Setting Up a Home Recording Studio

The problem: recording studios are closing due to Covid-19.

The solution: build your own home studio.

If you’re like me, home and bored due to Covid-19, you’re wondering what things you can do at home while waiting for life to return to normal. If you are a performing artist or aspire to be one, recording music will make the time go by faster and let you feel you’ve actually accomplished something.

Closing Studios

Studios301 has closed down to Covid-19.

Subsequently we’ve suspended our recording studios 1-4 and attended studio sessions at our facility until May 31st (or until further notice). We will keep you updated on the status of the studios on a daily basis in line with the government’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) health alert.

When can we get back into studios to record? They say until further notice. That’s when I started sourcing my own home studio.

Essential Components of a Home Studio

You can put together a basic home studio with a few essential components. This will help you record your songs for the public’s consumption, even though you can’t get out to your favorite recording studio. Following is a list of what you will need to start recording at home.

A Computer

Most of you have one of these already! It shouldn’t matter whether your computer is Mac or PC, as long as it has a decent amount of RAM (preferably at least 4 gig but 8 gig will make things smoother).

A DAW For Using On Said Computer

DAWs are digital audio workstations. This is software you will be running on that fancy computer mentioned above. Here are some popular DAWs:

An Audio Interface

Audio interfaces are a physical box that receives input from a microphone and feeds it to the DAW on your computer. This allows for higher quality recording than if you were to go directly from your microphone to the computer. Following are a list of some popular audio interface boxes:

A Good Mic

This is one of the more important parts of your setup. You need a quality microphone. Following is a list of good quality affordable microphones.

Quality Headphones

You might be surprised what kind of glitches you discover in your music when you listen to it on high quality headphones, that are not easy to catch if your audio source is low quality. Studio headphones will let you hear what your music sounds like to distinguished audiophiles. Following are some good quality headphones for your home studio.

How to Finance Your Home Studio

Can’t afford everything above? I feel you. This setup might be out of your price range unless you can scrounge up enough money. Consider selling some unnecessary items on Craigslist. If you are employed, you can consider getting a payday loan from a company like Perfect Payday. This type of loan (unsecured) typically has higher interest, so make sure you can afford it when the time comes to repay.