How to Set Up a Home Recording Studio for Beginners

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It’s now more than ever possible to record professional-quality music from the comfort of your own home. Over the past 20 years, improvements in the affordability of home recording studio equipment have completely changed the way artists create and present music. With the right equipment, you can quickly turn the music in your head into a real song.

But if you’re a newbie, the biggest question is… Where to start?

For some people, setting up a bedroom studio or home recording space is an endless process of buying and replacing equipment. For others, it’s about future-proofing by investing in the tools, furniture, and equipment you need to make art in the long run. All Music recording studio production producers, regardless of genre or budget, need to know how to build their space as efficiently as possible.

Creating the perfect home studio can feel like a daunting task. With so many options for furniture and equipment, it’s hard to know where to start (and where to end!). Take a deep breath. We’re here to help.

It’s fun to see perfect, beautiful home studios on Instagram, but we don’t think a home recording studio has to look like your favorite producer’s home recording studio. In fact, you only need a few essentials to get started. You can always add more over time.

To figure out how to organize the perfect bedroom studio, you need to:

Evaluate the gear you already own and use the most
Create two lists: what you don’t own yet but want, and what you want to replace
The investment decisions that matter most to the next stage of your growth and development as an artist, producer, or engineer
Finally, note the size and layout of the room you would like to turn into a studio. This can help inform the product you decide to purchase. If you use a lot of outboard gear and have the space, a rack cart can be important. If your room is acoustically unreliable (weird angles, reflective surfaces like tiles), you may want to forego the monitor altogether for great headphones. There is no one right way. It depends on the room and how you make the music.

1. Computer

Your computer is the heart of your home recording studio. This point cannot be overemphasized. It’s okay to use a laptop or desktop you already own to get started. Chances are it’s already powerful enough to run most commercial music production software and plugins.

For those who want to take it one step further and buy a separate computer for music production purposes, it can be a completely different purchasing process from what they are normally accustomed to.

Whether you choose a Mac or a PC depends on your needs, OS comfort, and budget constraints. The Mac has long been the choice for audio and other creative applications. But these days, desktop and notebook PCs can make fantastic studio computers as long as you find the right specs.

Then you need to decide on a desktop or laptop computer. Choosing a desktop can save you money if you build your own system. But if mobility is important to you…you can buy a laptop and make music wherever you go.

2. Digital Audio Workstation

A digital audio workstation (DAW) is the basic software used to record and produce music on a computer. There are many DAWs on the market, including Pro Tools, FL Studio, Ableton Live, Cubase, Logic Pro, Reaper, and Bitwig. Some are good at tracking and editing audio, like Pro Tools, while others are good at making and arranging beats, like FL Studio or Ableton Live.

If you’re new to production in general, there are plugins you can add to your DAW workflow to simplify and enhance your music production process. For example, Output’s plug-in Arcade is a cloud-based sample player that lets you manipulate sounds on the fly. Arcade gives you instant access to thousands of samples recorded by professional musicians in studios around the world. And more are added every week. It’s a great tool for creators of all skill levels to jump-start their tracks.

Which DAW you use is a personal preference. They usually all offer the same basic functionality and are packaged with stock software instruments and FX plug-ins that you can use to create and manipulate sounds in production. However, each has its own characteristics, workflow, creative approach, and price point.

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