to the multimedia items.

Singing Studio Pro has a one-of-a-kind combination of high-performance hardware and also easy-to-use software program. Simply connect the microphone to the interface. Attach the interface to your computer, put on your headphones – as well as you’re prepared to videotape.

Conclusion of this effective bundle contains two software packages. A collection of C-series software applications; Collection of AIR Creative FX (20 world-class FX AU/ VST plugins, renowned Pro Tools), AIR Strike, AIR Xpand! 2, AIR Mini Grand and also Steinberg Cubase LE. Together, they supply a thorough method to transform the concepts in your head into musical jobs and ideas that you can show the globe.

The package likewise includes an AI1 sound interface, a 1-in-2 sound user interface that sustains microphone as well as tool degree inputs. The interface is miniature, the microphone is small, and also the interface is powered by your computer. Many thanks to the phantom power supply, independent gain controllers and a huge stock of microphone amplifier can support a large array of input sources, consisting of microphones, guitars, key-boards as well as more.

The included CM25 condenser microphone will certainly offer you a clear and also smooth audio. Simply attach the low-noise XLR cable from the microphone to the microphone amplifier, turn on the phantom power switch, and you’re all set to record.

• The Focusrite Solo studio audio bundle includes everything you require to develop fantastic audios on your Mac or Personal Computer. This readily available deal includes:

Scarlett Solo user interface

Condenser microphone CM25 with a huge birth control

HP60 finalized headphones

XLR microphone cable and USB wire

Software application compilation.

The Scarlett Solo user interface is a small USB audio interface that supplies a pair of inputs and a pair of results with a resolution of 24 bits and 96 kB. It possesses among the award-winning mic preamps. With the help of the phantom power supply, independent gain controllers and a large source of microphone amplifier can easily assist a wide range of input resources, featuring microphones, guitars, computer keyboards as well as additional.

The featured CM25 condenser microphone will provide you a soft and also definite sound. This microphone is fantastic for documenting vocals, yet it is actually likewise very conscious tools including guitars, strands and also wind guitars. Just attach a low-noise XLR cord from the microphone to the mic amplifier, activate the phantom power switch, and you’re all set to record.

To pay attention to your popular music, this package features HP 60 headphones. These in-ear earphones permit you to listen to the distinctions of your popular music while lessening microphone leak.

In addition to great components functionalities, this package deal additionally possesses the Pro Tools First Focusrite Creative Pack. These feature numerous online equipment sounds, 500 MEGABYTE cycles as well as wonderful audio results.

It is actually a total workstation for recording as well as development, which allows you to generate professional audio keep tracks of, and also the reddish element features compressors, equalizers and also reverbs. You additionally get a sample public library of cycle professionals, that includes gigabytes of impacts and also samples to add to your paths.

The Focusrite Scarlett workshop recording bundle is a fantastic universal service for taping Mac or even Personal Computer proprietors. Begin producing high-quality popular music right out of the box using this budget-friendly recording setup.

• The M-audio Vocal Studio Pro package deal consists of:

Sizable diaphragm condenser mic NOVA Black from M-Audio

M-Track C-Series 2X2 USB/ USB-C audio user interface

Shut headphones HDH40

M-audio Vocal Studio Pro is actually an extremely versatile service for projects along with capturing on a pc, which gives you the freedom to teach vocals till the last track, speak about the following podcast or even include voice to interactive media items.

Vocal Studio Pro has a distinct mixture of high-performance components and simple program. Just attach the microphone to the interface. Connect the user interface to your computer, placed on your headphones – and you’re prepared to videotape.

The complete collection of this powerful bundle consists of two software program plans. C-series software application set; Collection of AIR Creative FX (20 unparalleled FX AU/ VST plugins, well-known Pro Tools), AIR Strike, AIR Xpand!

• The Presonus AudioBox iTwo Studio Kit is actually an incredibly inexpensive all-in-one recording option for your Mac or Personal Computer. The package deal features:

AudioBox iTwo audio interface with cable television

HD7 center tracking earphones

Studio condenser microphone M7 along with cord

Snatch the Duo Recorder for iPad

It likewise comes with Presonus Studio One 3 Artist DAW program, is actually a phenomenal software package and offers an unrestricted lot of tracks in an intuitive single-window interface along with a highly effective drag-and-drop feature.

