Building a Home Music Studio
Home : Music : by Trevis Rothwell, February 2012
Over the course of a century, the technology for recording music has gone from complicated, specialized equipment to which few people had access, to fairly easy-to-use systems that run on computers which many people already own. With a relatively modest investment, you can have everything you need to start producing professional-quality music recordings in your home.
Digital Audio Workstation Software
The central piece of the system is the Digital Audio Workstation software, commonly referred to as the DAW. This is the software that you use for recording new tracks of audio (or MIDI) data, editing the tracks, applying effects to the tracks, and mixing the tracks down to a more or less final output. There are numerous DAW applications to choose from.
Pro Tools
For years, Pro Tools has been the professional standard for DAW applications. If you are absolutely serious about digital music production, this is the way to go. Other DAW applications may well offer all of the features that you need, but using Pro Tools will give you maximum compatibility when exchanging files with other professional sound engineers.
It used to be the case that Pro Tools required special custom hardware to work with, but the latest versions of Pro Tools will work with a variety of modern digital audio interfaces (which we will look at shortly).
What if you're not absolutely serious about digital music production? Pro Tools carries a high price tag, and if you are just getting started, it might not make sense to buy Pro Tools right away. Other DAW applications will do quite nicely as you learn, and in fact, depending on how you interact with other studios, you may never feel compelled to buy Pro Tools at all.
Reaper
Toward the other end of the cost spectrum is Reaper, but the low cost is not indicative of low quality.
GarageBand
For Apple fans, GarageBand may be a good starting point. It's very easy to use, comes with a variety of built-in music clips, and includes educational features to help beginners learn how to play music. It also has some limitations that make it a suboptimal choice for a serious DAW application. But for compiling song ideas and generally getting acquainted with the concepts of multi-track music recording, it may be the most novice-friendly option.
Also available in iPhone and iPad editions.
Others
And there's lots more: Cakewalk SONAR, Steinberg Cubase, Mackie Tracktion... To a first approximation, they all do the same basic things, but have different user interfaces and different features and built-in add-ons beyond the digital audio workstation core.
So Which One Should I Use?
If you have a Mac, you can start tinkering with GarageBand right now without paying anything.
If you don't have a Mac, or are ready to move past GarageBand, then take a look at this more in-depth subsection surveying DAW software in particular.
But before you run out and buy a DAW application, you might find that some DAW software comes bundled with whatever digital audio interface that you buy...
Digital Audio Interfaces
In order to get audio into your computer, you have to have some sort of interface hardware that converts analog audio signals into digital data.
Built-In Microphone Input
Most modern computers have either a built-in microphone, or a built-in 1/8-inch microphone input jack, or both. This will probably be insufficient for doing much serious work, but it can be enough to get started with. Consider, for example, the song demo recordings for Phineas and Ferb, which were recorded straight into the built-in microphone on the computer. It doesn't really sound professional, but it got the job done. (And, of course, final recordings were done later based on the rough-sketch demos.)
USB/Firewire Audio Interfaces
What you will probably want to get is some sort of digital audio interface that connects to your computer via USB or Firewire, preferably supporting the fastest of these connections that your computer can handle (e.g., USB 2 rather than USB 1, or Firewire 800 rather than Firewire 400).
The digital audio interface itself is some sort of electronics box, that accepts one or more analog audio inputs and converts the audio signal into digital data that flows into the computer via a USB or Firewire connection. There is a wide variety of different audio interfaces, and which kind you should get depends on what you need to do with it.
The M-Audio FastTrack Pro, for example, has only two audio inputs. If you are recording things like vocals, or guitar, or a stereo keyboard, one instrument (or at most two) at a time, and don't mind plugging in and unplugging input cables as needed, then this sort of interface could work fine.
For recording several instruments simultaneously, or if you want to plug in multiple instruments and leave them plugged in, then something like the MOTU UltraLite may be in order. This offers a total of ten input tracks, including two microphone inputs (which can double as 1/4-inch line inputs) and eight 1/4-inch line inputs.
If you're planning on getting into Pro Tools, one cost-effective plan is to select a digital audio interface that comes bundled with the Pro Tools software, such as the Avid Mbox Pro.
