Home recording has become highly popular over the last decade, thanks in part to substantial advances in price to performance ratios for recording gear. Bands, musicians and hobbyists have embraced the culture of “do-it-yourself” not only because it’s more financially feasible than ever, but for other reasons as well. Though today’s studio sessions are comparatively cheap by the standards of yesteryear, many artists want to exercise complete control over their music. Additionally, the recording process itself can be conducive to creativity, provided you aren’t watching the clock or nervous to be performing in the presence of experienced engineers and producers. Though the end result is seldom of the quality one can get through high end studio sessions, it certainly doesn’t mean it can’t be close.
Unfortunately, the age old problem of budget versus desire almost always rears its ugly head. Additionally, there are few up to date resources for home recording information, unless you consider the rarely informative product reviews from retailer websites valuable. On the other end of the spectrum, you’ll find venues such as Gearslutz.com, which seems to be inundated with posters who spend all their waking moments debating Lavry versus Mitek versus Apogee A/D and D/A converters, many of whom I suspect do a lot of gear shopping and very little actual recording (though the site is unapologetically meant for such folks).
So, without further ado, here are four steps you can rely on to help get professional sounding recordings on consumer grade equipment.
Step 1 – Know where to spend the money you have.
Irrespective of the quality of the material and the ability of the musicians (which should be your number one concern), some consumer gear will simply never get you to where you need to be. The trick is to know what parts of the signal chain you can go cheap on and which parts you need to devote the majority of your budget to. This can depend greatly on your recording format and needs. As an example, if you are planning to record live, you obviously need to have a high channel count. If you are recording one at a time, you can forgo the console or mixer and go for a better preamp. So, where exactly should you be spending your money?
Get a good multi purpose mic first and foremost, preferably a reliable dynamic that has multiple use options, such as a Shure SM57. You can record electric guitars and vocals on a 57, in fact, many popular artists have. If you have more to spend, get a range of good, affordable mics. Most mics sound great for certain applications and lousy for others. You will probably be better served by three $200 mics than one $600 mic. Plus, you can always add mics as you go.
Second, get the best converters you can afford. Many would argue that a microphone preamp comes second, but I disagree. You need the cleanest preamp or mixer you can afford, not the most expensive. A clean preamp that offers a good signal to noise ratio and doesn’t color the sound is fine and shouldn’t cost you an arm and a leg. Converters are more important because they will dictate how well the signal is brought into the digital domain, and back out. The main problem with the converters offered by many companies in the low level range is that they are sub par and not a whole lot different from one another. If you can move up to Lynx or RME quality here, it will serve you well. Most all-one-solutions, with an interface, preamp(s) and possibly software, use very little of the manufacturing cost on the converters, so be wary.
As for the preamp issue, it’s nice to have preamps that impart some color or tone, but if your studio is going to be a one trick pony, get something that is effective and clean. You can almost always differentiate the tracks through equalization and plug-ins in the mix. You may not be able to get away with layering tracks using just one preamp, but there are other ways to get a full sound without doing so.
Next, get some decent recording software. As an example, Cubase SE3 retails for about $140 US, and has the same audio engine as Cubase SX3, which until recently (Cubase 4 is now available) was the flagship for the Cubase line. Yes, it lacks many bells and whistles, but it can effectively provide the same audio quality as its big brother for substantially less.
Finally, monitors and room treatment round out the list. Before I open myself up to criticism, let me explain why. Monitors are very important for getting a good mix, and by all means get the best you can. The problem is that few monitors in the truly affordable range (which covers a lot of different prices for a lot of different budgets) are very good at all. A pair of Mackie HR824’s, which were at one time widely utilized in semi-pro circles, will run you around $1250 US...nowhere near what I’d deem “affordable”. In the $200 to $500 range, the options for decent monitors are few and far between. Assuming you are on any sort of budget, it’s mostly a take your pick scenario. Furthermore, a few (very few) pro engineers have expressed using a variety of cheap speakers (A/Bing, if possible) as an option. Through experience, I can tell you that this does have some benefits provided you aren’t chasing the equalization curve inherent in each set back and forth. The point is that while it certainly makes for more work, it is possible to get a good mix without great monitors. You're a lot less likely to get a good recording from a $24 dollar mic bought at Radio Shack. (though even that's been done before...remember White Town?)
As for room treatment, I can't possibly overvalue the acoustics of the room in terms of importance. That being said, sound treatments are extremely expensive and often ineffective for blocking incoming noise. You may be able to get somewhat respectable results with blankets garnered from Goodwill if you read up on placement. Unfortunately, the next step up (absorber and diffuser panels, etc...) can eat up your budget in a hurry.