Setting Up A Home Studio

I’m in the process of turning my home office into a basic recording studio. I write songs in my spare time and decided it was about time I recorded them. Back in my university days I played in bands, had a great time and would have quite happily made that my career, but something called interactive media came along and distracted me. I really ought to get a band together, just for fun, but in the meantime I reckon there’s not much point in writing stuff if no-one gets to hear it, hence the home studio.

I’m just using a really basic setup for now – an M-Audio MobilePre USB interface for Mics and guitars etc. and a Radium 49-key midi controller keyboard. Software is cheap-and-chearful Apple GarageBand, which I figured was a good place to start learning before splashing the cash on something like Cubase or Logic. Seems to work pretty well, though I think I’m going to grow out of it pretty quickly…

Need to investigate speaker simulators next – I found that plugging a guitar directly into the MobilePre and using GarageBand’s built-in amp effects was OK, but not brilliant. Mic-ing up my old Peavy Classic 20 sounds a lot better, though I’m not sure it’s doing anything for neighbourly relations. Haven’t dared fire up my old AC-30 yet ;-)

Haven’t actually recorded a whole song yet – still getting to grips with programming drums and getting the rhythm tracks down, but I’m having fun and I feel like I’m making progress. So maybe one day soon all those songs of mine that currently exist only in my head might actually see the light of day…

About Jonathan Hirsch

I've been working in the interactive media industry since 1995. I'm a problem-solver with a multi-disciplinary skill set. I work on a freelance / contract basis. I help clients create great digital products.

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