The most obvious Internet revolution related to music and digital recording as we could see daily is on the consumer side. Nowadays we can buy music online, sync to our media player device like iPod, download Podcast, listen to music with minimal performance degradation, etc.

Little of us know the other side of the story.

In this article series, we are going to cover about that other side. The revolution on the producer side allows hobbyists, podcasters, and virtually anyone to build their own low-cost and high-quality digital audio studio.

The combination of audio gears has enabled home studios to produce music and podcasts that can rival the mixes from big name studios.

First of all, albeit the articles could be used as a reference to setup a music recording studio, I specifically have Podcast publishers in mind for the reason that should be clear.

If you want to setup a simple recording studio that could capture your voice, then you probably don’t need these articles. All you need are a sound interface — or sound card — and an acceptable quality microphone.

You might want to come back later if you are ready for more professional settings though.

There are two points you should keep in mind when progressing through these articles:

• Choose your audio equipments wisely. If you pick good quality product — they might be a bit more expensive — you can avoid upgrading and replacing as your projects get more involved. Think about expandability. Expensive gear could become obsolete too.
• Know your budget and stick to a purchase strategy. You can avoid overspending if you stick to the equipment you have planned in your budget. This also prevent you from buying cool gear that may not be what you want.

You maybe wondering why in this project we concentrate on building a PC-based home studio instead of an all-in-one solution such as Tascam Portastudio, Roland or Fostex. There are a few answers to this question:

• Expandability. The magic word appears again. Manufacturers usually pack a lot of features into their products but oftentimes they are difficult to use (involve steep learning curve). They are often difficult to upgrade too. Not to mention the price of the relatively more expensive components such as storage. On the other hand, 300GB PC hard disk is very affordable now.
• Economically. PC has become very common nowadays. If you are downloading podcast or listening to music online then you have a good portion of the equipment ready. Why waste if you can save? Afterall, you have been quite familiar in using a computer.
• The revolution of the gear. USB audio interface is hot. If you have a PC or Mac or a notebook computer, you are basically good to go. USB gears even beat all-in-one solutions in term of portability nowadays.

Much of the these advices are applicable to Mac users too. I use PC for decades so that is my personal choice.

In the next article, we will cover about the first component of the home recording equipment: the PC itself. Chances are your current computer is good for this project. But, just to be on the safe side we will go through some most significant parts of the computer that could affect the recording performance.

See also: Podcast Equipment.

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