Typical Needs
Most people who want a high-quality low-budget setup are either singer/guitarists with a bit of keyboard experience. If you fit this description, listen up. If you don’t, listen up anyway, but make small adaptations to your rig if you’re, say, a trumpet player like me. You can even email me at “mike at crunchgear dot com” for further advice.
You need five basic things to make excellent recordings besides your instrument or voice: A mic, a mixer, headphones, an audio interface for your computer, and recording software.
The Hardware
Behringer makes great mixers for the price. All you need to figure out is how many inputs you’ll need. For most people, the four-channel Behringer Xenyx 802 (also called the Eurorack UB802 in some places) is plenty; it’s got two XLR mic inputs with high-quality mic preamps, as well as six guitar cable (quarter-inch) inputs.
Singers and horn players know that microphones are absolutely critical to sound quality. I strongly recommend investing $99 in an industry-standard Shure SM58. Vocals and instruments sound warm and rich, and the mic can take a beating. You’ll also need a stand–you can get a sturdy boom-style stand for around $20; I use an On-StageOn-Stage Stands MS7311B ($26.95) kick drum mic stand because it’s small enough to take on the go, or I can put it on a table for more height. For even more compactness, you can get a desktop stand instead, like the Mainline MDK10, or just make your own.
Headphones let you know what your recordings sound like, or so you can play along with loops tracks you’ve created. Sennheiser’s HD 280 Pro sound very clear, and they block out a lot of ambient sound by completely covering your ears. Grado’s SR60 are also excellent-sounding, but they don’t block out any noise, which can be handy for singers or horn players.
An audio interface is just an external USB sound I/O card for your PC. I use an M-Audio Transit USB because the components won’t add noise or latency to your audio, and there are no knobs to tweak.
Software
Recording software basically comes down to usability and features, but price is also an important consideration. ProTools and Digital Performer are great for experienced recordists, but setting up something quick, easy, and inexpensive requires nothing more than Apple’s GarageBand (free for Mac users), M-Audio Session, or Audacity (a powerful, free, open-source audio editor for Mac OS and Windows).
Setup
Put your mixer on a desk or table and plug it into an AC outlet. Plug your mic and/or instruments into the appropriate mixer channels. (The Shure SM58 doesn’t require phantom power, so be sure that feature is off on your mixer.) Plug your audio interface into your computer’s USB port (or FireWire port for some interfaces), and use the appropriate cable to connect your mixer’s Tape Out or Line Out jack to your audio interface’s line input–the setup above uses an RCA-to-stereo minijack cable. Then use an identical cable to connect your audio interface’s output to the mixer’s Tape In or Line In jack so you can monitor everything through the mixer’s headphone output.
Optional hardware
A few other items can be very handy for home recordings. A good set of powered desktop monitor speakers will give you a good idea of what your music sounds like; I recommend M-Audio’s Studiophile DX4, since they’re inexpensive, compact, and quite accurate. Connect your mixer’s main outputs to the speakers.
A MIDI controller keyboard is also useful for triggering tons of cool sampled sounds like bells or virtual drums that come with most recording software (not Audacity though). Look no further than the USB-powered ultracompact M-Audio O2 two-octave keyboard. If you need more keys, try the larger but cheaper M-Audio Keystation 49e.
Finally, you might want to consider buying a few panels of Auralex acoustic foam. These will dampen the sound in your recording room so the bass doesn’t turn to mud. You can get a box of 24 2′x2′ panels for just $99, or you can get panels individually. Even just a few will make a big difference. Also, consider using small nails instead of glue to put them on your wall if you live in a rented apartment.
Plug In, Turn On, Rock Out
Make sure your computer’s audio settings sees the USB audio interface and that it is the selected input and output source. Also be sure to open your recording software’s preferences and do the same–you’ll usually find it under a tab called something like “Audio/MIDI”. Also make sure your computer sees the MIDI keyboard if you’ve got one.
