Planning Your First Home Studio, Part 1

Want to set up a home studio but don't know where to start? In the first part of a new series, Paul White guides you through the creation and setting up of a basic home recording system. This is the first article in a five‑part series.

Setting up a home studio seems like a great idea — but be warned, recording is addictive! Once the bug has bitten, there's no prising its pointy little teeth out of your wallet. Certainly, it's possible to make good recordings using the bare minimum of equipment — but I can promise you that it won't be long before you're just downright dissatisfied with the bare minimum.

There's more to putting together a recording studio than simply buying a Portastudio and plugging it in; even the most basic studio setup comprises several parts, and all those parts are needed before the system can be used. The idea of this article is to introduce the main elements of a typical recording system, and to explain how they all work together.

To those who already have recording experience, much of what I'm about to say will seem obvious, but first‑time users have been known to express surprise that a Portastudio has no built‑in speaker, or, for that matter, that it doesn't somehow produce finished, mixed, stereo master tapes without the aid of a separate stereo tape machine. Similarly, when you buy MIDI sequencing software for your computer, you'll also need to buy a MIDI interface (unless you have an Atari) — but this isn't always made apparent at the outset.

Multitrackers

Depending on your budget and your needs, you'll probably be recording onto either a cassette multitracker or an open‑reel analogue tape machine. Very few people leap straight in with hard disk recording or digital multitrack, and the all‑in‑one cassette multitracker is unarguably still the simplest way to get into recording if you have no previous experience. If you take the open‑reel route, then you also have to budget for a pretty serious mixer, and a lot of wiring.

A cassette multitracker (often called a Portastudio, though that name is actually a trademark of TEAC) makes it possible to record a number of instruments or voices onto separate tape tracks (usually four — although some of the more up‑market models offer eight). It also includes a small mixer, enabling those separate tape tracks to be mixed into stereo — but the stereo result has to be recorded onto a separate stereo recorder, such as a cassette deck (see the separate 'Stereo Mastering' box for more details). Depending on the model and the sophistication of the multitracker's mixer section, it may or may not be possible to plug external effects units into it (as soon becomes apparent, it is very difficult to make a convincing pop recording without effects — but more on effects later on in this article). As you might imagine, the more you spend, the more sophisticated the machine, but even a basic model makes an excellent aid to songwriting.

Amplification And Monitoring

An amplification system of some kind is essential, not only for mixing, but also to enable you to hear what is going on while you record and overdub. It is possible to work entirely with headphones, but these tend to give a false impression of what is going on at the bass end, so if you do like to work with headphones, it helps to have an amplifier and speaker system too, in order to provide a second opinion. Listening to a recording over either headphones or loudspeakers is known in recording circles as monitoring, and professional studio monitor speakers are designed to be accurate rather than flattering.

Both the stereo mastering and monitoring requirements can be satisfied by a straightforward hi‑fi system, as long as it has 'Aux' inputs and includes a decent cassette deck. These additional aux inputs are provided to allow external devices, such as CD players and tuners, to be fed through the system, and the best facilities are usually available on hi‑fi systems made up of separate units, rather than all‑in‑one entertainment packages or integrated tower systems. When you are starting out, it is often easier to work using a hi‑fi system than trying to set up your own monitoring system using a studio power amplifier and speakers. With a hi‑fi amplifier, it's invariably easier to switch between the various aux inputs and the cassette deck, and this makes life much easier when you're playing back the master tape after it has been recorded.

If you don't have a suitable hi‑fi system, you might still consider buying a hi‑fi power amplifier, speakers and a separate cassette deck to use in your studio. Even new, you could get all you need for as little as £250, but the second‑hand market can produce real bargains.

If there's one rule that applies to all studios, it is that they grow!

When it comes to choosing your amplifier, try to get one rated at 30 Watts per channel or more, because low‑power models can easily be overloaded, leading to unpleasant distortion and possibly speaker damage — this is particularly relevant if you like to monitor loud. Make sure that provision is made to connect a cassette deck, and that there are separate sockets on the rear for the connection of external equipment (aux, tuner or CD inputs will do nicely — but not those labelled Cartridge or Phono). The front panel should also have a switch for selecting between tape, record deck, aux, tuner and so on.

Models with phono‑style sockets on the back are the easiest to deal with, though some models use multi‑pin DIN sockets instead. The problem with DIN sockets is that you need the manual to find out what all the different pins are connected to, and though ready‑made leads are available, getting the right combination can be a bit hit and miss. Individual phono sockets are, on the other hand, quite unambiguous.

