13 years ago, when I first got into music, the Internet was not packed with tutorials and advices on how to create your own home recording studio, how to make an instrumental, how to record music, how to mix and master a song. Living in a small city made it impossible for me to achieve the right quality for my music. The lack of information almost broke my wings and the first couple of years of me entering the music world represented the dark age of my small "carrier". It took some time before I got my hands on a decent music software. Those where the days when I was using the N-Track Studio to record my vocals on an instrumental created on a common keyboard. As I said, totally unprofessional.
Read More
If you plan to record your own songs at home but you don't want to spend a large budget for the recording setup, buying an USB condenser microphone is a good idea. Nothing fancy, no preamp, no audio interface. Just a good microphone and a USB cable. There are many options to choose from here. Brands like Audio Technica, Nady, Blue, Samson, MXL, CAD will try to capture your attention with USB mics between $30 and $300. You will learn that most USB microphones are around $100, but you will also find a few that are way above that line. In this article, I will try tho choose the best USB microphones that you can buy around the price of $100. The prices of these USB microphones were updated in January 2022. They may vary, depending on the moment you read this article.
Read More
The field of low-budget audio interfaces is definitely crowded, and we will find outstanding products like the ones manufactured by M-Audio or Focusrite. After successfully making a name into the music software niche with its Cubase, Steinberg is trying to penetrate the hardware market with its audio interface. Steinberg UR22 USB is a fresh audio interface that aims the musicians to create a music studio on a low-budget. Here is the Steinberg UR22 USB Audio Interface review.
Read More
These days, most musicians make music on their laptops, so there is nothing new about creating beats or recording vocals while you're on the go. But if you really want to go the extra mile, you can install few music apps on your iPhone that will allow you to make music like a pro directly from your smartphone. Some of these music making apps are not free, and some of them will drain your battery pretty fast because they have powerful engines to process the sounds. Even so, they will bring the power of a real music software under the power of your fingertips. Drums, recording apps, guitars and effects. These are the best apps for making music on your iPhone.
Read More
If you read my previous articles on "How to make a home recording studio" you know that I usually recommend Focusrite audio interfaces in most of them. Now, it's time to see more details about one of the best audio interface for a home studio that's actually affordable. No, it's more than affordable, it's cheap! In this article I will present an extended review on Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interface USB 2.0. There so are many pros about this small device, starting with its price, its small dimensions or the input combo feature, but I think its ultimately feature is represented by the two Focusrite microphone pre-amplifiers that brings unparalleled clean signal path for the condenser microphone, for the guitar or for line-in sources.
Read More
Rode is one of my favorite microphone manufacturer and if anyone asks me for a home studio microphone recommendation, I will gladly reply with one of Rode's mics. Although the NTK mic was listed as a thousand dollar mic, this celebrated large-diaphragm valve mic can be found at half that price on various online stores. But we'll get into that later. This home recording item brings exquisite sound quality while maintaining the classic design and technology that made the Australian company famous in the first place. The main feature of this mic is probably the HF-2 capsule designed and manufactured by Rode with care and special attention to its performances.
Read More
You’ve probably heard generally very good reviews from specialists and clients about this small wonder microphone and now I will tell you why. The Neumann TLM- 102 captured musician's attention in positive ways, mostly due to the magnificent speech reproduction in comparison to its small size, and great performances compared to its price. These are the reasons why Neumann TLM-102 is one of my favorite choices from the Neumann product range.
The TLM-102 made quite a few waves on the audio equipment market firstly because of its extremely small dimensions, measuring 4,5 inches in height, being almost half as the size of other products in its range. However, don’t let this detail fool you. This compact size microphone, built with a newly engineered large-diaphragm capsule, could easily become the first mic for anyone who owns a small studio or who wants to start a professional audio career using quality equipment. Even more, it was launched at a starting price of only $699, almost pocket change if you think Neumann’s other mics range from $1500 and go up to $2800 for the U87 microphone. Still not convinced? Read the followings and you will learn more details about it:
Read More
They say that you will never find a professional microphone under $500. In order to prove everyone wrong, Rode decided to create the perfect microphone for a home recording studio at half the price. Even more, the mic comes with a lot of physical features that will definitely worth your money.
If you plan to make a solid investment in your home recording studio microphone, Rode NT1-A is probably the first mic you should take into consideration. This large diaphragm condenser microphone with cardioid polar pattern has the same quality and performance of mics found at prices over $1,000 but you can actually buy it for $229. But before going into further details, let's talk about the physical aspects of this exquisite microphone.
Read More