Your mixer’s output and input gain knobs shouldn’t be turned up higher than about three-quarters of maximum. The input gain on your audio interface (if it has one; the Transit USB doesn’t) should follow the same rule, though you can crank it up close to maximum if you absolutely need to. All recording software packages have a levels meter, so just make sure that the loudest sounds you make don’t put the meter into the red (though right up to it is fine).
Budget Breakdown
Here’s a breakdown of the setup I use (based on what I paid), but you can find most of it even cheaper online or used. Of course, you can spend thousands of dollars on any one of the components below if you’re filthy rich, or you can simply omit components you don’t really need or already have.
BASIC
*Mixer—————–$80
*Microphone————$90
*Mic stand————–$13
*Headphones————$70
*Audio Interface———$80
*Software—————$0
*Cables—————–$17
TOTAL (Basic)—————–$340
OPTIONAL
*Speakers—————$150
*MIDI keyboard———-$130
*Acoustic foam————$100
TOTAL (With optional)——————-$730
I wouldn’t call Behringer “EXCELLENT” in any context. It’s AFFORDABLE, but built like crap.
There are certainly better mixers out there, but I’ve gotten very low-noise, high-quality recordings from the 802… Keep in mind, the idea here is to keep things reasonably priced. If there’s a better mixer with 8 inputs for $80, by all means, let me know!
Agreed on the Behringer — the Mackie mixers are a bit better sounding and in my experience better-built, and have nice features like a “solo” button that allows you to preview what one channel sounds like w/o affecting the main mix out.
If you want to spend a bit more money for better sounding recordings, I’d investigate other microphones. The Shure will do a passable job on vocals, electric guitars, and snare drums, but will not give you a full warm sound by any stretch of the imagination. I’d be suspicious of any studio that uses an SM57 or SM58 for recording a bass guitar, cymbals, acoustic guitar, or anything that is outside of the midrange frequencies. If you really want to improve the sound of the recordings, look at an AKG 414, for a truly excellent sounding but not too budget-busting option.
If you are looking to do a session with a full drum kit, you’ll need a LOT more gear and microphones than is described here. In particular you’ll need more channels on the mixer and more microphones. The drums kit just about the only instrument that you can’t layer on bit by bit — you’ll want to at least have some mics for the snare, bass drum, hi-hat, and maybe a couple of others to get the other assorted drums and cymbals.
Then you can plug the output from the bass amp directly into the mixer along with the drum mics and put together a nice rhythm track that you can layer the other instruments over.
Nice article, I learned a lot!
414s are good for 2 things…. drum overheads and close micing toms….. what a lot of young engineers don’t get is to use several mics and mix them to ‘EQ’ the sound…. I.E. for Bass i’ve been know to do a DI, SM57, Beta 52, and a 421…..
Shure makes other fairly affordable mics other than the SM series… the KSM series are very high quality and in use on a lot of major recordings….
I’d recommend a good large diaphragm condenser (the Audio Technica 3035 is a good place to start). With it you can record everything you need from vocals to drums.
Drums can be recorded (and they can sound good) with a single mic. The challenge is to position the drums and the mic in the right way in the room. This can take some time, but with a little experiementation good results can be had.
What is left out here is the most important part: if you put garbage in you’ll get garbage out no matter what gear you are using. Use (rent, borrow, etc) the best sounding instruments that you can and rehearse until you have it down. Don’t try to make it up as you go along - you’ll not reach your full potential that way.
414’s are good, but I wouldn’t get them if I was on a budget. They have a very harsh hi mid which makes them good for certain applications.
My favorite (although not the cheapest) all-around most used and excellent sounding mic is the Neumann U87.
But there are lots of chinese knock offs of the Neumann and AKG lines, for really cheap. Noisier, but you can’t beat the price.
Nothing beats a good mic and mic pre. The rest you can fudge with. I wouldn’t call a Behringer mic pre decent. I would call it ok for cranking some mp3’s at a wedding.
For cheap and powerful recording software you should check out REAPER: http://www.reaper.fm.
