What equipment do I need for a home recording studio?

Answer 1

Definitely Check the Musician's Friend link above. My brother has a studio and he got almost all his equipment from there.

Answer 2

Assuming you have a computer with a decent soundcard (Soundblaster 32 or better) A minimalist setup could easliy be:
A Software program like MAckie's Tracktion 2 ($150)
2 Shure microphones (SM57 or 58) $50 each used
2 Mic Preamps (ART Tube MP's or Behringer MIC100) $60 each
2 good XLR mic cables ($20 each)
A few guitar cables ($10-20 each)
Some 1/4" to 1/8" adapters to go in and out of your sound card.($3 each at Radio Shack)
A good playback system or headphones are a must. Check out Klipsch's ProMedia 2.1 series ~$125

All told, it's right around $600 for everything above, and it will be great.

After owning and using a Pro Audio computer suite for 10+ years, I can definitely say, when you can afford it, get a standalone hard-disk recorder to record, and use a good software program to edit.

Korg has a new recorder (Korg D888 - $699) with 8 simultaneous recording tracks - enough to record an entire band at once, then do edits and overdubs later. It even has a few effects so if you wanted to mix and finalize the tracks, you could.

However, once recorded, I prefer dumping the recorded tracks into audio software (I use Cakewalks's Sonar) where I can edit-out mistakes, add effects, and have as many tracks as I want.

I also use virtual amps (POD & V-amp) to record guitars because the sounds are accurate, easy and repeatable... without dragging out vintage amps and microphone cables.

With a few good microphones (never spend less than $50 on a mic) you can record everything. I'm about to invest in a studio ribbon mic from http://www.shinybox.com

Answer 3

Depends on the kind of recording you're doing. If it's all electronic, you don't need much more than your computer and a 24 bit sound card. The rest you can do with software. I recommend Ableton Live software for this kind of mixing...

If however you want to record instruments or vocals, then the going gets a little more intense.
First, you need a relatively sound proof room. Then you need a decent computer... a dual processesor Mac G5 is well worth it... and hard drives that do not have loud fans. Loud fans make recordings nasty... Then you need decent mikes. This is really the most important thing. Neumanns are the best. They're expensive, but they make vocals sound great. If you're recording electric guitar, I recommend a line 6 guitar pod... the amp modelling is very realistic and allows you to record nice distortion effects at lower volumes, which is really where it's at.

Of course you can make do with less, but the more you do it, the more you'll want the better gear. It gets kind of addictive that way.

If you would really like more information, visit this link and drop an email to the people at the site: they love to help beginning recordists:

http://www.rubbadukki.net/clientservice/MindwirePage.htm

Answer 4

Generator

Answer 5

Get A good studio mic and a good computer that has a good video card and sound card in it.

Answer 6

www.musiciansfriend.com/rec?txt=1 look here, it'll help, i swear