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DaveJames · November 2022

I want to start a small recording studio, not professional, but soon I will have a lot of time on my hands, I'm not very technical, so can you take that into consideration, any advice, cheers.

Whistler · November 2022

Who will the studio be for? Just you or for friends or for anyone who wants to hire the studio?

What budget do you have (or hope to have)?

Do you have a place in mind? Do you own a suitable building?

How many rooms are you thinking of? Live room(s)? Control room? Store room? Machine room? Bathroom (or at least a toilet)? Kitchen?

octatonic · November 2022

DaveJames said:

I want to start a small recording studio, not professional, but soon I will have a lot of time on my hands, I'm not very technical, so can you take that into consideration, any advice, cheers.

This is sort of like saying 'I want to be a surgeon but I don't like the sight of blood'.

Building a recording studio is, by definition, a technical endeavour.
That doesn't mean it has to be *all technical*.

Start with a computer, a DAW, an audio interface and some speakers/monitors.

Computer: Mac or PC. They are all capable if they are modern.
DAW: Reaper, Studio One or Logic (if on Mac).
Audio Interface: Focusrite Scarlett or anything similarly priced. If you want to track acoustic drums then you will need something that does 8 channels of simultaneous recording. Otherwise stereo in and out should be fine.
Monitors: Yamaha HS5 or HS7 or something similarly priced.

You will also need some microphones if recording acoustic instruments.
If so, say so and I will make some suggestions.

You would be well advised to get some acoustic treatment but if/when this is ignored and you come back to this thread in 6-12 months and you are trying to figure out why your recordings are boxy, tinny or have too much bass, the lack of this is a likely culprit.

Budget for cables- decent ones.
Not the cheapest you can find.

Smart things you will wish you did in the future if you don't do them:

1. Prioritising transducers (microphones/monitors) over other things- ie put the money into things that capture or reproduce sound.
2. Learning your DAW as well as you can in the time you have.
3. Understanding signal flow and gain staging
4. Having some lessons from someone who knows what they are doing. (I do this- I'm not making a sales pitch).

Pitfalls:

1. Buying stuff you think you need because someone made a youtube video about it and it is shiiiiny.
2. Buying too many plugins, esp when you don't know the basics.
3. Owning the gear, not using it enough but continuing to buy things because.... shiny.

4. Mixing entirely on headphones.
5. Mixing off presets.
6. Failing to treat your room acoustically.

spark240 · November 2022

Basically just buy shiny...Oh and lots of Lights and knobs...that kit always sounds better.

DaveJames · November 2022

It's not for professional recording, just as a hobby in a small room, sorry for the confusion.

TTony · November 2022

DaveJames said:

It's not for professional recording, just as a hobby in a small room, sorry for the confusion.

In which case, start small, don’t spend a lot of ££s at first, find out what kit and what approach works best for you, and then spend the money to gradually upgrade the kit that you need to.

But a lot of it does get “technical”, at least if you want to understand what all those knobs and setting do, or should do, and which ones you need to twiddle and tweak.

Oct knows what he’s talking about

swiller · November 2022

A good computer and a soundcard is top priority. Everything else will fall into place.
I have an RME UCX which is stellar pristine audio and rock solid always.
PC wise, you can build your own pretty cheaply these days with a second hand cheap basic graphics card, or go with a chip that has onboard graphics. 32gb ram is what i would go for.
A mic, some headphones or cheap monitors and you are pretty much good to go.
As a daw, can recommend cakewalk as its free or reaper. But cakewalk is great and pretty easy to use.
Finally, grab some free plugins, do some homework. A cheap midi keyboard also pretty essential.
From that you can build up as you see fit.
Thats about £2k and will produce professional quality recordings as good as anyone needs really. Cheaper if you go second hand.

goldtop · November 2022

Not technical + small room + hobby?

Answer = iMac (used if necessary) + Garageband + something like a MOTU M2 as interface + iLoud monitors.

Any other DAW is going to require you to get very technical.

Remaining question is how to get your guitar (acoustic/electric/bass) tone? Something like the Helix Stomp or Headrush MX5 if you don't mind modelling.

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