Cost and creation

Hey everyone!
I would like to know if anyone can tell me what gear I need and how much it will cost to make a professional-like recording studio.

Cheers
caaaaase

It depends on your budget I guess. Expensive gear won't do you any good if you don't have recording knowledge and experience. I would say the most important place to start is a good room. Drums can be easy to record if you have a good room. If you need to you can buy diffusers to prevent sound waves from grouping and to eliminate standing waves and reverberation if needed. Other than that good quality gear is pretty pricey. All you really need to start out is a decent interface, DAW, a good computer, and some mics. Maybe a compressor and EQ. That's kind of a hard question to answer. my neighbor has a studio in his basement that probably costed him a total of 10,000$ over the years and my school has studios with equipment that is worth upwards of a million dollars.

It really depends on what all you want to record, and what all instruments are involved. These days, you really can do a lot with very little. Here are the essentials at a very minimalistic, basic level:

Computer
- You obviously need something to record onto. Remember that recording audio and editing takes some power from your machine, and your computer needs to have the RAM and power to do that. It all depends on how much you want to record and what all instruments you plan to work with. There are many factors to this. Right now, just make sure it runs OK. What kind of computer are you using?

Recording Software
- This is also called your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation.) There are TONS of different programs out there, some of which you can find for free. You have Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, Nuendo, Reaper, and many many more. I use LOGIC 9 and find it to be very easy to use and complimentary to getting a great sound easily.

Interface
- This is the gatekeeper between your instrument and the computer. There are tons of companies making these including M-Audio, Line 6, Pre-Sonus, MOTU, Alesis, Digidesign, and many, many more. You can get a good interface for $100 bucks onward.

Monitors
- You need to hear what your doing. A decent set of computer monitors will do, but you can find some decent monitors for pretty cheap that will aid you in finding the best sounds. These are what play back your recordings.

Cables, Headphones, Etc.
- You will need all the necessary cables and so forth to get moving along. You need mic cables, 1/4 inch for your guitar, USB or Firewire for your interface along with some headphones. Some times you can find package deals that include all this stuff.

Patience
- With anything, it takes time. Just because you have all the gear doesn't mean anything. There are plenty of people whom have great stuff and there recordings sound like trash. On the flip side, there are people with little to no gear that seem to make things sound amazing. It will take time and patience, but you will make it work.

Hopefully this helps. These are the bare basics. :)

Just to say the obvious about professional recording quality: All the gear in the world cannot overcome a bad set of ears.

Ok, I know, who doesn't know that. I think the point is (and jumping off from Doug's point about patience) that all the great gear means nothing if you don't know what to do with it or if you have the auditory skills to get it to sound good.

To be honest, as much as I love guitar, I nearly love to process of recording/mixing/mastering as much. It really is the hidden art in music. Learning how to mix within frequencies, the way to record a guitar, stacking different tracks and all that stuff.

It isn't just getting a drum beat and playing over it and hoping it sounds good but all the tricks that make the sound deep and wide that really make it come home.

A person could spend easily under a thousand bucks and with a little but of work, get really good results.

I guess my point is that, get the best stuff you can afford to get and then maximize that by really learning what to do. Spend time reading up on techniques for recording/mixing/mastering. Watch videos and all that.

Good luck and have fun doing it.

I can't agree and resonate with this idea more. As much as I love the guitar and all it's glory; the recording process brings me just as much fulfillment. I have always been the leader of my bands, chief songwriter, etc. It was only natural that I fell into recording and producing with time. I will always stand by the fact that you don't need a lot to do a lot. It simply takes patience and time working with what you have. I feel guitar playing is no different, as you don't have to have all the gear in the world to get great sounds and results.

Best of luck and remember that with time you will be amazed at how much you can accomplish with very little gear. :)

Thanks! I'll try to find some recording workshops so that I can learn how to do everything.
To reply to Douglas's earlier post, I have a Macbook Pro.

Originally Posted by: caaaaaseThanks! I'll try to find some recording workshops so that I can learn how to do everything.
To reply to Douglas's earlier post, I have a Macbook Pro.

If you have a fairly recent Mac then you should have Garageband which is more than enough to get going and a pretty capable little program that is pre-loaded in most all Macs.

It's what I've been diddling about with and have decent results on my diddling. Mostly to say, you may not need to buy a new DAW just yet but if you did eventually upgrade, Logic Pro is a fairly painless step up from Garageband and compatible too.