Working in a professional recording studio is expensive. Many aspiring musicians would like to equip a home station, but it costs a lot of money. The Mastering Engineers from https://ekmixmaster.com/ provide some practical tips for budget-friendly home workspace equipment.
First of all, do not neglect used equipment. There are many reasons why the former owner sells his guitar or midi keyboard. He either bought himself a more prestigious instrument, or abandoned music altogether. Meanwhile, the so-called “old” is in more than decent condition, both externally and in terms of its technical characteristics. And at the same time it costs often half the price of a new analogue. And you can save a lot on such a purchase.
Cables are considered to be consumables.
They are not that expensive, and are on sale everywhere and always. However, changing cables too often can be costly. So handle them with care and make sure they are not pinched, too tight or twisted. And then this consumable will serve you longer and save your budget.
Having several live instruments in your home studio is justified if you know how to play them all. However, even then there is no need to equip the home station with an entire orchestra. For example, drums. The drum kit takes up a lot of space and is worth wow. And they also require very serious sound insulation. Replace drums with samples. Yes, the sound is a little different from a live instrument, and they do not have such flexibility. But they will help to significantly reduce equipment costs.
Amplifiers.
Expensive, of course, but what about without them? And here modern technologies will help you. Get a simulator or amp plug-in. Again, they can give a little artificial sound, but you want to save some money. But you don’t have to be capricious if you don’t have enough money, but you really want to make music.
If you know how to do at least something with your own hands, it will not be difficult for you to build a pop filter. It’s very simple: a circle of wire and a piece of old tights stretched over it. And now absolutely free equipment is ready for you. It may not look as prestigious as a purchased one, but it works flawlessly.
The vocalist’s booth is a separate conversation. Someone puts two sofas on one side and places a microphone and a singer there. Someone pastes over the walls of the room with corrugated cardboard, egg trays. All this gives the desired result. However, you can do it even easier. If you arrange the upholstered furniture correctly, and cover the walls and floor with a carpet, you will get quite decent soundproofing. It does not require either expensive materials or payment for specialists who did everything right.
You can put a thick rubber mat between the monitors and yourself to improve the sound. This will help you avoid unnecessary sound reflections. This is especially true for high and medium frequencies.
As you know, mixing is best done on monitors. However, it turns out that you can also make a decent sound in headphones. If you buy a dedicated headphone amplifier, you don’t have to spend money on full amplifiers. As you can see, having a great desire to work, you can implement it with a very small budget.