Choose speakers that seem to produce a faithful sound, rather than ones that are artificially flattering. Small, two‑way hi‑fi speaker systems are generally best for home use, because if you try to use large monitors in an acoustically untreated room, you can end up with a very misleading sound, especially at the bass end. And don't worry if your amplifier is rated at a higher power than your speakers; you're unlikely to damage your speakers unless you monitor so loudly that you can actually hear distortion. It's an often‑unappreciated fact that you're less likely to damage speakers by using a large amplifier than you are using an under‑powered model driven into distortion — the high‑frequency harmonics produced by distortion are potentially more damaging than the occasional, undistorted overload.

Figure 1, overleaf, shows how a very basic recording system goes together; the amplifier is switched to Aux when recording and overdubbing, and then to Tape when you want to play back your master stereo cassette.

Effects

In real life, instruments tend to be heard in acoustically 'live' environments, such as concert halls or large venues, but when you're recording in your bedroom or lounge, you have to rely on effects to fake the illusion of space. The most valuable effect (the one that should be right at the top of your effects shopping list) is digital reverberation, but to use this with a Portastudio‑type cassette multitracker, it is essential that the mixer section is equipped with auxiliary send and return facilities (sometimes called effects send and return). Furthermore, digital reverberation devices invariably produce a stereo output, so you'll need to make sure your multitracker's mixer section has either at least one stereo aux return or two spare input channels that you can use as returns.

A good‑sounding reverb unit need not be sophisticated or expensive, and a model that offers a selection of presets rather than full programmability is often the best way to start, as you don't then have to spend days wading through manuals to figure out how to use it. Perfectly adequate preset models are available new from around £200, though multi‑effects units also represent good value, and some cost little more than a dedicated reverb processor. Don't worry that you'll grow out of a simple preset reverb unit though, because there'll almost certainly come a time when you want to use two or more different effects at the same time, so your old unit won't be redundant, even after you've bought a better model.

If you intend to record a lot of vocals, and want to achieve a really professional sound, you should also consider buying a compressor, which will help keep the vocal level even. You can use a compressor either when you record, when you mix, or both, but you can't use your effects send/return sockets to connect a compressor — you have to use Insert points. If your multitracker has Insert points, they'll be labelled as such, but if you don't have them, then using a compressor isn't as straightforward (for more information on how to connect up effects and processors, see the article 'Routing Around', starting on page 192 of this month's issue).

One way to get around the problem is to plug your vocal mic into a separate mic preamp, then plug the output of the mic preamp into the input of the compressor. The output of the compressor goes into a line input on your multitracker, and you're in business. Proper mic preamps can be a bit pricey, but for demo work, you can get by using a cassette deck with mic inputs as a preamp. Simply plug the mic into the cassette deck, put in a blank tape (any old tape will do), set the record levels in the usual way, and set the machine recording. The line output of the cassette deck will now carry a boosted version of the mic signal, which you can feed into your compressor, as shown in Figure 2, overleaf. You can't plug a mic directly into a compressor, because the mic output level is far too low. If reverb is at the top of your shopping list for extras, a compressor should come a close second.

Headphones

While I wouldn't advise mixing entirely on headphones, they can be very useful for working quietly, and are also more revealing of noise and distortion than loudspeakers. In fact, there is an argument for checking all your mixes on both speakers and headphones, just to make sure that nothing untoward gets by unnoticed.

If reverb is at the top of your shopping list for extras, a compressor should come a close second.

For serious monitoring, open or semi‑open hi‑fi headphones give the best sound, and, while they don't usually give an accurate impression of the amount of bass in a mix, they are excellent for checking stereo positioning (left/right position of sounds in the mix) as well as for revealing even the smallest noises or traces of distortion. Check the manual for your multitrack recorder to find out what impedance range of headphones can be accommodated. This will be expressed in ohms (Ω), and it is wise to ensure that any prospective purchase falls within the specified range. If in doubt, take the manual to the hi‑fi shop when checking out headphones. You can expect to pay between £20 and £50 for a good pair of headphones, with professional models costing up to £100 or more.

