How To Build A Home Studio For Under $350 - TheRecordingRevolution.com

hey friend Graham here from the recording revolution comm and if you are brand new to recording and mixing and you are looking to set up your first home studio then this is the video for you today I'm gonna show you how to put together a complete studio for under $350 u.s. with specific gear recommendations why I recommend them what you don't need to be buying and have a special gift for you at the end of this video as well so if you're getting started you're getting on the internet you're looking what do I need to buy how does it work there are a lot of opinions out there and most of them are crazy okay they will tell you that you need to spend lots and lots of money and that you need all kinds of complicated stuff but the whole industry has changed there's so much fantastic sounding and accessible gear at rock-bottom prices there has never been a better time to make music so let me walk you through the simple components you need to get this 350 dollar studio and get it up and running now the first thing you need is an audio interface it's just a little box that has microphone preamps in it guitar inputs keyboard inputs so you can plug all your stuff into it and it connects to your Mac or PC and the one I recommend for you is the focusrite scarlett solo okay this is a $99 box it comes with one microphone preamp at the front and has a second channel for a guitar or bass or keyboard so you can record two channels at once one with the microphone one plug-in directly has a headphone jack and it connects USB to your Mac or PC now I have used Focusrite interfaces for the last six or seven years they are a great company that makes great products they make great sounding products I really trust them that's why I'm recommending it and the scarlett solo is one of the only budget interfaces one of the only interfaces I know of in that 99 dollar range that can record at high high sample rates okay sample rates that most of the real expensive Pro interfaces record out that it's kind of normal for them but a lot of the budget interfaces only do 44.1 or 48k if you don't know what that means it doesn't really matter but just knowing that this interface can record super high sample rates 96k and above is a nice feature built into a crazy low price so for $99 you can have the hub of your studio that will sound good take all your microphones and your guitars and the actual analog sound in your room and convert it to a digital signal that plugs into your computer so that now you can manipulate it by editing it mixing it all that kind of stuff so this is the most important part of your studio and it's only $99 now the other thing you're gonna need is a piece of software to record into and to mix and what I love about the scarlett solo is that it comes with two two pieces of free software the first is Ableton Live lite and if you have ever used Ableton you know it's a super super powerful program one of my good friends ill factor he's a grammy-nominated producer in Miami does all his records on Ableton Live so you have that option to start playing with that it also comes with Pro Tools first which is a free version of Pro Tools which is the platform I like to use I've been using it for 15 years I record and mix on it sounds great I love its ease of use and what you get is basically a stripped-down version of that same software just fewer track counts but it is I think 16 tracks it can do a lot of the exact same plugins that I'm using built in all the same editing features all the same mixing features it's an incredible platform and you can use it for free right away with your Scarlett solo now the second thing you're gonna need is a microphone now there's lots of microphones multiple types multiple price points let me give you a quick recommendation the every home studio needs a large diaphragm condenser microphone if you don't know what that is it's okay a condenser microphone is just the type of technology it uses but these are great because they're very sensitive mics they can capture a vocal and all the detail beautifully they can capture an acoustic guitar and all the detail beautifully they're great over a piano they're great over a drum kit because they capture the cymbals and all the drums beautifully this is the type of microphone you want and the samson co one at $79 is one of the best buys in all of home studio land I've got a couple of these I recommend these to friends my dad uses one of these to do narration and voice-over work in his little home studio and it sounds phenomenal on his voice I've used them from drum overheads I've used them in front of a guitar yup I've used them on acoustic guitar they just sound better than they should it is a great mic it works beautifully and the rock-solid I've used them for probably six or seven years it's hard to get this good of a sound at this price point so I really really like the Samson cl1 this will plug right into your scarlet interface right into the preamp you can use it on any source you want now you're gonna need something to hear your recordings while you're tracking and to hear your mixes on while you're mixing and with that I recommend a good pair of studio headphones yes most studios have nice big reference monitors these are the speakers that write on the mixing console or right on their desk that are built for the studio and there's lots of different types of speakers but they cost more money and you don't need them to get started a good pair of headphones is all you need to get started because there's other problems that come along with speakers in terms of your room not sounding good and acoustic treatment so if you eliminate all that for now and just get a pair of headphones then the room is out of the equation you can work late at night you can work if you have roommates or kids or dogs or neighbors so much benefit comes for headphones and I recommend the k RK k and s 64 hundreds I have a couple pair of these I also have their bigger brothers the 84 hundreds this is a $99 pair of headphones over the ear studio grade they're great for tracking and they're actually great for mixing any pair of headphones you have any pair of speakers you have is going to have its own sound so yes nothing is perfectly flat but that's gonna be true for anything you work on so if you can learn what these sound like you can mix on these I've done it before they're really really a great place to start down the road if you want to upgrade to a pair of speakers no problem you can do that when you have some money especially if you're starting