Building Our Own Studio (HELP!)

[Jak Angelescu]

Hey guys! Things have been so rough financially lately it’s been difficult getting back into the studio. With taxes, property taxes, and a shit load of fees to start my real estate career, plus money for Holly’s MRI for her shoulder, it’s been super difficult to find the time OR finances to get back into the studio to finish our song.
She’s been out of work for 2 weeks so I’ve been trying my hardest to help pick up her financial setbacks. And in this time we realized that it’s still going to cost us almost $400 to finish our song the way we want. We started really talking about it, and by the time this song is done it will have nearly $1,500 put into it. I had a really eye-opening conversation with someone and they told me, “You really should invest in doing this yourself.” So we made up our minds.
I’m looking for a comprised list of what you need to do a decent home studio. I mean like right down to desks and speakers, cables and mics. Thank you guys so much!!!

 

[Ed Seith]

Assuming recording drums elsewhere or using EZDrummer or something, because you can do the drum bits later, and that’s the most expensive part of setting up a studio because of all the mics, stands, and cables and more complex interface you need. If you do drums somewhere else, and get the stems (individual track recordings) to take with you, here’s what you need:
Interface: FocusRite Scarlett is a solid choice, and a good-for-professional-at-home results is the 2i4 – ~$200
Vocal mic – that’s Holly’s preference. Basic is a Shure SM-58, for under $100. Going back DECADES, that was all almost any club I played in had for vocals. There are definitely BETTER mics, but that’s the all-around vocal workhorse, so if she has no preference, SM58.
Guitar mic – SM57 ($100) is the 80s metal standard. More modern sounding are the Royer R121 ($1300) or Sennheiser MD421 ($400). I think Syn uses the Royer a lot, too. Of course, to me, you’re getting near “used AxeFX” money there, and then you have infinitely more possibilities. YMMV.
Probably no less than 2 XLR cables for mics. The Scarlett can use XLR to XLR, or XLR to 1/4″, so your preference. You need at least one XLR male end (to plug into the mic itself), and the female XLR end (or 1/4″ male) plugs into the Scarlett.
DAW (Digital Audio Workstation): Reaper. No contest. It’s not TECHNICALLY free, but it’s a full-featured demo with no limitations and you can shell out the $60 when you feel you have it. It’s worth it, and it’s as good as Pro-Tools, Ableton, Sonar, or any other DAW, with less overhead and comparable usability and quality. http://reaper.fm
That’s your basic workstation. Any Windows or Mac computer built in the last 5 years should have no trouble with any of this.

 

[Ed Seith]

Also, need a pop filter ($8) for the vocal mic, and a stand. Make sure the mic cable is long enough to get from the Scarlett to the bathroom, because that’s your isolated vocal booth. Great natural reverb in the shitter.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

DUDE ED!! I knew I could count on you! I love the shitter vocal booth, lol! I’m screenshotting all of this, thank you!

 

[Ed Seith]

PS: for Bass, you record direct (a LOT of bass tracks are just bass guitar into the interface, then EQ and effects), or use a bass sim plug-in (Studio Devil is really good), or again, the AxeFX has solid bass amps and cabinets.

 

[Filip Tomiša]

I agree with everything Ed said. I would just like to add that you should treat your room acoustically at least a little bit because acoustic treatment is basically the most important thing when it comes to studios. Obviously treating the whole room would cost a fortune but there are some solutions how you can treat it without spending too much money. This article should help you https://ehomerecordingstudio.com/acoustic-treatment-101/
Deffinitelly get a pop filter because it’s purpose is to get rid of the p,b,s,c (letters that require blowing air out) and they are not expensive at all. Also a good thing to have is a shock mount (it’s purpose is to suspend hits) but if your singer won’t wave around with her hands when she will be recording the vocals you should do just fine without a shock mount.
As for the speakers i would recommend yamaha hs 5 because they are really good and they give you a flat sound which means you hear the sound exactly as it has been recorded. If you look at any famous studio they all have yamaha speakers (although they are usually yamaha ns 10) so if you decide to buy them you won’t regret it. Another great speaker is krk rockit 5 but they color your sound a bit.

 

[Ed Seith]

Ahh, crap, I forgot about MONITORS – good catch, Filip!
And acoustic treatment – we used egg crate and flat packing foam to do this to the walls of our rehearsal room. Definitely makes a big difference, and you might be able to find what you need out behind an appliance or electronics store, though I don’t know if they pack things that way any more.

 

[Rad Synner]

Yeah everything said here is pretty much spot on. Id add a couple thing though: SM58 is a great Vocal mic for live purposes but for studio, its just okay. If I can advise a nice vocal mic, it would be the sm7b. Monitor wise, filip is pretty much spot on. The Yamaha hs5 are really good. There are also the upgraded version which are the hs7 and hs8. all depending on your budget. I would also add a subwoofer. The Yamaha ns10 are also used as a reference monitor more than main monitor.
Sound proofing wise, put bass traps in the corner of your room thats probably the most important.
Also, Ed if im not mistaken, the egg crate soundproofing technic has been proven to be a myth many times so im not sure about that..
Other than that, Daw wise, its up to your preference. Reaper is a great Daw. I prefer logic and pro tools personally but to each their own.
For guitar axe-fx is definitely good but I wouldnt overlook the Kemper. Not only its more accessible, but quality wise its very much on par with the axe fx. They are both the top in the amp market anyways!

 

[Calvin Phillips]

Having your own studio is becoming more popular by the year. When I’m ready I’m doing the same. I’d suggest electric drums if you dont want to use ezdrummer. That’s the route I’m planning to go if I have to. I think hes right tho definitely makes more sense to self.invest then spend that much on the song. I know most is the session drummer so it makes sense. I saw for me it would be like 600 for a session drummer for the day.