Presonus Studio One 3 Artist DAW software application features full-featured computerization of a combination of brand-new online guitars and also twenty 32-bit custom-made audio plug-ins, including reverbs, counterpoise, simulations, as well as more. Musician Studio One additionally possesses 6+ GIGABYTE of 3rd party sources, such as the major player, EZDrummer Lite, Guitar Rig le and greater than 1.4 gigabytes of cycles.

AudioBox iTwo is a 2-channel interface. The USB sound package is housed in a tough metal case with metallic takes care of, it also functions coming from the bus, which means you do not require an energy cable. This interface prepares to document on the move. The user interface is capable of around 24-bit analog-to-digital sales and also possesses award-winning microphone preamps. It has two mixed phantom power inputs, an earphone output, stereo system quarter-inch outcomes as well as a MIDI input and also output to catch the subtle subtleties of your songs.

The Presonus M7 huge birth control condenser microphone additionally consists of sizable diaphragm condenser microphones, a market requirement for voice recording. They also sound terrific on equipments, specifically when you desire to receive a detailed as well as warm and comfortable noise to check your songs.

The Presonus also features a set of HD 7 earphones – light in weight headphones that offer convenience and also longevity for lasting use. The copyrighted semi-open earphones offer a balanced tone along with a strong low-end course.

This kit additionally includes a nine-foot XLR microphone cable television, USB cable, microphone clip, and also mic and headphone bags.

Whether you’re creating a recording center from scratch or suiting an existing program. The Presonus sound carton includes everything you need to have to begin tape-recording on your Mac or COMPUTER.

Why is a center package deal better than a USB microphone?

I will suggest the studio deal via a distinct USB mic for tape-recording for two causes:

Possessing an audio user interface permits you to hook up any sort of energy tool, be it a key-board, guitar or bass , directly to the device, and then to your Mac or PC and also file in your favorite program.

You can make use of any kind of intended microphone along with an audio user interface, not merely one USB mic. If you wish to use a dynamic microphone or a condenser mic with an audio user interface. Your probabilities are actually countless.

If you want to get studio devices in separate parts, I will advise you to read our write-up from the listing of devices for residence audio studio.

Many thanks to the phantom energy supply, private gain controllers and also a huge supply of mic amp may sustain a vast assortment of input sources, featuring microphones, guitars, computer keyboards and additional.

The featured CM25 condenser mic will certainly offer you a hassle-free and also absolute noise. Only hook up a low-noise XLR cable television coming from the microphone to the microphone amplifier, switch on the phantom electrical power button, and also you’re all set to document.

You may utilize any sort of intended mic with an audio interface, not only one USB mic. If you yearn for to make use of a dynamic mic or even a condenser microphone with an audio interface.

In this article I’m going to take a look at how you can record your keyboard and vocals at the same time in a home recording studio setup. It’s for those of you who want a nice, simple setup. Some of you only have a two channel interface, and you want to know if you can record your keyboard through one channel, your voice through the other, just a nice easy home setup. Obviously, in a professional studio you’d have a much more complex scenario with multiple mics to capture your piano and so on. Here we’re going to look at the minimum recording equipment you need to get a good quality recording result.

Okay, let’s look at what you need to record your keyboard and vocals at the same time. Let’s have a look at the basic setup I have here for recording voice and keyboard. At the heart of all this is my audio interface. This is the device that allows you to connect your audio sources. In this case, your keyboard and your microphone. It converts the signals from your sound sources into a digital audio stream that can then be recorded in recording software on your computer. Now, I get a lot of questions from people asking if they can do this without an audio interface, and the answer is no, not properly. So you will need some kind of an interface. But yes, you will need an audio interface because this is the box that allows you to take the signals from here and get them into your recording software. This is a very simple interface with two recording channels. The important thing is that it allows me to connect microphones, either one or two, and it also has line inputs. So there are combination inputs that can record multiple kinds of things. So my microphone is obviously a mic signal, whereas my keyboard is a line signal, so I can record both in this interface. It’s simple, it’s got two recording channels so I can record either one stereo sound source or two mono sound sources. 