Microphones

Even though a lot of home recording work is now done using synthesizers and other MIDI‑controlled instruments, microphones are still essential for recording vocals and acoustic instruments. Most home recording equipment is designed to work with so‑called low‑impedance microphones; some models are available with switchable impedances, but most come either as high or low impedance. If the mic has a built‑in, 3‑pin XLR socket, it is almost certainly a low‑impedance model, but if in any doubt, check with the supplier. Conversely, a microphone with a fixed lead is likely to be high‑impedance. Some cassette multitrackers can accept both high and low impedance microphones, but you'll need to look in the manual to check this information.

The low‑cost Tandy PZM mic, which has kept cropping up in SOS editorial over the years, works with just about any sound source, while many of the microphones used for live performance are equally useful in recording. For example, a dynamic cardioid vocal mic will usually handle drums, percussion, electric guitar, bass and brass without complaint, but for more delicate sounds, such as acoustic guitar, violin and so on, a capacitor or back‑electret model will give better results, due to its higher sensitivity. Most cassette multitrackers (other than the top‑of‑the‑range models) don't have the phantom powering necessary to run capacitor mics, but you can still use any of the back‑electret mics which run from batteries.

Leads

One oft‑neglected area when budgeting for a studio is that of cabling. In a serious home setup, the cost of cables and plugs can easily run into hundreds of pounds — even if you're prepared to do all your own soldering. Having said that, a basic setup is unlikely to include the complex patching systems used in larger studios, but even so, you could easily spend £50 or more.

Microphones are traditionally (but not always) supplied without leads — which can be very frustrating when you get your system home and find that you can't plug anything in. Before buying or making a lead, you should check whether your multitracker has balanced or unbalanced jack inputs (anything with XLRs is invariably balanced, and most low and mid‑priced models are unbalanced). For a standard low‑impedance mic fitted with an XLR connector, you'll need to buy or make an XLR‑to‑unbalanced jack mic lead, unless your multitracker has balanced jack inputs, in which case you'll need an XLR lead that terminates in a stereo jack plug. Again, the manual will normally provide all the details.

To make your own unbalanced lead, wire pins 1 and 3 of the XLR connector together, and solder these to the braid or screen of a piece of co‑axial cable. Pin 2 goes to the centre core of the cable. The mono jack is wired to the other end of the cable, such that the central core is connected to the tip of the jack plug, and the screen of the cable is connected to the barrel of the plug. To wire a balanced jack lead, wire pin 1 of the XLR to the screen connector of the stereo jack, pin 2 to the tip and pin 3 to the ring.

Instruments and effects units are plugged into the recorder using standard jack‑to‑jack screened instrument leads, available from any music store, but if you can make your own, you may be able to save money, as well as being able to build them to the length you need. A possible alternative is to use ready‑made phono leads, and plug phono/jack adaptors onto the end. You can buy both the leads and adaptors from Tandy or Maplin. The multitracker and cassette deck generally connect to the power amplifier by means of stereo phono leads, and there's little point in making these yourself, as ready‑made phono leads are cheap and reasonably robust.

Insert points require special Y leads, and the easiest way to make these is again to use a standard stereo phono lead, but put a single stereo jack adaptor on one end, and two mono jack adaptors on the other end.

Speakers should be wired up with heavy‑duty twin‑cored cable, such as heavy twin lighting cord or two‑core mains cable. You can, of course, use dedicated speaker cable, but don't get talked into spending a fortune on anything too esoteric, as any improvement it might make is likely to be too small to notice. Keep the speaker cables as short as possible, and ensure that the cables are of approximately equal length.

Finally, it is better to plug all your mains plugs into a single extension block, plugged into a single wall socket, than to plug into separate sockets all around the room. Recording equipment takes very little current, so you won't overload your system even with half a dozen different things plugged in, and keeping all the power in one place reduces the risk of unpredictable hums and buzzes cropping up. If the electricity supply isn't fitted with a safety trip, it is advisable to buy a separate safety circuit breaker, which can be plugged in between the distribution board and the mains wall socket. These are available from many hardware shops, as well as those which supply gardening equipment.

The Next Step

The purpose of this brief article is to define the main components of a simple home recording setup, so that you know what part each item plays in relation to the other parts. Even a very basic system can be expanded by adding a separate MIDI sequencer, and if you find you run out of mixer channels, you can always patch a small mixer into the system to help spread the load. If there's one rule that applies to all studios, it is that they grow! Future articles will deal with the problems commonly encountered as systems evolve, and there'll also be guidance on how best to arrange your equipment, where to put your monitor speakers, and how best to sync up tape machines and MIDI sequencers.