Cost of a home studio?

[madnessman]

About how much would a basic home studio cost me? I'm planning on recording acoustic and electric guitars, vocals, a piano, and maybe even a wind instrument.

Right now I'm thinking of just getting some basic firewire/usb system that comes with software (cubase le or whatever), a shure sm57, +accessories (cables, stands, etc...).

Am I missing anything? Any recommendations for a good cheap firewire/usb system that I can plug my guitar straight into? I want to be able to 'play straight into my computer' and mike my amp. How much would this cost?

 

[bigblackbear]

it really depends what you define as a "home studuo". a simple audio interface can act as a "home studio". on the other hand, some people would like to have a DAW(digital audio workstation) for their home recording. the difference in price of the former and latter is very different, and so is the quality.

if you're looking for something cheap and portable to record you own stuff, i'd suggest an audio interface which has both a mic input and line input for guitar bass etc. the line input would allow you to play any instrument with a 1/4 inch jack straight to the computer. any other instruments that does not have that(like a wind instrument), can be recorded with an open mic with the mic input.

a few examples of such devices would be m-audio's range of audio interface. check out their website for a more details.

http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.family

if you are looking for something more professional, you can check out digidesign's line of products.

http://www.digidesign.com

i hope that helps

 

[Ratboy]

not tat a sm57 is no good
but for the stuff that you plan to record
a condenser mic will prob serve you better

 

[traqstyle]

Wow, started out like you, buying gear building what I thought I wanted to do, kind of got out of control as I learned more and more. Without realising my budget has swelled up to 15k.

Logic
NI Guitar Rig 2
Reason 4
Reason drum kit 2
UAD 2 Duo
Macbook
Mac Pro
Mac G4 Sawtooth AGP Graphics
17" Flatscreen Sony Trinitron
KRK
Presonus Firebox
Axiom 61
Fatar Studio
Fernandez Burny custom LP
Fender Thin Line
Ibanex SR500
Yamaha FG730S
Cort Semi acostic
AKG 414 ULS
SM58

My initial planning was JUST to get a macbook and a presonus firebox.
Of course it took me a period of 5 years amassing this madness.
Worse yet, i'm researching the Alesis USBpro Drumkit with Trigger i/o, working on BFD2.
WHEN WILL THIS END!!

oh yes, i'm not working on a commercial studio, believe it or not, this is my own project studio.

 

[economaki]

WHEN WILL THIS END!!

It'll NEVER END!!! HHAHA!!!

 

[l0u5y]

hi,

firstly i would wanna say, ur budget determines how good your recording, mixing etc will be. if u only have 500k, your stuff can sound like a hit record. if u only have $15 bucks, the most your stuff can sound like is juz a cheapass skype microphone plugged into a laptop with lag and levels very low where u cant hear a thing.

however, for a decent quality of digital recording of an acoustic guitar, i would say about 500-600 sgd for a condenser microphone and an audio interface with decent built-in preamps provided you have a DAW, cables, stands, pc or mac etc. And this is juz the recording chain. If u are looking to have a good mix, u have to invest in a pair of studio monitors which is about 500 for a decent pair.

An alternative to not spending on a DAW is free softwares like audacity or reaper. And there are lots of free plugins on the internet as well. I recommend the presonus firebox, and SP B1, the new AKG perception microphones, AT2020 or a CAD m179 microphone. But the new AKG perception SDC microphones will be better for guitar recording.

Gd luck stepping into the recording world

 

[cyj]

it will be great to have some sort of home recording studio packages ...its just like a ready-made desktop VS a custom-made desktop (parts bought together and assemble) ...i believe there are many of us out there who wish to have some form of ready customized packages - easier to choose

i m looking for partnership in setting up a recording studio in a retail outlet along Bugis Street...need some inputs

 

[kongwee]

Normally computer you have to source yourself. Other than that,other equipment you could get from such as Resolution which house a lot of brand. But the main challenge will be the retail store, you need to isolate noise. It will be no business even if you got good equipment around. Good equipment = more sensitive to outside noise. So it is important to plan the room first.

 

[garbagetruckdriver]

as Kongwee says, no matter what hardware you buy, a bad room will sound bad. And with Singapore so crowded, it's hard to get a quiet room. I'm a big believer in recording in a good live room, which for me, means about 1,500sqf or bigger (WAY bigger than your bedroom). The closest I've come to getting good tones in a smaller room was with a Royer 121 Ribbon mic. You'll need a decent preamp as Ribbons can require 60-70db of gain. They will also hear a lot of extraneous noises that you don't want so make up some baffles and tell everyone to stop breathing for a few minutes

So, plan to spend a bit of money on at least one really good mic and a suitable preamp.

 

[kongwee]

It'll NEVER END!!! HHAHA!!!

It will end with the last breath of your life.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

If you're on a low budget and want the best bang for buck, I'd say for interface and daw, go for something cheap but solid like the Line6 POD Studio UX2. It's around $200+ to $300 at city music i think. You can check out some sample clips of what the recordings sound like here at http://line6.com/podstudioux2/sounds.html

You will also need a pair of active monitors and / or headphones for mixing and editing, decent ones price around $500 for a pair of monitors and $100+ for a pair of headphones.

For microphones, it's best not to scrimp of these. Shure sm57 / sm58 and Sennheiser e835 / e840 are safe cardioid microphones you can rely on but getting a good condenser mike on top of that would be wise.

then there are miscellaneous stuff like cables, mike stands. and if you want semi good room acoustics to record your stuff, least you could do is to carpet your floor (or fill it up with loads of $3 cloth rugs) and install those curtain tracks around your room and get some thick budget curtains from spotlight or similar. I'm not sure what can be done to the ceiling except hanging some thick fabric across it. doing these will ensure that your microphone recordings have less unwanted reverbs cause by the walls floors and ceilings of your room.

Something cheap like this could set you back to about $1000+? maybe slightly more