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Important: Are you on Facebook? Then (opens in new window) to see daily music business guides & discussion that’ll help you move your music career forward. Get involved with your views. 🙂 So, you want to set up a home studio. You want to start producing music.
Where do you start? There are so many things to spend your money on, it can feel overwhelming! The truth is, you just want to start making music. So, we’re going to give you the definitive list of hardware that you need to make music now. You’ll need some cash saved up to build a basic home studio. However, it doesn’t need to be thousands of dollars.
You can start off by spending well under $1,000, especially if you already own a computer. For this guide, I will not be listing the absolute top-of-the line microphones, interfaces, etc. These pieces of gear can quickly run into the tens of thousands of dollars range. Best bible software for mac. For example, one of my favorite microphones, the Neumann M149 starts at around $5,000.
Obviously, this is not affordable for the beginner home studio owner and completely unnecessary. There are many, many affordable condenser microphones that will sound professional without breaking the bank. This guide will focus on the top hardware available for each essential piece of gear for your studio with a focus on affordability and quality. Let’s get started.
Computer Hardware, Essential For The Modern Day Music Producer By far the most expensive piece of your home studio, you computer is the backbone of. Sure, there is equipment like the Zoom R16 which records directly onto the hardware without using a computer, but this technology’s capabilities are limited.
To produce, record, and mix your music at a professional level, you need a good quality computer. These days, all you need is a laptop, which is awesome. It is 100% possible to record onto both Mac and Windows operating systems. Choose whichever you are most comfortable with. You should know, however, that the operating system you choose will ultimately affect your choice of DAW too (recording software). If you are accustomed to using Logic or GarageBand, you need to get a Mac to continue using it. Pro Tools is available on both.
FL Studios is made for PCs. Whichever you choose, here are some good options to consider. Apple MacBook Pro seem to have become a favorite among many creators. They are powerful, easy to use, quality, and upgradable.
If you want to upgrade it yourself, you need to get the 2011 series. Make sure your MacBook is running at least Intel Core Duo, although it is strongly preferable to have an i5 processor or better. You’ll need at least 8 GB of RAM. Your memory isn’t as important, but it’s nice to have at least 500 GB. MusicXPC M Series is designed for music production and gets the job done nicely. It’s got an i7 processor and comes stock with 8 GB of RAM. It’s very portable, but at 15 inches, the screen is still a very usable size.
These are quality, durable laptops. HP Envy 15 The is another laptop that can handle some serious music making. It has features that include a brilliant FHD display, Audio by Bang & Olufsen and HP Audio Boost technology with memory up to 12GB RAM.
It also comes with the latest, greatest Intel processor and 1 TB of memory. Summary These are just a few of the computers you should look at.
There are many computers these days that can get the job done. I strongly recommend you get something with an i5 processor or better and at least 8 GB of RAM. Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) All of your music gets recorded onto your DAW.
You DAW is the canvas upon which you make songs. There are many great DAWs to get you started, and some of them are even free. There are a few things to take into consideration when choosing a DAW. Experience If you’ve been making music for a few years and working with a basic DAW, it may be time to move into a more professional setup. However, if you’re a beginner who has never recorded music before, you may not want to jump into professional DAWs right away. Software like Pro Tools is very powerful and very complicated.
There are entire schools dedicated to using it – kind of like graphic design software. It may not be necessary to get into that level of complexity right now.