Now all I need to connect my microphone to my interface is an XLR lead, one of these. So I connect one end to the microphone and the other end to one of the microphone inputs on the interface. Now, because this is a condenser mic, I’m going to need to use the phantom power to power the mic and then I have got a gain control here that will allow me to adjust the volume until I’m getting it just right. 

So I’ve got a very simple keyboard, and this has only got one audio output and headphone output. The headphone output is a stereo TRS output, and obviously I’ve only got one channel left here. So I’m going to have to make a mono recording of my keyboard. So the cable I’m going to use in this situation is the one which has one end is a TRS plug and it’s 1/8th of an inch in size. That I can plug into the headphone port on my keyboard. And then this is a mono 1/4 inch plug which I can plug into the other input on my interface like so. This cable takes the stereo output from the keyboard and converts it to a mono signal that I can record here. So that’s a very neat little cable, and that’s the kinda cable you need if you’ve only got one stereo output on your keyboard and you’ve only got one mono channel left on your interface. It makes a perfectly good recording.

 So this is a very simple recording scenario. It may be that your keyboard is a bit more sophisticated than mine and it has line outputs. And usually these are labeled left, mono and right. This device has got the left mono output and the right output. I could connect a cable to each output and record in stereo, but I can also just connect a cable to the left output and record mono. So I need a simple jack cable that’s got a TS plug on each end. One end would go into the left, or mono, output, and the other end would go into the line input on the interface. That is the same, similar recording scenario to which I’ve got here where I have connected my headphone output and used a conversion cable that converts it to one mono signal. Now, if you want to record your keyboard in stereo or you want to increase the number of audio signals you want to record at the same time, then you will need to either purchase an interface with more inputs. It also has an additional two sets of line inputs on the back. So with this interface, which is 4i4 you can record four signals at once. So you could connect up to two mics or a mic and a guitar, and at the same time connect your keyboard in stereo. If you want to do that sort of recording scenario, you’re going to have to get an interface that records more inputs at once if you want to record all these things at the same time.

 So the other option for recording more than two things at once is to use a mixing console. This is simple mixing console with six inputs. So I could connect two microphones and two of the stereo inputs all at once, and then I could take the stereo outputs and feed them into my stereo inputs in my interface. And so I could record six things at once. The main difference between using a mixing console or using an interface that has got multiple inputs like this one is that this interface would allow me to record each audio signal on a separate track. So I could have four separate tracks with the four separate audio sources recording separately. If I use this mixing console, then I’m only going to have stereo output. So everything is going to be mixed into one stereo signal. So the four channel interface is the device to use if you want to have four channels recording simultaneously on separate tracks. A mixing console is something you can use if you are not bothered about all the separate tracks all at once and you just want to get a stereo signal from the combination of your voice and your keyboard. 

Okay, so we’ve had a basic look at the hardware. A few extras you’re going to need, you will need a pop filter, especially if you’re going to record by close micing. You’re going to need a microphone stand, and you’re going to need to connect a set of headphones, closed back headphones probably so that you don’t get any bleed, so that you can monitor your audio signals as you’re recording. 

Once you’ve got all the hardware correctly connected up, you’re going to need to set up your recording software. So let’s have a look at that next. So I’ve got my recording software all ready with a new project. And what I’m going to do is create two new tracks, one for the vocals and one for the keyboard. So I’m just going to name then, color them, get them all set up. I need to arm them for recording and I need to make sure the input for track one is the input one on the interface, which is where the microphone is connected. And then the second track is going to be recording through input two on the interface, which is where my keyboard is connected. Thanks for reading. Hope you found that helpful. Keep Making The Music You Love.

