Below is yet another home recording question that has become so common on Yahoo Answers. Folks want to record themselves at home and want to get started on a fairly tight budget.
I have yet to see a question like: “Hey we want to start recording our band at home and would like suggestions on how to spend $20,000 to set up a home recording studio.
Anyway, the person who answered the question referenced an article which does not give bad advice on the equipment it recommends, but you’d need over $1,000.00 just to put together what they call the “starter studio!” Great googly-moogly!!!
The guy asked for a frugal studio, right there in the title of his post. Let’s just say I think it’s crazy to drop a thousand clams on a “starter” studio. See the Home Brew Audio answer at the end of this post.
Original question
Q: I’m in a band and we are toying with the idea of recording in our own home studio… We need ideas to get the most for our money… Any suggestions?
A: Here is a cool little article on setting up a home studio with price in mind (note: article no longer exists).
I got it off that site, it’s a great little community with tons of information and people who really know what they’re doing.
Should help 🙂
Here is the Home Brew Audio answer:
First of all ,if you’re just starting out, there is absolutely no need to spend more than about $200 max! You can always add equipment as you need it. For some really good step-by-step instructions on setting up your own computer-based studio, see our 5-part series called (duh) “How To Build A Home Recording Studio.”
But just to touch on what you would need to start, let’s just assume you can use your current computer. In 2020, that is a more than reasonable assumption for 90% of people.
Next, since this person said he was in a band, he will need more than folks who are just going to be recording voiceovers and podcasts, etc. That likely means he’ll want to be able to record several microphones at once. A good start is the Focusrite Scarlett 18i20, which is a recording interface (plugs directly into your computer), which has 8 microphone inputs. It is only $499.
I also have a mini-course called How to Create a Home Recording Studio that breaks things down into 4 budget levels, starting at “Free!” Since the original poster was looking for a frugal recording studio, this mini-course will be perfect for a start. Then he could add only the gear he needs to those basics.