Building a recording studio

by Jason Curnow
(UK)

If you are looking to create a home studio set-up on a pc,i would advise that you get a MIDI interface, so that you can program the instrumental side of your songs, along side this you will also need some VSTs.
You will also need a piece of sequencer software, to put evrything together in, such as cubase. I would personaly advise cubase as this is what i use.
So you have something to create the insturmental, and somewhere to sequence it all, next you need a good large diaphram condenser microphone to capture the vocals, and a pop shield to accompany this (the pop shield is to stop all the strong gushes of air overloading the microphone when you say words with "p" in them. Now when picking a condenser microphone you should be looking for a few things, firstly the microphone should have a reletively high SPL threshild (sound pressure level) to ensure that it can handle the vocals without distorting. The next thing to look at is the frequency response of the mic, to see how the microphone responds at certain frequencies. (the human ears can only hear frequencies between 20Hz and 20kHz. For vocals you're looking for a mic with a flat response, so it doesn't add or takeaway anything from the signal, the last vital thing you should be looking for is the pick-up pattern of the mic, this is essential what the mircophone can see, and will pick-up, for vocals you're looking for carioid. i use the samson c03.
Right so you have the midi interface, the midi controller (keyboard) the software and now the mic. The next thing to buy is a sound card (audio interface)If you're not using a mixing desk you will need to find a sound card that has an xlr input, and a gain control knob so that you can get the maximum signal quality from your sound source (sound source to be comming in at around -6dB thats what i was taught!) if you are using a mixing desk you will need one with phantom power, to send power to the microphone, at least one xlr input and a stereo output to send to the interface. back to the interface if using a desk, it should have 2 unbalanced jack inputs and outputs, the 2 outputs should be be a standard on any inteface!
You will also need a pair of headphones too, so you can hear what you're singing to.
and last but not least are the monitor speakers, if you spend alot of money on anything, it should be on the speakers, to get the honest speakers you need to spend a good amount of money, home stereo systems add some bottom end to music to make them sound more exciting and thick, although different stereos and speakers act in different ways, so to be sure that they sound reletive samilar on all systems you need to have speakers that play your recordings as honestly as possible, so if your mix sounds well balanced on them speakers you can be sure they'll sound similar on other systems, when picking monitors you should also read other atricles, as room acostics also affect the way music sounds, this is all to do with defusion, defracrions ect. You should also be aware of active and passive monitors, passive monitors need a power amp to function.
They're all the things that you need to get started, i do pop punk music so ive got a few other bits and bobs but i still have all the fundimentals listed above. I will list all my equiptment so you can google them, and use them as a good guideline,

Sound Card: Steinberg M14 (This is also a MIDI Interface)
Vocal Microphone : Samson C03
Sequencer Software: Steinberg Cubase SX 3
MIDI Controller: MK-225c
Mixing Desk: Alto L-8
Monitor Speakers: Alesis MK2