Many, but not all, digital audio interfaces also include a MIDI interface for relaying MIDI input from keyboards and other instruments into the computer. If you plan on using MIDI input, you might want to make sure MIDI connections are included on your audio interface, or you could get a standalone MIDI interface.
MIDI-Only Interfaces
MIDI tracks contain no audio, just information that tells a MIDI-compatible audio device what notes to play. In the somewhat older days, we used MIDI tracks to control physical synthesizers, which in turn still needed to be recorded via an audio input. But today, there are lots of excellent software synthesizers that you can control with MIDI. For instrumental keyboard-driven music, this may totally eliminate the need for a digital audio interface, and you can get by with a less expensive MIDI interface.
Even amongst MIDI-only interfaces, there is a lot of variety. If you're connecting a single MIDI keyboard up to your computer to play software synthesizers, you should be fine with a basic interface like the Roland UM-One. If you have multiple keyboards or multiple MIDI synthesizers you want to control, something like the MOTU MIDI Express 128 might be a better option.
Virtual Instruments
Just a few years ago, it was still very important to have high-quality physical synthesizers for generating good sounds. Today there are a huge number of excellent software-based virtual instruments that you can control via a MIDI interface.
Many virtual instruments function by way of using actual sampled sounds from real instruments during playback, increasing the realism of the sound over and above what traditional synthesizers can offer.
Native Instruments
Native Instruments is one of the best-known vendors of virtual instruments, offering some very good acoustic piano, electric piano, organ, bass guitar, and more. Their instrument packages tend to be geared toward pop, fusion, funk, and jazz musical stylings.Vienna Symphonic Library
The Vienna Symphonic Library has numerous extremely high-quality orchestral virtual instruments: strings, flutes, clarinets, oboes, horns, etc. Their instruments are designed primarily for classical-styled music, with some attention to jazz, though of course classical orchestral arrangements can be used in a wide variety of popular music settings. Their products are some of the more expensive virtual instruments, and the vast array of available instrument articulations make them more difficult to use than most virtual instruments, but once you get past the cost and the learning curve, the quality is outstanding.Drums
For drums, you can get both drum virtual instruments that produce the sounds of the drums, and you can get software that helps you assemble drum grooves. Often, both sound and groove functionality is included in a single package. Here are some packages to consider:
Addictive Drums
Addictive Drums includes both drum sounds and drum grooves, in a fairly intuitive user interface. You can adjust the mix of individual drums within the kit (along with the overhead and room sound), and peruse a library of drum patterns to build entire drum tracks from.The manufacturer offers several expansion packages of more grooves and more drum sounds.
DrumCore
DrumCore is the same basic story as Addictive Drums. The interface is a different, and doesn't offer quite as much flexibility on mixing the drum kit or on adding third-party drum grooves to the library. Nevertheless a very good package, and offers some drum groove packages that are fairly distinct from what Addictive Drums has.Ocean Way Drums
Ocean Way Drums is just the drum sounds — no grooves. But it is perhaps the most comprehensive drum sound package currently available. The ability to remix the drum kit sound is extensive, and the drum sounds are very good.OddGrooves
OddGrooves, on the other hand, offers only drum grooves, no sounds. Their drum patterns include relatively normal 4/4 rhythms as found in other packages, along with patterns in unusual time signatures (3/4, 7/8, 9/8, and beyond) and a large selection of drum fills. These grooves would nicely augment something like Addictive Drums.Physical Instruments
But of course, you can't just play virtual instruments very easily with your bare hands. A keyboard controller should probably be on your list of things to have around. Even if you mainly play guitar, learning a bit of keyboard in order to activate virtual instruments can add a lot to your spectrum of sound.
It used to be the case that having lots of on-board sounds and on-board sequencing software was highly desireable in a keyboard. With the DAW software, the on-board sequencing software is of little value, and with virtual instruments, you would only need good on-board sounds to fill in the gaps for where your virtual instruments are lacking.
It may be sufficient to get a keyboard with no sounds at all, that is purely a MIDI controller. Something like an M-Audio Oxygen 61, perhaps.
