(Click this link if you want to see Part 1?)
“Dave, I have $xxx to spend on Home Recording gear…What should I buy?”
In this 2nd part today, we’ll cover what recording equipment to buy with budgets of:
Then in the final part:
Please feel free to let us know if you found these examples useful. Just use the Comments section at the end of each post.
Thanks!
Ken Johnstone
(Publisher)PS: Of course there’s much more than just budget to consider. Click this link for more information on our step by step guide to selecting sound recording software and equipment – that works
Dave, I have $1300 to spend on Home Recording Studio Equipment, what should I buy?
Cheap music recording equipment? Not at this quality of gear! But you still want to aim for best value – and we’ll have lots more great advice on this in future.
Buying tip: For now, just one point – apart from special offers (for example, Musician’s Friend currently has a rebate offer on SM58’s) – you’ll probably find it hard to find much price difference between the major suppliers. However, look for the vendor offering free shipping. This may well more than outweigh any price difference and can be very worth while!
With a budget of around $1300, you will be able to get some great music studio equipment. Go to your favorite online store, or use the links below to buy:
Rode NTK Tube Condenser Studio Microphone ($530) – This high quality condenser microphone will make a worthy addition to your studio. This mic is great on Vocals and live instruments. Plug it into your friend’s computer and start recording using Pro Tools Free downloaded from the Digidesign website and record using this.
- *Tascam CDR-788 CD Burner (<$200) – A CD burner is essential if you want to be able to output your music to CD to listen to on your personal stereo. If you already have one on your existing PC, most likely you’ll have a CD burning package included. If not, download Nero ($80), or CDBurnerXP Pro (free).
CDR 80-Minute 50-Pack ($40) – You need to get some blank CDs to record onto!
Sennheiser HD25-1II Professional Headphone ($200) – These fantastic, flat-response headphones will let you hear very clearly what you are working on and you will start to learn to listen accurately to music before progressing to studio monitors. BE WARNED – Headphones do not give a totally accurate representation of sound but this is not really a problem for most people.
- Propellerhead Reason Studio Combo Software Bundle ($400) – Stand alone music station software (Win/Mac). This combined with Pro Tools Free will give you a lot of ability to be creative.
*Note: I’ve included a link to our eBay CD Burners page, since the Tascam CDR-788 model is now hard to find new. Current models are much higher cost…
Dave, I have $2000 to spend on Home Recording Studio Equipment, what should I buy?
You will be able to get some great music studio equipment with this amount of money. As above, go to these links (or your favorite online store) and buy:
- Shure SM58 Dynamic Microphone ($100)
- Rode NTK Tube Condenser Studio Microphone ($530)
- CD Burner (on existing PC?) and Nero (or CDBurner XP Pro) Software ($80)
- CDR 80-Minute 50-Pack – Blank CDRs in Spindle
- Sennheiser HD25-1II Professional Headphone - Studio Monitor Sealed ($180)
This time, also include:
- Mackie HR624MKII 2-Way Active Studio Monitor ($450 each ) This pair of reference monitors are great to start recording on. They give you accurate sound so you know what you are listening to. These are active monitors which means they don’t need a separate amplifier.
Dave, I have $3000 to spend on Home Recording Studio Equipment, what should I buy?
You will be able to get some great music studio equipment with this amount of money. In this case, we’d suggest moving up a couple of gears in the software department.
Go to the links above, then add…
Apple Logic Studio Music Production Software ($500) – The professional package for composers and musicians wanting to write and record. This is a fantastic program that will do everything you need it to and more.
or
Cakewalk SONAR Producer Recording Software ($500) – An alternative to Apple Logic. With not the complete functionality of Logic still a very popular program.
Part 3
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No offense man, but it seems like you’re extremely inefficient with your equipment budgets. On 1300 bucks I:
Bought a laptop: $500
Bought a digital interface: $150
Bought two multi-pattern, large diaphragm condensers: $300
Bought an SM-57 and cable: $80
Bought monitors: $200
Bought a mic stand: $20
I had 50 bucks left over, so I used it to grab a stick of 512mb ram for my laptop, then used the change to buy lunch. The laptop was a simple Pentium M 1.5GHz Dell I got on eBay. You could put together an even better computer much cheaper than this if you built a desktop, but I like portability.
When you’re at this level, you need -decent- equipment, but not the best. The Rode NTK is a decent microphone for 500 bucks, but the MXL V69 can be had for 300 dollars less on sale, and sounds just as good. Studio Projects also makes some decent mics for the 100-200 dollar price point.
A good interface is absolutely vital for the overall sound of the recording. This includes the pre-amp, phantom power supply, and A/D converters. The Tascam US-122 and 144 are good two-track modules, and usually run around 150. The lexicon omega contains DBX preamps and can record 4 tracks at a time. Those list for under 200 as well.
As for monitors, Behringer makes a decent set for the money. If you replace the tweeters, they sound amazing. Sony’s V6 headphones, standard studio fare, retail around 100 bucks and are routinely rated some of the best budget headphones for producers, DJ’s, and musicians.