It has all the features of a professional DAW, and a small non-commercial license price.
excellent article. The few criticisms I have are purely subjective, such as I would personally say SM-57 over 58, but really each can be argued for equally strongly, the 58 has always been vocals first and lots of other things really well, and the 57 has always been guitar first, then vocals, drums, etc. I’m a guitar player, so obviously I’m biased. I would also say if that on terms of going Mac that is usually a considerable investment ($1000+ for anything brand new), but if you already have one then that’s another story. Whole linux distributions are coming out just for recording, such as DeMudi (now DyneBolic) and Musix.
I’ll say to cover my ass that I am a little drunk, and didn’t look up all my info to be sure, but I think that’s mostly factual.
you only need really 3 mics for the drums, i only use too have a listen http://myspace.com/kerodeanband sounds alright, i could do with a snare mic, but u just put a dynamic aimed at the drum hole and a condenser overhead and there u go, affordable drum recording
I’m a little unclear on what you mean when you say “the components won’t add noise or latency to your audio” regarding the m-audio usb interface.
The device does have latency. On OSX it adds around 14ms of latency and more than that on windows through wdm.
LISTEN UP!
You don’t need the USB audio interface if you are not multi-tracking simultaneously. In fact, those are a pain in the ass because USB is kind of slow… so if you are track layering, there will be latency (delay that will skew timing). If you ARE recording many tracks simultaneously…. go FireWire or go home. Otherwise, just go OUT through the RCA (red and white) on the mixer, and IN to the 8th-inch analog sound input on your computer.
Check out my website!… I do all of my recordings using an almost identical setup - minus the USB interface and minus about $50 bucks on the mic.
Screw all you recording purists! 200 bucks can get the job done great!!!
I wouldn’t say this is really a tutorial on cheap home recording…more like you found the cheapest crap you could and made a list.
Sure…a mixer, microphone, audio interface and software will allow you to record sound. Did you read that on the back of a cereal box? I can’t believe this is on digg.
Go Pro Tools, a Digi 002 and/or a Alexis HD recorder and a few good mics. I can deal with recording with cheap crap, you what you pay for.
can any one just tell me the cheapest and best card for midi recording, i use reason and audiphile24 96
as far as monitors go… for a cheap setup i would spend the extra $150 and get some KRK RP5’s… damn good for monitors that cost $150/each.
shit all i know is, i ate me a pile of poop and now i feel like pooping poop
Recording is not my thing. I read this article simply because I was curious about the technology, the cost and techniques that are involved.
It seems to me that most of the criticisms that others have made are unfair, and are often based on self-flattery and boastfulness about their own budgets and preferences.
Well, you are all correct about garbage in - garbage out, but the author is obviously trying to make some suggestions for those who don’t have a Cadillac budget or who may need a good, but maybe not the absolutely best sounding solution.
So instead of just telling us all what’s better, why don’t you also tell us what it costs? Better yet, why don’t you list a complete “package” for everyone that is in the same price range as the author’s?
You can spend $5000 on all of this other stuff, but if you’re using a $80 converter to get audio into your computer, you’re better off using a tape recorder.
To go from analog (your mixer) to digital (your computer) requires some key components that influence the quality of your recording as much (if not more) than your mic or your gear.
If you really want to track it all to a computer, you’re probably better off spending the cash on a digital mixer or FireWire interface that will convert your analog signals to high quality 24-bit/48 kHz, and then use your computer to mix.
Of course, if you have my problem, it doesn’t matter how much you spend if what’s going into all of this sounds like crap anyway :)
Hey, great list.
For the next part, why not show how you can use plugins to improve your audacity recordings. There’s tons of free stuff out there, so it’ll be really cool to see what you’re using.
Nice article. I think the Behringer mixer is a good choice if you are on a very tight budget, for line level signals it’s very descent, and the mic preamps are very reasonable. I would however recommend a cheap condensator mic like the ones from t.bone, m-audio, samson etc. I can not recommmend the USB transit if you use a mac. If you have a macbook (pro) or powerbook, the analog inputs are not bad either, so use them first before getting a better audio interface. I have bad experience with m-audio on mac: good hardware, bad drivers, probablty not a problem if you are on a pc. Software: for beginning, garageband on a mac is great, and audacity might be a good start too. For cheap monitor speakers I recommend esi near05.