In this article I’m going to show you exactly how to set up Zoom Conference Software in music mode. So if you want to teach online music lessons, run fitness classes, or set up a virtual choir or band, you need to set up Zoom properly, otherwise your audio stream will be choppy, and your online classes or virtual musical get-togethers will not sound as good as they could. But here I’m just gonna focus on the Zoom settings for music. Just before we look at the software, for the best audio quality in Zoom, I strongly recommend some kind of external microphone. Whether it’s a USB mic, or a high quality headset, or an audio interface. And as I go through the Zoom settings for online music applications, I’ve assumed you’ll be using some kind of external mic. But you still need to adjust the default settings even if you’re using your computer’s built-in mic. 

Okay, so now we’re going to have a look at how you use Zoom Conference Software in music mode. This means that if you’re using Zoom for online virtual choirs, fitness classes, music lessons, orchestra or any application where music is involved, you need to make sure the settings are optimised for that music streaming. First of all, if at all possible, use your desktop computer or laptop to run your meetings or classes. Download the Zoom Client for Meetings onto your desktop or laptop. You navigate to zoom.us, and navigate to the download section. And so get that installed. For best practice, make sure your computer is located as close as possible to your router. For the best Wi-Fi signal you can get. Or even better, if you can, connect it up using an ethernet cable. And shut down all the other apps and notifications that you’ve got running in the background if you can, so that all your computer resources are concentrated on running Zoom as efficiently as possible, and also you’re not going to get distracted by windows popping up and so on. Now we’ve got that all installed and our computer set up, let’s open up the Zoom Client. And when you open it up you should come on the home screen. If you’re not here, then you just need to click Home, and then you need to access the settings by clicking on this gear icon. 

Okay, once you’re in the settings navigate to the Audio tab. Now, this is where you select the correct speaker and microphone. Now, the microphone is obviously the device that is going to transmit your speaking and playing, and the speaker is where you will hear the sound of your student or collaborators. Now, the first thing you will need to do is make sure you uncheck the box. You don’t want Zoom to automatically adjust microphone volume. You want to have complete control of the volume yourself. Now on an interface, the controls for the volume, both output and input are done via the interface, not via the computer control panel. We’ve unchecked that. Now let’s go into the advanced settings. And this is probably the most important setting. Make sure you check the box so that you show an option to enable original sound. And if you hover over that, you’ll see it says, “this will turn off audio enhancements “such as echo cancellation and noise suppression.” And that’s exactly what you want it to do. Those so-called audio enhancements are great if you’re running a conference in a crowded office, with air conditioning fans, and people banging doors, and scraping chairs and so on, but they’re a disaster when you’re trying to stream audio. You will find the audio signal chops in and out, and it just isn’t the kind of good quality signal that you want, so make sure you check that box. 

Now as a belt and braces thing, I like to disable the background noise, both the persistent and the intermittent here as well, so that I know that it’s not going to do any playing around with the audio signal, I’m going to be transmitting exactly what I can hear in my interface or in my USB microphone, okay. So, now, we’ve done those settings. When we begin a new meeting we get a screen that looks like this. Always join with computer audio so that you’re using your external microphone or your interface. Now, what you should see is “turn off original sound.” When it says “turn off original sound,” that means that you are using the original sound from your interface or your microphone. That’s exactly what you want. and you can click down the arrow to make sure which device you’re using.

Now, if we go down next to where it says “mute” on this microphone there’s an upward arrow, you see you can always select a microphone, and select a speaker. You can also test your speaker and microphone, and you can also access the audio settings from within the meeting as well, so that you can go if you’ve forgotten something, or it doesn’t seem to be quite right you can test them out here. That is how you go about setting up Zoom for music applications of any kind. It’s now possible to use the original sound if you’re running Zoom on your mobile device. So, you do this slightly differently. If you open up the Zoom app and go to the Settings icon, and then click on Meetings, you’ll see that you can scroll down to where it says “Use Original Sound,” and you can actually turn that on, so that when you’re running a meeting from your mobile device, you can use that original sound setting just like you can on the desktop. That will turn off the echo cancellation, noise suppression, and you’ll get a better audio stream if you do choose to use a mobile device. Don’t forget to communicate these settings to your students or collaborators, so that they optimise their audio settings as well, by the way. Well, I hope I’ve covered everything you need to know about getting started with your Zoom software, and getting it optimized for audio. Thank you for reading.

