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The world of digital audio is so vast and subjective. There could be so many options and alternatives to almost everything. There are new products launched every year and advancement of technology makes it a bit confusing for a newbie to set up a studio.

However, more options give you a chance of more flexibility. Here is a list of must have hardware equipment that you will need for setting up your own recording studio:

1. Computer: A computer is the most essential and basic form of equipment required in a home recording studio. Without a computer a home recording studio just cannot function. While the Windows system is most popular amongst the normal computer users Mac is more popular amongst the audio recording engineers. Mac blows away a Windows system with its performance. One of the most popular software set up Logic pro comes with Mac and there is no at par alternative to Logic pro for the Windows PC users. So if you want everything to be readily working out of the box go and get a Mac. Of course it will be costlier than a Windows system and comparatively has lesser options and flexibility. That is why many users opt for a PC because they want the freedom to use the difference software and hardware. Go for Linux only if you are already experienced engineer as it has much less options in terms of software availability and not many professional use it in their studio.
2. Interface: Interface is required to connect your channels to your computer. It also send the audio back to the monitors which sends the analog signal to the ears. There are basically two types of interfaces available in the market, USB and Firewire. While USB is cheaper Firewire is expensive. USB is good if you are doing more MIDI and less of audio get a Firewire if you are planning to do more of audio recording as it has higher capacity and hence lesser latency issues.
3. Microphone: Microphone, the most essential equipment in any recording studio of any level. The most popular Microphone are Shure SM 57 and 58. If you are someone who is just starting out get these Microphone and you will not go far too wrong.
4. Midi controllers: Many new home audio engineers end up spending too much amount on midi controllers when it is not required. A small keyboard synthesizer like Casio CTK 3000 or any other Yamaha model can do the job easily. They are not only cheap but also can be used for playing live and other purposes.

This was the basic guide on what you will need. If you are not sure what equipments to buy, have a look at recording studio set ups and if you need more advice on latest hardware than check out my personal Home Recording Guide.

Everyday some new artist or musician wakes up and have this great epiphany; last night while they were sleeping they had a dream about having their own Home Recording Studio. So they wake up and run to their computer and start searching the web for articles on how to build a home recording studio. They take about 4 hours of unfocused search time and run to their nearest guitar store with a list of items to buy only to realize that equipment they wanted was way out of their budget.

So they run back home and hop on the internet and find the gear they want online for about a fraction o retail cost. They’ve searched Google up and down for the lowest price and final made a couple of purchases and now their gear is on the way. So in the mean time they start planning where they’re going to record and how they want to set their room or garage up… sound treatment here, a wall there, and maybe a sofa here.

A week has gone by and now they have all the gear that they’ve ordered online, now the big question is how the heck do you wire up all this stuff? They read every direction on and manual and nothing seems to make logical sense, so they work on it for about a week and then give up. They take the gear put it on ebay.com and sell it to another unsuspecting musician or artist. The cycle just continues.

Now this whole process could have been avoided had this person had the proper tools and knowledge at their disposal. See in the major commercial studios, there are recording engineers that do the entire wiring and microphone placement for you. When you have a home recording studio it is entirely up to you to figure things out. Once you have figured out how to setup all the equipment you bought you then have to learn to use the new recording software you bought.

Once you finally figure out how to setup a track and learn how to bus audio to another track, you decide to use a plug in that came with Protools only to realize that getting the sound you were looking for is becoming even more difficult to achieve. Once you do decide that you have recorded a decent enough song then you send the song off to the mixing engineer.

The mixing engineer will then go and level the song volumes, layer effects and make things sound almost radio ready. That engineer has spent several years developing this craft, but wait! This is your home studio so you will most likely have to do the mixing yourself. So now you need to go buy a book on how to mix sound recordings. Only to get even more frustrated cause you don’t understand anything about frequency or stereo spacing. But you tweak around for a while and get things to sound pretty decent.

Now it’s time to get the track mastered. God knows you defiantly need at least a decade to get to this level. The sound of word dither just sends your heart racing. So what do you do next? Read more of our articles for quick tips on Building a Home Recording Studio.

Once you have you tracks mixed it’s time to break out the Music Mastering Software and use this simple Audio Mastering System to give your track that extra bit of shine. Most musicians tend to think that all they have to do is record a track and transfer it to a disc and then they could send it off to producers as a demo. Well, unless the amateur audio recording combined with phenomenal vocals is a miraculous success, chances are the demo will not be kept for further listening. The final step should be music mastering, but sadly a lot of musicians tend to skip this step.

Not everyone knows what mastering is. Music Mastering, is when the tracks are being refined for auditions or production. Touch-ups and enhancements are made on the album to make sure that all audio listening tools can play the music clearly.

Audio engineers are not exactly cheap to hire since there are a lot of hopeful musicians willing to pay big bucks to ensure that their demos will not get scrapped within the first 2 seconds of play. Although sheer talent is very important, professional sounding tracks help a lot with auditions.

Audio mastering also involves audio evaluation which helps give unbiased perspective to music tracks. Even though mixing engineers do not come cheap, they are sure to listen and re-listen to home audio recordings for hours to make sure that no rogue sound is included in the final product. Recording engineers make sure that the sounds remain crisp all the way through its play.

Music Mastering Software – Leveling Audio Volumes and Noise Reduction

Mastering technicians make certain that the volumes of the songs are at the same level. Audio engineers are needed in order to avoid unwanted standout sounds or noises. Audio levels should not be taken for granted because mistakes in leveling often aggravate listeners.

Audio engineers can make a lot of reduction from audio signals. Professional music mastering techniques produce top of the line music with minimum disturbance. Analog audio recording produces a normal hiss-like noise. Even though it can be minimized by music mastering engineers, it cannot be altogether avoided.

Music Mastering Software – Encoding and Presentation

An expert mastering studio can even include the Universal Product Code (UPC), a barcode which allows an item to be tracked over the United States and Canada during trades. Music mastering studios can also encode the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC), an internationally accepted code used especially for audio and music video recordings. Important additional info about the artist and the CD can also be incorporated into the disc, such as the track names and the artist’s profile.

Music Mastering Software – Error Assessment

Audio technicians check and double check any track that comes out of their studios. The pros pore over the audio for hours on end. Any imperfection that might be left due to negligence is unacceptable. Musicians who trust their precious records are assured that their home audio recordings are fit to be heard and ready for critics.