to make some money off your studio maybe charged and makes a record it's a great way to reinvest in your studio but for now just get a pair of these care K headphones and you're gonna be in great shape now you're gonna need three more little boring things that are absolutely necessary to give your studio all connected cuz you've got your mic you've got your interface you've got your headphones and you got the software you're gonna need a mic cable specifically an XLR cable these are a little round cables at the end with three pins this is a standard microphone cable and you can get a solid ten-foot 15 20 foot cable for around $20 $19 u.s. I buy all my stuff from Sweetwater and I really like the company great service great stuff and I used all their proko cables their in-house cables so you can get that or you can buy these cables anyway audio gear sold you're also going to need a stand a microphone stand I prefer tripod stands over the round based stands because a little more stable and you want to stand this got a boom arm so you can sort of move the stand a position that microphone exactly where you want to be over the drum kit in front of your acoustic guitar in front of your face if you're singing so simple simple stand twenty-five dollars or so will get you a good tripod boom stand and that's gonna be exactly what you need for your mic final thing you need if you're going to record vocals ever you need a pop filter this is that little round screen thing that you put in front of your microphone and it has like a little mesh so silly looking and seems like a waste of money except for does one thing and one thing only it removes all the peas and the bees and all the air that will blast off your face it eliminates that from overloading your microphone if you don't have one go sing into your microphone and see what happens when you say a P or a B it sounds amateur it distorts your mic it makes a massive blip on your screen you can hear it every pro needs some kind of pop filter to just eliminate that sound so what the mic hears is exactly what you wanted to hear it's nineteen dollars or so you might be able to find one cheaper but a simple pop filter will be the thing that you will use forever and you'll be glad you spent the money on something you don't hear but it's what it removes that makes all the difference now a couple things that people always ask Graham you never mention computer don't need a computer to record all this stuff on we yes you need a computer but I'm assuming you have a computer you're either watching this video on a computer or you have one in your home and if you do own one it's good enough to start recording and mixing on period you don't need to go out and buy a separate computer for your studio that's ludicrous use the one you have until you've gotten good at this then invest in yourself and get a dedicated computer for recording and mixing if you need it but you will probably take a while till you need it because computers these days are crazy powerful and it does not take much power to record and mix a good song so that's why I don't mention computers it's not because I'm somehow forgetting it it's because you don't need the most powerful computer on planet earth - recorder mixer band just use what you have second thing people ask is Graham do I need an external preamp like a nice dedicated preamp and the answer is no your scarlett solo that I recommend has a preamp built into it that sounds great and it has great sounding converters I know people will disagree with me I've been doing this long enough to know what their opinions are but they're wrong because the converters and the preamps that are built into these budget interfaces these days sound amazing I've been making music in studios for 15 years the gear I had 15 years ago that costs 10 times as much as these budget interfaces now does not sound as good as what we have now for $100 it's just a whole different landscape it is a beautiful time to make music this is why you could have a recording studio for $350 so you already have a great sounding preamp in your Scarlett solo just record into that you do not need to buy an external preamp down the road if you want one that sounds a little different down the road sure but until you're really good at recording the mixing don't even bother use what's built into your interface now I want to give you a gift because there may be other gear you're interested in you may be able to spend more than $350 you might have different needs you might already have some of the gear well what I've done is put together a home studio gear guide literally a collection of all my personal recommendations for microphones for audio interfaces for speakers for software for all that stuff at every price point what it is is literally my favorite stuff different price points with links to that gear so you can see up-to-the-minute prices on that stuff just go to studio gear guide.com it's a free download as a PDF really easy it's my gift to you I think it'll help you so if you're inspired by this 350 dollar studio you can go get it but if you want to see more recommendations at different price points or you want to look at different brands cuz there's a few different ones that I like and recommend it's all there at Studio gear guides comma put the link in the description box below just go download it real quick check it out see if it will help you I think it will really help you cut through the clutter know exactly what you need is all stuff that I personally have vetted that either I either own all this stuff or I've used it or I it's something that I know is from a company that I actually like and do business with and respect and so I can with confidence recommend it to you so check it out see if it's helpful for you studio gear guy comm that's all I have for you today more videos coming thanks for being a part of the revolution subscribe to the videos if you like videos like this and you want to see when the next one comes out good luck with all your music making and I'll see you on another video soon

Channel: recordingrevolution

Views: 3,506,193

Rating: 4.9480209 out of 5

Keywords: home studio, how to build a home studio, home studio gear, recording vocals, recording guitar, recording drums, focustrite scarlett solo, samson C01, Ableton Live, Avid Pro Tools, Avid Pro Tools First, KRK KNS 6400, KRK headphones, studio headphones, studio monitors, how to build a home studio on a budget, recording revolution, recordingrevolution

Id: XLXSqan3Jcs

Length: 11min 33sec (693 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 30 2017