I engineer and review pro audio gear for a living. I think the article is fine for a “getting started” piece. It’s for a general audience who may not know anything about how to set up a simple studio.
But I do think the overall set up in the article is reasonable enough to allow people who’ve never recorded to at least get their feet wet. And it’s a good entry into discussion and exploration.
There are a few inaccuracies in the article:
- Calling Behringer preamps “high quality” is not quite right. They’re “cheap” preamps, and they sound like it.
- Referring to the Auralex panels that would “dampen the sound in your recording room so the bass doesn’t turn to mud.” The panels will have some effect on early reflections in the mid range and high end, but will have no effect at all on the low end and bass frequenices.
- “people who want a high-quality low-budget setup”. The set up listed is not going to give anyone “high quality” results. It’s a “low quality” set and the results are going to be “lo-fi”.
- With that set up you do not need the mixer. The only reason to get the mixer is for the mic preamps and DI. A better option would be to just get an inexpensive but decent external mic preamp/DI. A few good options would be the $120 Studio Projects VTB-1 if one channel is enough. Or the $150 M-Audio DMP3 for a two-channel preamp/DI.
- As far as gain, you’re better to run peaks from -12dB to -6dB. Up to the red is not necessary, and can even make you run out of headroom. Also better to peak lower and run preamps lower. - 6dB is a generally accepted good top peak level in digital recording.
Something that’s not covered in the article where people are going to run into problems is need for some kind of pop filter in front of the microphone to keep sounds like “P’s” from clipping the meters and just generally sounding nasty. For starters, even pantyhose stretched over a coat hanger will work. Or just Google “pop filter” or “DIY pop filter” for more info.
While I agree with the SM-58 (for OKAY vocal sound), you would have to be crazy to record any instruments with it. On the cheap side, I would buy an SM-57 for instrument miking.
Definitely go with Sennheiser’s HD-280 Pro headphones and pirate Cubase or Nuendo instead of M-Audio Session.
The first article on very cheap home studio is nothing but a waste of money.
Good job on the article. Everyone here seems to be an armchair expert .. but very few of the comments off VALID suggestions given the context of the article (building on a budget). The only real good suggestion I found in the comments was for Reaper .. which is a great application.
As for everyone crying that things are too cheap to do anything serious, remember this. The Beatles recorded their first 3 albums LIVE OFF THE FLOOR with stuff that sounds “cheaper” than anything listed here.
If you can’t get the job done with affordable gear, you can’t get it done, period. The author is not talking about trying to record the next gramym winning album here, he’s talking about making indie music on a budget, so get off your high horses all you whiners and in the words of Frank Zappa “go play with your telefunken U47″
Thanks very much for the article, it’s very helpful. I’m also a trumpet player, and I’ve been looking for a recommendation on a mic that will let me get decent sound without making me sell a kidney.
To the other critics of the setup: This article is perfectly targeted for me; someone who has a little more than no money to spend on equipment, but is doing it for my own and my friends’ fun, and will never go into the recording business. I know perfection when I hear it, and when the day comes that I need it I’ll get access to the equipment (and more important, the people) I need to make it happen, but for now my budget it the most important variable in the equation. So what would be most helpful as a follow-up is if you make criticisms or alternate recommendations *within the context of the price point.*
We all know Pro Tools is more capable than Audigy, and maybe you think it’s an absolute must. So what about the rest of the setup would you change to make it affordable?
It would be nice, as some sites do for homebuilt PCs, to see people’s recommended setups at various price points — the $500 budget system, $1,000, $2,500, etc.
Thanks again Mike.
Those auralex things will have no effect on the low-end characteristics of your room. You’d be better off saving half the money and stapling the rest to the wall: same effect on low-end, 50% of the cost.