 

[Firsty Lasty]

Tbh any home studio setup that I would be satisfied with would blow way past $400 total, and I don’t have expensive tastes. On top of that producing and mixing something that sounds professional is, if you haven’t tried it before, a hundred times harder than one might expect. The good thing is once you have a good setup you can record as much as you want, whenever you want, without spending any extra money. Instead of recording one song, why not a hundred songs? Just don’t go into this expecting it to be cheap and easy; that won’t be the case, even if making a home studio is the right thing to do.
My home recording setup is, or was until my $3k computer died, Guitar -> PRS Mark Tremonti Amp -> Two Notes captor ($250) -> interface -> Reaper -> vst stack including not-free IRs. My overall favorite IR is the Ownhammer GNR, although of course if you’ll be using real speakers blasting a real mic then that entire subject is irrelevant to your needs. For XLR cables I use South Creek Audio, because they’re good and not expensive. I’m sure there are other good choices, but idgaf; I only need one kind of great-but-cheap cable.
Monitors and room treatment are important and not free. I would go look up whatever Glenn Fricker’s most recent advice on this subject is if I were starting over again. I personally can’t mix with headphones without the end result being laughably terrible garbage.

 

[AGA]

I agree with @Radu-Cristian Perde about the mic. SM7b is a better studio choice that’s still affordable, other popular vocal mics start going up into the $900+ price range.
I also agree 100% with @Firsty Lasty when he said “don’t go into this expecting it to be cheap and easy; that won’t be the case, even if making a home studio is the right thing to do.”
Investing into a home studio is definitely the right direction today, but it is not cheap or easy. As long as you can be patient and accept that it will take time to both obtain the things you need as well as learn how to use them and learn how to record and mix properly, you will be fine. From experience I can tell you that it is DEFINITELY WORTH IT, but it does come with its share of frustration and a steep learning curve. In any case, I am here to help if you have any questions at all.
Lastly, I disagree with some of the comments about acoustic treatment; it is helpful, but not imperative. Good acoustic treatment is expensive, cutting corners here is useless because it does NOT provide the same absorption, dampening etc. that good materials would so you would waste your money on something you would have to replace later. In the meantime, you can work around a less than ideal room. By close micking guitar cabinets and adding an IR or reverb in the box. I loved the shitter thing, but I would actually avoid recording vocals in a bathroom, too many reflections that you have no control over. That’s not to say you can’t record the bathroom’s reverb separately from the main vocal by re-amping or capturing an IR. In a small environment, stick to close range speakers (the ones previously recommended are fine, but you will need a sub and that is NOT cheap) or even start with a really good pair of headphones, I mixed with headphones for years before getting monitors and you’ll need headphones to track vocals anyway (I use Beyerdynamic 880s, a really trusted colleague has recommended Sennheiser HD 650 too).The human hearing is very adaptive. Despite the thing that many people will tell you,stay a bit closer to your speakers and monitor at lower volume. This way you will hear most of the sounds coming directly from your speakers and will diminish the reflections of your room or other surfaces.

 

[AGA]

I think this video should help too Jak!
It features most of the gear everyone recommended above plus some other stuff, I agree with his recommendations too.
Also, the headphones I recommended are Beyerdynamic DT880s (forgot to add the DT)






This reply was modified 5 months, 4 weeks ago by  Aileé Guerra Aréizaga.

 

[Rad Synner]

Yeah what @Aileé said is fucking good. If i may even add something to what she said is this: If you wanna record vocals, do it in a closed up closets with a shitload of clothing in it. Can even work for a guitar amp.
For like an interesting room reverb, another technic I could advise is the following: Put a monitor facing a reflecting surface like window and then put the microphone facing the opposite wall so it could record the reflection! Depending on the room, it can do some very interesting reverb.
And yeah mixing through headphones is not a bad start either if you cant go for the monitor. My recommandation was also BeyerDynamic DT880s so spot on on that @Aileé Guerra Aréizaga.

 

[Sayonil Mitra]

If only I could save this post for future reference.

 

[AGA]

Thanks @Radu! Yes, I agree on using a closet as a vocal booth.
@Sayonil maybe you can take screenshots and save them.

 

[Calvin Phillips]

I’ve always mixed with headphones.
My mixing and recording has dramatically improved over the year and its simply from denial and error. Gotta do wrong to see how right goes. Ed has great advice too on how to control the db placements. The actual editing part I’m not 100% on but it may be better to hire someone to edit and mix.. etc.
I went from thinking the amp noise was what is get to lowering the mic until I heard no unwanted feedback. For anyone wanting to learn.. all I can say is give it a shot. Find out where you went wrong. Usually its literally mic level. You’ll see the improvements right away.

 

[Hiroshi Nakauye]

Reaper is great I like it a lot. Another thing is keep a look out for free plugins. native instruments has komplete free which has a ton of good free stuff. Also of you are going to use headphones to mix a lot buy extra 1/8 to 1/4 adapters. They seem to go missing at the worst time.
For a microphone reccomendation the audio technica at2050 is a great multi pattern option that will cover a bunch of applications.





This reply was modified 5 months, 3 weeks ago by  Hiroshi Nakauye.

 

[Jak Angelescu]

Thank you all SO much for your help everyone! I haven’t had time yet to read over these responses but I’m subscribing to this forum topic. I downloaded Reaper and HOLY SHIT. THIS is what I’ve needed. The videos are so broken down and easy to understand. If if I have questions I’ll post them here. Thank you everyone!

 

[Calvin Phillips]

Never could get reaper but from I understand its ideally audacity but laid out differently should be easy to figure out.