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First Home Recording Studio Needs
21
items Recommendations from my home studio, past and current, hopefully to yours. These things will help you get started as a independent artist, music producer, audio engineer, etc. just like it did for me.
Sections
10
Trusted Places To Shop
MIDI controllers
Hardware
Storage
Cords and Cables
Interfaces/PreAmps
Trusted Places To Shop
I love shopping with Sweetwater, they'll even assign you a representative to help you during your music journey when you need updates to software, hardware, and other equipment.
Sweetwater: Musical Instruments, Pro Audio, Accessories & More
Fun Fact! I worked at Best Buy once, they have a lot of audio equipment that's good. Tip: Pay attention to pro vs consumer gear and know the difference.
Headphones & Audio: Home Theater & Car Audio
MIDI controllers
What I started producing with. The MPK mini is a controller that will allow you to improve your workflow by replacing the keyboard method of creating midi. Will also allow you to connect to the groove more when creating drum parts.
Akai Professional MPK Mini MK III 25-key Keyboard Controller
Hardware
I recommend an apple laptop with at least 32 GB to handle all the projects you will be working on. Processing power is extremely important for a smoother performance during sessions and editing.
Apple 16-inch MacBook Pro: Apple M4 Max Chip with 14‑core CPU and 32‑core GPU, 36GB Unified Memory, 1TB SSD - Silver
Storage
Time to ditch that USB drive, HDs are better for storing due to their improved performance while working on a session
2TB WD Elements Portable | Western Digital
The best thing about SSDs are the help for faster processing and have less moving parts making it better for storage for current/ in-progress projects before moving finished works to HDs and clouds etc.
Portable SSD
Cords and Cables
Mogami Golds are excellent XLRs resulting in great recording signal. If you want to go above and beyond, these are it.
XLR & Microphone Cables
You'll need these for a pro connection from your interface/preamp to your microphone - Warm Audio is a rebuttable brand used in many studios.
Warm Audio Pro Series XLR Microphone Cable 10 ft. Black | Guitar Center
Interfaces/PreAmps
My first interface and the starter of many independent artists, vocal artists, etc.
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 4th Gen USB Audio Interface
I love recording my vocals through this preamp, it adds a warmth to R&B vocals and from being in sessions, it doesn't sound bad on rap vocals either tbh.
Great River ME-1NV Desktop Microphone Preamp
I've seen a lot of my engineer peers using this interface
Universal Audio Audio Interfaces
DAWS
ProTools is a Digital Audio Workstation that I use mostly for recording and mixing tracks, it's considered the "industry standard". I highly recommend learning how to use it.
Pro Tools - Music Software - Avid
This is the DAW I use the most, for both producing and recording, which makes songwriting in the moment easier.
Logic Pro for Mac
Headphones
I use these to monitor playback and while mixing
Sony Professional Studio Headphones Black MDR7506
You’ll need somewhere to put your headphones when they aren’t being used. Headphones sitting on your desk can take up room you need for other things - declutter
Headphone Desk Hanger
Headset holders you can mount to the wall are helpful too if you prefer that look or don’t want anything attached to your desk.
Headset Wall Mount
Monitors
Invest in a good pair of monitors, I've been mixing using the HS8s by Yamaha as of late. Pro tip - Pick your monitor size based on the size of your room.
Yamaha HS8 8-inch Powered Studio Monitor Pair - Black
Loved mixing on these in my small college bedroom 💕 those were the days.
PreSonus Eris 3.5 3.5-inch Powered Studio Monitors - 2nd Generation, Black
Microphones
The AKG P120 was my first microphone. I recommend it for a beginner condenser microphone, it records a great quality for a great price.
Condenser Studio Microphones | Guitar Center
Love this mic! It's getting me through a lot of projects currently.
RODE NT1-A Large Diaphragm Cardioid Condenser Microphone | Reverb
I recorded a lot of my songs from my first project and second on this. I personally loved it for my vocals, it’s great quality for a low price. Records a slightly bright signal.
P120 | High-performance general purpose recording microphone