The Beatles recorded their first 3 albums LIVE OFF THE FLOOR with stuff that sounds “cheaper” than anything listed here.
That’s bullshit. The early beatles stuff was done on equipment that was essentially hand-made and of high quality.
The Project Studios mics are very good (cheap knock offs of Neumann u87 amongst others) and highly regarded in terms of ‘bang for buck’ and quality
RODE mics (Australian) are also very good and cheap
These mics wouldn’t be able to compete with the big name mics but they are very affordable for those on a budget and mean you don’t have to compromise much on the sound.
A couple of half-decent and well-placed (use your ears!) boundary mics are great for grabbing the general room sound for live recordings - mix that with some ’spot’ mics on the instruments and you are on to a winner…
The acoustic panels mentioned in the article are only good for stopping early reflections an flutter echo - they would have no effect on bass. The only way to stop bass is with volume - there are DIY options for this sort of thing though - corner killers, reactive panels, even quadratic residue diffusers if you are up to a bit of math and woodwork!
I want the five minutes back that I spent reading the comments from people who chose an article about home recording on a budget to boast about their experiences with 414s and U87s. Lovely, but that’s another article. We can all marvel about what golden ears you have that a Bery 802 is intolerable for you, but the rest of us are busy using what works for our purposes, modest they may be.
Much has been written about gear snobbery in Pro Audio land, and I’m going to write some more. 20 years ago - not that long ago - the “pro audio” types had home studios with AKAI open reel decks, only passed around demos on Type IV Metal cassettes, and recorded with early-80s Roland synths. In their opinion, this equipment sounded good - and they did indeed do the job. But all of those things were, by 2007 standards, noisy as hell.
Zap to 2007. The very average Sigmatel codec in a typical Dell laptop, or an SB Audigy, sounds a bazillion times better (cleaner, better dynamics and frequency response) than any of the analog recorders the typical home studio people had 25 years ago.
One of those $60 cheapie large diaphragm mics (like a Marshall MXL 990) put through a Bery 802 and recorded with a sub-$100 card - say, an Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 2in 8out card - will return a far far cleaner and by any measure better result than what was being used in the best home studios of 1984 with equipment in the tens of thousands of dollars.
I have no doubt that this fact is as threatening to those who have spent truckfuls of money on equipment - and the people who sell it - as it is liberating to those of us who want to spend as little as necessary to get results satisfactory to us.
Hello,
Here’s my set up.
24 bit audigy pci sound card with pre amps,
Jammer Pro,
Sonar Producer for Mixing,
Of course it helps if your a great guitarist.
Someone asked about a good mic for recording trumpet that won’t break the bank: I recommend the Rode NT1-A.
A friend of mine just received one from his wife (lucky bastard), and he’s been using it for his trumpet recordings — sounds very warm but not artificially so.
Micing trumpets really comes down to personal taste — depends if you want that dark studio sound favored by people like Woody Shaw, John Swana, and Terence Blanchard, or a more brilliant Lee Morgan kind of thing. And even then, it comes down to mic placement and how you play into the mic (not to mention the fact that some horns record well and some don’t).
-mk
Anyone that thinks Mackie gear is better than Behringer is listening with their eyes, not their ears.
Mackie and Behringer both produce low-quality, disposable gear. The only difference is that the Behringer gear is a lot cheaper.
Don’t believe the hype….
i want to record something at my house and i dont know how…
Mr. “b”,
I seriously question YOUR ears. My company has used all kinds of equipment, excepy Meyer. Sorry, Behringer can’t stand up to Mackie. In fact, we’ve gone exclusively over to Mackie. Best sound, best bang for buck. Our clients have been more than satisified. Listen harder.
GO AND GET LAID. NOW. PAY FOR IT IF YOU HAVE TO…
Thanks for the article! Very nice!
Just want to find out how you would rate Sony’s ACID XPress against those software programs mentioned? Because even though I cope quite well with ACID, I haven’t seen or worked with those other programs at all, so don’t know whether ACID really is good software or not?
Regards