Here you can read a complete beginner’s step by step guide to recording your electric guitar on your PC, Mac or iPad. We will focus on the actual guitar recording gear you need to make a good quality recording in any recording software.

So let’s dive in and see how you do it. So let’s start with your electric guitar and the basic problem with recording it on your computer or tablet. You cannot plug it straight in, there is no guitar input on your computer whether you have a PC, Mac, iPad, whatever you’ve got. So you need something that goes between your guitar and your computer. You need some kind of an Audio Interface for guitar.

So, this is mine, it’s a Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 USB interface. Now Focusrite makes a whole range of high quality Audio Interfaces as do PreSonus, M-Audio, Behringer, IK Multimedia, Zoom.

Before we get into ins and outs of how you use the Audio Interface in detail, let’s just have a quick look at the three main ways you can go about recording your guitar. Firstly, you can record it directly by plugging it into the instrument input of an Audio Interface. Now the actual sound you’ll get doing that, you may not like because it’ll just be the very dry sound of the guitar. But the great thing is, that once you have recorded your guitar you can use all kinds of plugins to make it sound really great in software. So you can use distortion, delay, chorus, amp simulators, all sorts of different ways of enhancing the guitar sound, and the great thing about doing this as well is that you can adjust it, you can pick to your heart’s content the different ways that you process the sound so that’s one way.

Then if you have got a guitar and pedals and an amp that you really already like the sound of and that is the sound that you want to capture, there’s two ways you can go about that. You can take the line output from your guitar amp, and plug it into the line inputs of an Audio Interface, and then you can record the sound of your amp that way. And finally, this is probably the most popular approach, the old standby approach, because you get the sound that you’re actually used to hearing coming out of your amp, is that you use a microphone and record the sound coming out of your amp directly through a microphone. The microphone, again, you connect it to your Audio Interface, so you can begin to see why the Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 is an ideal Audio Interface for guitar, because you can record in all of those ways.

You’ve got your instrument in, you’ve got line in, and you can connect XLR leads so you can record using a microphone as well. Focusrite Scarlett 2i4So let’s go through these three different ways of recording your guitar step by step. So whichever way you want to record the first thing you need to do is install your Audio Interface correctly. The instructions you can see are not very long, just make sure you follow them. With a Mac you simply connect the interface to a USB port, you go to your system preferences and sound and make sure you’ve selected the correct interface for input and output. On Windows there’s an extra step because you need to install drivers first and then you need to just go to the control panel and make sure the interface is set up there.

In terms of recording software you could start off with any of the free recording software that comes with your interface, or you could try GarageBand on Mac, maybe MixCraft on Windows, Reaper, Audacity is completely free, as is Pro Tools First. So any recording software that’ll get you going will do the job. To record on an iPad you simply connect the USB lead to a camera connector kit, make sure it’s a powered one, then you can connect the power supply for your iPad into the power socket and that will power the interface and enable you to record on your iPad.

Now that you’ve got your Audio Interface setup, you need to connect a pair of studio headphones to the headphone socket of the interface, and/or a set of pad studio monitors to the monitor outputs on the back. The reason you need to do this is that you’re not going to be listening to the sound through your computer speakers now you’re going to be listening to it directly through the Audio Interface. And another nice thing about this is you can choose whether you: direct monitor, so that you listen immediately to the signal that you want to record without any delay, or you can choose to hear the processed sound coming out of your computer or some kind of mix between.

So to record the direct signal from your guitar, you connect the guitar lead and adjust the gain on your guitar, and then on your interface you make sure it’s switched to instrument, you plug the other end of your guitar lead in, and adjust the gain on the interface so you’re adjusting the gain in two places. You’ll have to experiment to get the right level.

So, in your recording software you need to just check that you are recording through your Audio Interface, so make sure that’s selected. Now what we’re going to do is to create a track.

You create an audio track, you can choose at this point whether it’s audio or MIDI, we’re recording an audio track, and the input is mono, select the Input.

So what I do is I’m going to arm this for recording, I’m just going to make sure that the monitoring is on so I can hear myself. So when we can hear our guitar, so what I’m going to do is just record a very basic track, just dry. I’m just recording the dry signal from my guitar. So, save that, take that off. Let’s go back to the beginning, just have a quick listen. Apart from being very bad, it is obviously just very boring, because there’s no effects, it’s just the signal from the guitar.