Unfortunately, there's not a lot in between having zero on-board sounds and having lots of them (along with lots of other features). In order to get at least some on-board sounds, something like a Yamaha MOX8 may be in order. An old Kurzweil PX1x might be even better, but they are no longer manufactured.
Microphones
Where to even begin? There are microphones specalized for vocals, for drums, for harmonicas... Some of the all-around best value in terms of cost and quality of microphones are those made by MXL. The V63M condenser mic would be a good choice for vocals and many instruments.
Building an isolation booth for recordings is beyond the scope of this article, but getting started with something like the sE Electronics Project Studio Reflexion Filter can be a huge benefit over recording straight in an open room.
Hearing Your Music
So far we've looked a lot at getting sounds into the computer system, but not at getting sound out of the computer. Your computer probably will have built-in sound output of some sort, but that's unlikely to be a good option for doing audio mixing. At the very least you should get a good set of headphones to plug in to your digital audio interface (maybe a pair of Sennheiser HD 280's), but for serious mixing, you really should have some good speakers.
Again, lots and lots of options. Something like the Yamaha HS50M might be a good way to get going. It's an active powered speaker, so you can plug it directly into your audio interface without a separate amplifier.
Cables, Cables, Cables
You will also need cables to connect all of your equipment together. Many computer devices (like your digital audio interface) will come with at least enough cabling to attach to the computer, but you'll need to make sure you have enough for all of your connections, and it's a good idea to keep some spare cables around in case any of them go bad during use or get lost.
What kind of cable to get? If you're reasonably gentle with them, it may work just fine to get whatever the least expensive option is. For cables that get jostled around a lot (like a guitar cable), it's better to get something more robust that can handle wear & tear.
When possible, connecting two devices using the shortest length of cable that can safely and comfortable work will ultimately help reduce clutter. It can get messy fast if you're using 20-foot cables to connect a bunch of devices that are all within six feet of each other.
The Computer Itself
You may well already own a computer. Most recent laptop and desktop computers (maybe not netbooks) should be adequate to begin exploring music production with, though there are some key components that you may want to upgrade as you progress. But first...
Mac or Windows?
Either Mac or Windows-based systems should work fine. Most professional music production software is available for both operating systems. In my experience, it appears that most professional sound engineers prefer to use Macs, but there's no reason that you need to if you're uncomfortable with that option.
Unfortunately, software vendors have been less kind to Linux. There is some music production software available that runs on Linux, but there's a whole lot more that doesn't. As of this writing (early 2012), I really don't see how it makes any practical sense to favor Linux for music production, unless you have some other compelling reason to do so.
Physical Computer Resources
Music production software (especially software synthesizers / samplers and effects) can be very memory intensive. The more memory (RAM) you can get into your computer, the better. Aim for at least 4GB, though you can be productive with less. More would be even better.
Music project data can take up a lot of disk space. Large, fast hard drives would be good. Large solid-state drives would be even better. At the moment, solid-state drives are pretty expensive, but consider using one to store your application software and maybe your sampled instrument data.
Some audio applications take advantage of multi-core processors, and some don't. The future looks to be increasingly multi-core, so you might as well get as many cores in your processors as you can, though if you have to pick between beefing up the processor and adding more memory, right now more memory might be the more useful option.
Whew! Is that Everything?
We've looked at some of the most fundamental components needed to get started, but this is truly only the beginning. The deeper you get into music production, the more you will find that you need additional software and equipment. But beginning with the types of items we discussed here, along with a few more odds and ends that were hiding in between the lines, you'd have a good foundation to start producing professional-quality music.
But Wait! Is this Really a Studio?
A friend who knew I "had a music studio" in my home came over to visit. Upon seeing my setup, he asked me, "so where's the studio?" Indeed, the result of setting up the equipment listed here is not a full-featured recording studio with isolation booths and 48-track mixing consoles. It's enough to record some types of basic, yet high-quality, music. I have no problem thinking of that as a studio, just as I don't expect ushers, velvet ropes, and freshly-popped popcorn when I visit someone's home theater system. If it makes you feel more honest to call your computer and mish-mosh of audio equipment a "recording area" or whatever, then that's fine too.
tjr@acm.org