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Music production is quite popular nowadays. With the help of technological advancement, accessing the necessary tools for music production at home became much easier over time.

Although there are many professional music studios out there for recording vocals or musical instruments, recording or producing music at home is not that complicated. As musiconline, we have come up with a list of essential elements for you to build your dream home studio.

Of course you can use synthetic sounds, but recording music or vocals is a much better strategy to build your unique sound and style of music. With the help of your recordings, you can easily detect mistakes you've made or the points you need to improve for your music.

So what do you need to record music at home? First off, a microphone and a computer. However to be fair, just a microphone and a computer will probably not be enough for you to produce good music.

To build a home studio, one must care and check the necessary small details. Here are some tips to look out for your, hopefully soon, home recording hub!

1 - Computer : Computer sits at the very core of music recording process. With a decent computer, you can layer channels, mix your recordings, use sound effects and do infinitely many things. Of course, the quality of making music on computer highly depends on its computational power.
You have to manage your budget for music equipment with accordance to your computer's performance. If you buy a high quality microphone while owning a below average computer, you'll probably encounter distortion in your recordings and have hard time in achieving success in music.

2 - Sound Card : A proper sound card to transfer the sound from a musical instrument to the computer is a must for a home studio. Almost every computer has its in-built sound card, but its architecture prevents you to work with sounds in a professional way effectively. Most of the in-built sound cards create latency and you probably would like to buy a sound card to record music at home.

3 - Software : After you transfer an analog sound (musical instrument) to a digital platform (computer), you need a specialized software to work with it. Mixing vocals, instruments or using plug-ins to manipulate your recordings requires a core program, a digital audio workstation. Every DAW has its different way to work with music but they essentially created for the same purpose and choice of DAW is completely up to the producer.

4 - Microphone : Microphones are grouped under 2 categories: Dynamic and condenser. Dynamic microphones are generally preferred for live performances. On the other hand, condenser microphones are more sensitive compared to dynamic ones and they are generally used for recording vocals or instruments.

5 - MIDI Keyboard : Although it is not a must, a MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) keyboard can be really powerful for you to level up your music production. A MIDI keyboard looks almost exactly like a piano but with the help of your DAW, you can compose for different instruments.

6 - Headphones : Just like microphones, there are 2 categories of headphones regarding their architecture. Open headphones reflect the acoustics of the room and more suitable for mixing and mastering. Closed headphones are useful for the isolation of surroundings and generally used during a recording session.

7 - Speakers (Reference monitors) : Choosing speakers for music production is the trickiest of all and it all depends on the structure of the studio. Even if you choose the best reference monitor, you need to determine your 'sweet spot'. A sweet spot is a specific area where you, as the producer or musician, get the flat sound you need for a proper mixing.

Now you have all the knowledge to build your home studio! Of course, having a strong fundamental music knowledge will make it even better. With musiconline , you can start your music career anywhere, anytime. The best online music education is just a click away from you!