But what you can do at this point, is you can use any plugin to apply effects, amp simulators and so on, so let’s put an amp simulator on this.

You see I’ve got the same signal but now I can do what I like with it, so let’s go back to the beginning again, let’s play that. Okay, sounds completely different.

It’s playing back through the effects, but I can turn them off. Okay so hopefully that’s given you a quick idea of what you can do with the software once you’ve got your guitar recording direct, you can really fiddle around with the effects, apply them, change them, apply them while you’re playing or play a dry signal and then apply the effects afterwards however you want to do it, very straightforward once you’ve got your interface set up and your guitar recorded through it.

So what you do at this point is you keep recording, adding effects, mixing, making sure you’ve got everything how you like and once you’ve got your finished product you can simply bounce it all out to an audio file that you can share with the world basically, so that is how you record direct through your interface and into the software using the software plugins.

Recording on an iPad in an app like GarageBand is very similar, you simply add extra tracks. In the case of GarageBand you can choose a guitar track. And then you’ve got multiple amps and effects to choose from. You can record multiple tracks, switch and play with the amps to your heart’s content and then export your finished song.

To record the sound of your amp, you’ve got two choices. One is to connect cables from the line outputs of the amp to the line inputs of your Audio Interface. Make sure it’s switched to line and make sure the volumes are down, and then you adjust them gradually to get the right recording level. Then in the software, you are going to record this time, I am recording in stereo and I simply arm for recording and start recording what is coming out of the amp via the line output. So the recordings process is very similar to before. Once you’ve got your signal recorded, you can add extra effects again in the software, do EQ, compression, all that sort of thing.

So, the third way to record your electric guitar is to record the sound of the guitar amp using a microphone. You’ll get the best sound if you place your mic about two to 12 inches from the amp cabinet, the mic pointing directly at the cone of one of the amp speakers. You can move the mic around, try pointing it at different speakers if your amp has more than one, move it in and out, you just have to keep experimenting until you get a sound that you like.

So, what kind of mic? Well, a dynamic mic is the easiest to use and it’s great for a sort of rock guitar sound. If you want a warmer, more full bodied sound then choose a large diaphragm condenser, just bare in mind it is more sensitive and may pick up more of the ambient sound of the room. And if you use a large diaphragm condenser you might need to think about acoustic treatment depending on what your room’s like. You can get a nice clean sound using a small diaphragm condenser mic, and that might be a good choice between.

The kind of mic I’ve got is an AKG C1000 S, AND it’s served me really well for all kinds of recording purposes and there’s plenty of similar mics on the market. Whichever mic you go with you simply use an XLR lead and connect to the mic input on your interface, and adjust the gain on the preamp ’til you get the right level. If you’re using a condenser mic then you’ll need to switch on the phantom power, and again you capture the result by making a straight recording from your interface into an audio track in your recording software. Now just before I summarize what we’ve covered.

Right let’s have a quick summary And just a reminder that you can use any of these methods to record on your iPad, If you use a powered camera connection kit. I should point out that Audio Interfaces come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from iPad docks to USB mixers, you can even get Audio Interfaces specifically designed for smartphone, and it’s possible to buy a bundle that includes your Audio Interface and a microphone, headphones and XLR lead, so you can quickly get up and running. But whichever route you choose the basic principles of how you record remain the same.

Finally, here are two more possibilities you could consider. Firstly, if you’re on a tight budget, you could consider a USB microphone. A good quality USB mic connects directly to your PC or Mac, or to your iPad with a powered camera connection kit. It saves having to purchase a separate interface, microphone, mic leads and so on, and would enable you to make a very reasonable recording of your guitar amp on your computer. Secondly, you could also consider a portable digital recorder. The best ones double up as an Audio Interface anyway, but also would allow you to make digital recordings of your guitar in all the ways we’ve covered, without you needing your computer or iPad at the same time. You could transfer the recordings onto your PC, Mac or iPad at your leisure, ready for further editing and mixing.