GUITAR
BASIC NEEDS FOR A PRO HOME STUDIO | Chris Rocha
Did you grow up watching your favorite musicians tear it up in the recording studio , hoping you could one day do the same ? Back in the day I remember we had to go to a professional recording studio to record our guitar tracks . I would pay $ 75 an hour every time I wanted to record something . The starter studio rig was a Pro Tools HD setup that started at $ 10,000 which wasn ’ t that accessible for a lot of people . Just the thought of having an affordable recording setup would be a dream come true . It wasn ’ t easy to record at all , but times have changed . Now you can get some key pieces of gear that ’ ll get you on your way to an awesome recording setup .
Having a nice recording studio boils down to having these different things . Mics , cables , interface , laptop or desktop computer , a DAW , speakers or headphones and a few basic needs for your guitar gear . Everyone one of these things put together makes your studio come to life . Let ’ s talk about how and why they do that .
If you want to record using an amp , a vocalist or drums you need microphones . Mics come in all different types . Dynamic , ribbon , large or small diaphragm condenser etc . Everyone one of those mics specialize in different things . If you want to record a loud amp , I would suggest a dynamic mic like an SM57 from Shure . They ’ ll withstand the decibel levels an amp can send . I ’ ve also gotten great tones from large diaphragm condenser and ribbon mics . The most famous ribbon mic is the Royer 121 . It ’ s been used on so many great records . A lot of people like to combine it with the Shure SM57 as well .
After you get some mics you like you will definitely need cables . I have well over $ 3,000 worth of cables in my studio . They can get pricey , but you can ’ t do much without them . Sometimes getting a good quality cable can come in clutch . Cheap cables tend to wear out quick and sometimes if they ’ re not made with quality materials it can lower the quality of the recording , so saving money there sometimes is not a good idea .
The interface is a critical piece of gear . That ’ s where the signal changes from an analog signal to a bunch of ones and zeros . That conversion process is very important . You ’ ll see interfaces range from $ 150- $ 3,000 and there ’ s a good reason for that . I love to use the Universal Apollo interfaces because they use good quality
components that give you a hi-res audio signal . I have the bigger unit for my studio at home and I use an Apollo twin interface for when I travel . Universal Audio also has their own plugins that use the processing power from the interface that way you won ’ t use all the processing from your computer . They sound amazing too . Some of the most respected mixing engineers I know use Universal Audio plugins .
Another important part of a studio is the computer . Depending on how much you ’ ll be doing will determine how strong of a computer you ’ ll need . Most people I know recommend Mac computers . I come from being a PC user . PC ’ s can be extremely strong and can work great , but I would only recommend PC desktops . I was forced to build a mobile rig several years ago so I had to go with a laptop . I made the call to go Mac because their laptops are way more stable than PC Laptops . I purchased an I9 because that was the strongest back then . It ’ s been great to me but I ’ m pretty sure it ’ s about time to make another upgrade . I ’ ve started to edit a lot of videos , also so that ’ s even more stressful on my computer than recording audio .
Talking about DAW ’ s ( digital audio workstation ),