building a studio
Here are series of articles about building home and/or professional music studios
Because the computer is the center of your musical operation, you might be tempted to place it front and center—say, within arm's reach of your right hand. But because a computer is noisy (due primarily to its cooling fans) and bulky, it's better to place it off of the desktop and out of the way. Keep just the monitor in a central location.
You will, of course, need access to the CPU periodically—when installing software or plugging in cables—but the most physical interaction many of us have with the computer box itself is pressing the power switch. After that, most of our activity is conducted via the mouse or the keyboard.
A good solution is to keep the computer on the floor under your desk. This not only keeps the desktop free and clear but allows the desktop surface itself to act as a sound barrier that somewhat inhibits the fan noise from hitting your ears directly.
Once you know the physical configuration of interfaces, it's time to look at the different types of interfaces available from a functional perspective (i.e., the different tasks they perform). An interface, regardless of whether it's a soundcard, breakout box with card, USB, or FireWire, can perform a variety of duties involving audio, MIDI, and other digitally controlled signals (such as synchronization). Also, many devices can perform all these tasks, which could make your interface a one-stop shopping solution for all your signal-routing and processing needs.
Analog Audio Interfaces
Analog audio is what comes out of your mic or instrument cable. It's what you would plug into a P. A. system or an amp, if you were playing live. But now we're in the digital recording world, so this signal needs to be converted to digital data to be recorded onto a computer. Inside an analog audio interface are analog-to-digital converters, chips and circuitry that turn continuously fluctuating voltages into discrete digital chunks. When audio is converted into digital data, two specifications are considered: the sample rate and the bit depth. The sample rate is how many times the converter samples (takes digital snapshots of) the incoming signal. Just as film projection involves moving a series of still photos past the eye fast enough to simulate continuous motion, so too is digital audio playback a series of frozen sonic images that, played sequentially at a fast enough rate, appears continuous.
Several sample rates exist, but the CD spec is 44.1 kHz (kilohertz), or 44,100 samples per second. Once these samples are captured, the next spec that comes into play is how to store them. A single sample at 16-bit resolution (16 bit means 2 to the 16th power) has a range of 65,536 different places to represent that signal. Higher sample rates and bit depths exist, and musicians are pushing to get these better formats as part of our available listening choices, but for now the CD spec of 44.1 kHz/16 bit is what all music must eventually become (even if it was originally recorded at higher and better sample rates and bit depths) if it is to be listened to on a conventional CD.
This article has a purpose of suggesting a home recording engineer several solutions on how to build a home production studio at affordable price. The great bit of a home musician’s talent is an ability to find best deals for buying professional gear at the bet price.
A nice way to get a quality low budget home recording and producing studio is to choose Pro Tools. For a home studio located in a small room this is a great method to save not only money but also space.
