Home Studio: The Essentials List
The Million-Dollar Sound (For $1k)
Billie Eilish won 5 Grammys recording in a bedroom. You do not need a massive console. You need a clean signal chain and a treated environment. Here is the breakdown.
1. The Audio Interface (The Brain)
This box connects your mic to your computer.
Budget King: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (Gen 5). Clean preamps, zero latency.
Pro Upgrade: Universal Audio Apollo Twin X. Comes with onboard DSP
processing for real-time effects.
2. Monitoring (The Truth)
If you can't hear it, you can't mix it.
Monitors: Yamaha HS5 or HS8. The industry standard "white cones." They are
brutally honest. If it sounds good on these, it sounds good anywhere.
Headphones: Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro (Closed-back for recording) or DT 990
Pro (Open-back for mixing).
3. Acoustic Treatment (The Secret)
Buying $5,000 speakers in an untreated square room is a waste of money.
Do: Buy rockwool acoustic panels and place them at "first reflection
points" (left, right, and ceiling cloud).
Don't: Cover your walls in cheap thin foam. It only kills high frequencies
and leaves the boomy mud, making your room sound worse.