It’s the dream of many musicians to be able to write and record your own music for your band at home but for a long time, it wasn’t possible to do so unless you had mega millions to spend. Thanks to the advancement of different technologies, personal computers and the ease in which you can put your songs up online to sell, the home recording industry has never been bigger or easier to get into.
If you are a beginner on the music scene and are looking for an affordable entry into recording your music at home, there are a number of different solutions you can use to help you get a great quality recording without breaking the bank. In the past, the only available options were cassette tape multi-track devices, but with the advent of the digital age, you can now record, edit and playback your songs on hard drive recorders or your personal computer at reasonable prices.
The essential components of recording music at home
One of the most essential things you will need is a microphone or a number of microphones for your recording. A good voice microphone such as the industry standard Shure SM58, available at many guitar shops in Melbourne to start with for a professional microphone that will last forever. A boundary microphone is a cheaper option to pick up your drum kit, as dedicated mics for each drum may set you back an arm and a leg.
A recording medium is needed to record your music, as well as a mixing board to manage your levels and inputs from all of your instruments and microphones. Multi-track recording devices such as the BOSS BR-80 are where many beginners start as they often contain 4, 8 or 12 separate tracks to plug instruments into, which is a great option if you want to record your band live.
Multi-track recorders offer a cheaper way to home recording, as they not only contain a micromixing desk to get your levels but also a place to record or edit your music. Many multi-track recorders offer different mediums to store your recordings onto, with hard drives being the best for maximum storage capacity, as well as ease of use.
Some more advanced multi-track recording devices allow you to hook up to your home computer for added mixing options, as well as providing live recording and effects provided by a DAW or digital audio workstation.
Going fully digital for your home recording
Some musicians prefer to skip the physical recording multi-track device altogether and opt for a completely digital solution on a computer. The use of DAWs has increased in recent years with many professional recording artists using their home DAWs to record and release music. For the best recording quality, stability and compatibility, a computer audio interface such as the Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 or specialist soundcard are often required to reduce any latency issues or delay you may have when recording your music.
These can be relatively cheap to acquire and do not need advanced knowledge of how they work to operate them at a professional level. There are many free DAW programs available to download, and with the addition of millions of plugins and VST apps such as Guitar Rig for added effects, you might find that switching to a home computer to record all of your music will set you free to worry about writing the music, and not the pain of finding the right cable to record onto your multi-track system.
