During the early days of the pandemic, many musicians and podcasters were faced with many unforeseen challenges. These changed the landscape for creators in a way that’s still being felt today. Tours were canceled, and all commitments were put on hold or done remotely. Stuck at home, with more time on their hands than they might have been used to previously, many people opted into recording with an improvised home setup. Two years later, many people still have a home recording setup, but some are frustrated with the results. If you fall into this camp, you need to ask yourself what your goals are for your home studio setup, and how much time and money are you willing to put into it to get the results you’re hoping to achieve.
If you’re a songwriter looking to put demo tracks together, get your ideas down, and take them to a professional producer, then all you really need is a microphone, an audio interface, and a laptop. You can use software bundles like Native Instruments Komplete, Ableton Live Suite, or Logic Pro, which have virtual instruments you can use to get chord progressions, beats, or complete tracks finished. In theory, you could put a whole album together with just a laptop, an interface, and a mic. Some recording programs (Digital Audio Workstations or DAWs) have a steeper learning curve than others. If you want a radio-ready finished product, you’re going to need to know how to connect your equipment, use your DAW to record, edit, mix, and master your tracks, and learn the ins and outs of your virtual instruments. It can be daunting. Songwriting is a craft that must be practiced and honed all on its own, and sometimes giving yourself more roles to play, manuals to read, technical challenges to deal with, etc. can get in the way of writing your track.
If you’re trying to get more than a demo out of your home studio, and you’re going to be recording with a microphone, make sure that the room you are recording in is acoustically treated properly. That means you want to keep echoes and reflections to a minimum. In a tight space, like a New York City apartment, this could mean using a reflection filter. This is a semi-circular attachment to your mic stand that absorbs sound from the rear side of the mic. Thick carpeting or a rug can work wonders, and sometimes people choose to record in their closets, surrounded by acoustically absorbent fabrics.
Most of the time, you’ll save yourself time, money, and headaches by focusing on writing your song, and leaving the technical details to a professional engineer. But there are cases where an artist may want to spend as much time as needed to explore different sounds, experiment with structure, tempo, etc., and not feel they’re on the clock. In this case, getting the best recording possible at home makes it easier for a mix or mastering engineer to get you a professional-sounding finished product. There are countless resources on the internet, or people willing to help out for a consulting fee to help you optimize your workflow. It’s important to consider these things before taking the plunge into the world of home recording.