Make your own recording studio

Recording studio time, equipment and lessons can be rather expensive, also it can be a problem with timing the schedule with other people schedule. The recording studio may only be available on certain days, which is why many people prefer to do it in the comfort of their own homes. Of course there are limitations such as sound leakage, disturbance to neighbors and no sound engineer at hand, however there is no real time restriction if working from your own home. Digital/computer music recording and production may seem complicated but only basic equipment is needed to get started on a budget. There are a lot of software sequencers out there which all can be leaned to a high level if you are working from a home recording studio. Reading a manual or a PDF file can be very daunting but online there are 1000's of videos with tutorials and tips submitted by users which are very useful for people wanting to learn.

The minimum required I would say is as below.

1. A desktop or Notebook PC ($500 - $1,000) - Even the older Core II chips will be fine, however a large HD 500Gb or more would be needed for samples and sound libraries.
2. Sequencing software ($100 - $500)
3. Audio Interface ($50 - $200)
4. MIDI input controller keyboard ($80 - $200)
5. Monitor speakers or head phones ($150 - $500)

The computer doesn't need to be a beast. A modest 2GB Ram, 1.6GHz processor P4 will even be enough since its your Audio interface that take much of the processing away from the CPU. Your PC will only be needed the run the software. Note that a fast large HDD would be recommended for music production since it will fill up quickly with samples, patches, VST's etc

Please note that machine with older specs may have issues with latency and skipping if too many tracks with effects are playing simultaneously. Latency is the delay between you pressing a key on the musical instrument and hearing the sound through the speakers.

There are many software sequencers out there for home recording studios, so I recommend you try demos of them all to see which one is the most comfortable to work with. I like to use Reason due to its realistic hardware type layout. Using Reason you are able to wire each component for you own configuration e.g. send the left channel through a trigger/compressor, send the right channel only through on EQ etc. Reason also come with good refills, these are sound/sample/instrument add-ons. A bit like Vst's for Cubase.

It is a good idea to download to try various different software sequencers to see what you are comfortable with and also to see which one satisfies your requirements. Some people like to use a number of different packages because there are functions from both which they would like to utilize.

Popluar Music software

• Fruity loops
• Reason
• Cubase
• Pro logic
• Cakewalk

I would say Fruity loops is one of the most popular, mainly because of its affordability and ease of use. It is also VST compatible.

This is the hardware responsible for producing your sound. There are many types of the market. The firewire connection types generaly handle almost all the the processing power, recommended for slower PCs. USB types will handle most of the processing but a portion is share with the PC's CPU so these are for faster CPU's.

Having an Audio interface rather than your PC's built-in sound card is very important. Audio interfaces reduce latency i.e. the time between when you press a key and hear a sound. This should be 6-7ms or less.  For recording vocals it is important to have the correct large mic plug to avoid that hissing sound.

The Audio interface I use is the Presonus AudioBox USB, it gives solid output with very little demand on the CPU. It also comes as a very sturdy neat looking box.

Before using an audio interface you may need to disable the on-board sound on your PC.

A lot of people ask "What keyboard are you using?", "I like those sounds". A MIDI controller keyboard doesn't have any onboard sounds which is why its so cheap. It is basically sending MIDI signals to you your music software for processing. The sounds are comming from your computer via the audio interface.

A good proffesional setup can be achieved you have a weighted (or semi-weighted) 88 key MIDI controller and high quality samples/VST's in your sequencing software. It will probably workout a lot cheaper than buying a synthesizer. I have seen good controller keyboards for around $80.

 Forget trying to hook your PC upto your stereo. It is better to use active monitors to listen to your masterpiece. This ensures that you what you are hearing is comming directly from your Audio Interface and NOT being re-processed through your stereo's amp.

A lot of people tend to use headphones but be advised that the sound you hear in the headphones will be different to a large speakers. Headphones will be okay for making the track but for mixing, eq-ing etc.. You will need to listen on proper speakers.

Traditionally, many hip hop producers use the MPC sampler. It basically works by you having to upload samples into the machine and you play them back using the velocity square pads which are mapped to individual samples.

Although more and more people are switching over to DAW's there are still a large number of people who prefer using an MPC. Music produced by an MPC usually has that distinct warm sample heavy sound which is good for hip hop. Users like to get a simple beat going and play the samples real time using the pad until they hear something they like and then record.

Check out the below video to see Rapper/Producer Kev Brown on the MPC.