Last note, never pay for software. There are too many talented programmers out there with pre-existing options too similar to their expensive counterparts to justify the spending of such large amounts. CD burning, Music recording, track mixing…Even the operating system can be free. VST effects are often given out by those who make them, and they are compatible with nearly every piece of audio software out there except for pro-tools, which uses a proprietary, expensive, untranslatable format.
Thanks Adam.
Always good to get an alternative approach.
Thanks!
Ken
I like Adam’s plan better. I built a desktop for about 700-800.
ECS Nforce 6-M a MoBo
AMD 64 x 2 5600+ (2.8 Ghz)
4 gigs of Kingston Hyper X dual Channel RAM
EVGA 8600 GT 512mb PCI-E
320-gig SATA II HD
CD-RW
DVD – RW
Used Bit-torrent for Windows Vista Ultimate (64 bit OS) to utilize the dual core 64 bit processor.
Again, Bit-torrent and got Adobe Premiere CS3 and other editing tools.
Recording equipment i also found cheap. there are deals out there, u just gotta find em.
its good to have alternative opinions but i searched the web for reviews, and just about every product the other person recommended had very bad reviews if not the worst.
Well I spent 100 euro all together , so maybe $150 , and i can record my acoustic guitar , and electric guitar and bass. Extremely cheap gear but does the job
All off http://www.thomann.de
Euros..
Phonic Mixer . 40
T. Bone Small Condenser . 30
Headphones. 10
Cables and stand 20
100 euro , not bad
Oh and why on earth are you saying spend nearly 300 on a cd burner? If you have a computer that should be the last of your worries!! I could do a LOT more with 300!!
Hi Niall,
Good to hear from you!
Well done re your $150… Not bad, but not exactly Pro gear, is it? All depends on what you need.
re cd burner – quite right, as we said in a couple of places in the original post, if you have a cd burner on you PC, you don’t need a separate unit.
Re: Adam Knapp’s comment: “When you’re at this level, you need -decent- equipment, but not the best. The Rode NTK is a decent microphone for 500 bucks, but the MXL V69 can be had for 300 dollars less on sale, and sounds just as good. Studio Projects also makes some decent mics for the 100-200 dollar price point.” Get the Rode NTK over the MXL V69- They do NOT sound the same,(Marshall does not make great professional sounding condenser mics, but they can be used for certain projects) if youre looking for the lower priced alternative- you were right on the money with studio projects. Their C-1 or their CS series are really nice for the money you pay. They also have an “imitation” of the rode NTK- and it actually sounds better. the NTK tends to give off a high silibance, which can really mess with the higher frequencies in the mixdowns(like the “s” and “f” sounds.) while the studio projects TB1 doesnt give off any high colorations, providing a more true sound.
Also, another thing to consider when choosing a computer: what platform are you going to record on? ProTools is the standard and it can be used on both mac and PC, but a lot of the “free” or downloadable plugins can only be used n the PC, while there are very few free ones for a mac Not to mention you have to buy a digidesign or maudio interface to use protools. Logic only work with mac, and that seems to be the best thing going on right now, as it is the total package, and is more user friendly than protools. PCs have many programs that are similar to both programs, and at a fraction of the cost as well. Cakewalk seems to be the best in my opinion right now, but Propellerheads- the company that brought us Reason and Recycle(both highly recommended software additions to your arsenal)has released “Record” which basically allows you to now record straight onto reason and give you the ability to use reason’s devices to shape your sounds that come from record.
Actually, this is my advice to the “SERIOUS noobie on a budget trying to start a vocal/guitar studio” person :Get a computer that has at LEAST(more is always recommended) 4 gigs of RAM and decent soundcard.($600) next, get a decent pair of headphones($150). Get a decent mic (go with the studio projects C1 or the Rode NT-1A ($200)- you will always use these) and a small b Get the Propellerhead Record Reason Duo ($400). you can spend $200 on a decent pair of monitors after, but for the beginning, you can use computer speakers.($50) you will have to also take into account phantom power for the mics: alesis makes a small $80 mixer that connect via usb to the computer-the MultiMix 4. and you’ll probably spend $100 on cables, and another $50 on a GOOD mic stand that wont fall while holding you mic. you will more than likely need a midi controller or keyboard too, especially if youre considering making your own instrumentals. ($50 – 400- depending on what you want to spend)
chances are you got a computer and speakers already. so thats $600 out of your way. For a mic booth, you can just hang some heavy blankets on the wall to “soundproof” or deaden the sound where you are recording. that’ll save you some money on soundproofing.
so in reality, if you’re serious about starting a recording studio you’re going to eventually need at least $1500 to just start up. and you WILL be spending more over time. yeah you can get alternatives to gear, but you’ll relaize that you want to actually sound better. i dont care what you say now, but you’ll come to understand what im talking about if youre really serious.
Also realize, that this will eat up a great amount of your life that you’ll be spending learning the software, recording, mixing, and setting up/breaking down (especially if this is a home studio and you have to put it away when youre done) sidenote word of the wise- creating file templates will shave a lot of time setting up.
think about this, soak it in, and trust me.
Thanks for taking the time on this edThousand!
Great summary of sound advice.