*This guide will be periodically updated as new techniques, gear, and software are explored

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Right here is what we currently recommend for beginners based on our experience. We're looking to recommend the bare minimum to get you going and will discuss all the variables that go with it. To get started in recording and mixing you'll need a few basic things:

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​-A Digital Audio Workstation(DAW), ie a program to record and mix into such as Pro Tools, Reaper, or Studio One.
​-Headphones
​-At least one quality microphone
​-An interface, ie device that enables you to hook up microphones and other gear to your computer
​-External software/plug-ins to get certain sounds
-Speakers/Monitors
​-Mic Stand(s)
​-Mic pop filter
​-XLR Cables
​-A computer that can handle what you're looking to do

 

First thing, if you don't have much of a budget, get the Slate VSX headphone monitoring system. We have a page describing it, click here. If you can't hear what you're doing accurately, you're going to make wrong decisions. VSX will get you the most accuracy for the buck. 
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You may also want:

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-Monitor stands with isolation foam pads
​-DAC and amp for headphones
​-More ram for your computer(helpful with virtual instruments)
​-A midi control so you can physically control things like volume faders in your DAW and plug-ins
​​-A monitor control like a Nanopatch

-Acoustic treatment for your room
​-An external mic pre-amp that can be plugged into your interface's ADAT
​-Outboard hardware like a compressor, reverb, etc
​-Ilok usb drive for software that requires it
​-USB flash drive for storing software licenses and/or files

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​First thing, be careful who you listen to. People on forums seldom give any context to things when they make comments. They rarely say what kind of music they tested something on, if their recorded tracks had issues, what the rest of the mix looked like, if they're using a computer from 2001 running Windows XP, what sample rate they set, or anything else that would show that they used something in a manner that was correct or relevant to what you want to do. Also, some software companies don't provide instructions on how to use their plug-ins, so you could be listening to someone who has plug-ins inserted in the wrong place due to the developer's lack of an appropriate manual. In short, try everything yourself and make up your own mind.

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There have even been reports of users on the Gearspace forum hiring noted professionals and big name studios to mix or master their recordngs only for them to do a horrible job. One person with no real mastering training ended up doing a better master of his mix with plug-ins after some reputable studio with expensive hardware botched the job. Ben Lovas from the Sun City Rockets watched some Recording Revolution videos and made an album with real inexpensive equipment that Warner Hungary thought sounded good enough that they felt it didn't need a remix.

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For a DAW you have a lot of options. Pro Tools is the most famous and I find it to be the most straightforward. Then there's Apple Logic, Reaper, Sonar, Studio One, Reason, FL Studio, and a few others. For the most part, they all do the basic audio functions. If you're a beginner, Reaper is pretty intuitive and inexpensive($60). It has a lot of flexibility, good cpu efficiency, and comes with quality plug-ins. If you want to spend a bit more, Pro Tools 11-12 Regular/Native licenses are often sold online for under $250 and some Amazon sellers often include a usb interface. Studio One also includes a lot of good stuff and is fairly priced. As for the others, we don't keep up with them so much, but always check Ebay and Amazon. Check our education section for a guide to free and inexpensive plug-ins.

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​Headphones are covered in more detail elsewhere on our site. Our advice is to use something with a neutral type frequency response so you're hearing the music as close as possible to the source. For recording, you want a closed set that doesn't leak a lot of sound. A lot of people use the inexpensive AKG K240. We find the AKG K550 pretty much ideal for recording due to its good isolation and sound that is both neutral and open. However, its pads will fall apart over time and need to be replaced. Replacement can be had for less than $20. The 550 also works really well with the VSX plug-in on.

 

Our mixing headphone of choice outside of VSX is the AKG K701. It's huge, so you can hear everything. It's also very accurate, but that accuracy depends on your source and headphone amp. For listening, you can use your audio interface or a more accurate source such as the O2 amp and Odac designed by Nwavguy. These are about the only scientifically measured headphone devices out there. That means their provable quality and sound signature has been verified. Finally, recabling your headphones with something like Axios cables can really clear them up. There are inexpensive ways to do this if you put in the effort. We've found that using VSX to master our mixes done with a 701 and a UAD Apollo worked somewhat well. But you're going to get a better result with VSX.

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​Microphones can sometimes be more complex  than they're made out to be. For an untreated room, supposedly something with great room rejection is ideal so you don't get interference from the room frequencies. The Shure SM7b is the king of room rejection and also has a very neutral frequency response that tolerates high sound pressure levels. It's been used on dozens of mega-famous albums of all genres. That said, it sells used for basically the same price as a new one. About $300. Rarely will you find any closed ebay auctions where it sold for $250 or lower. The Electrovoice Re320 is a bit cheaper and has almost as good a measurement of room rejection. It's used in professional broadcast and musical situations. You could record with some mics that cost under $100 and still get a very usable result from an untreated room. Shure's SM57 and SM58 come to mind along with the Behringer B2 Pro and Samson MTR-201.

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​If you're looking at a condenser, you can still get a great sound with no room treatment. Our primary condenser is a Samson MTR231, which is the same as the MTR201, just with Omni and figure 8 pickup patterns added. According to Askaudio.com, the MTR201 compared extremely well against their Neumann U87(retails at over $3000). We agree, the MTR201 is an absolute steal at $149 and far lower used. You can read the askaudio.com review here:

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https://ask.audio/articles/review-samson-mtr201-microphone

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​Mics for non-vocal uses are something you don't have to be as picky about. You could get a bunch of Behringer XM8500s for $20 each and do a proper drum recording as many people have done on YouTube. It's also possible to use for vocals, but in our experience it wasn't ideal. It would probably be best to invest in one good mic if you're on a budget. Then record each part individually, building the song piece by piece.

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​The interface is your way of recording into a computer. First thing is to make sure it's compatible with your DAW. One that we use is an Audient ID14 because it has a class A headphone amp that is very usable even if it's not as versatile as the O2. The Id14 is very DAW compatible, can run a dynamic mic off usb power, can control anything a mouse wheel can via scroll control, has ADAT expandability, a good DI for instruments, and has the same mic pre-amps as their $50,000 mixing console. All for $300(you will need to spend more for the ID22 if you want hardware inserts though). For whatever reason, usb audio interface makers treat ADAT as some kind of premium feature even though it's been a feature on cheap cd players for ages.

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​You want to start your sessions with a sample rate of 44 khz and then use the upsampling inside your plugins if available. You can use Metaplugin to load your vst plugins and oversample them if the option isn't available on the plugin. You just have to listen and decide if you like the results. This is mainly done to offset problems that can occur at 44/48khz when cranking plugins. You'll want to set the buffer on the interface at lower settings such as 256 for recording and higher settings such as 1024 for mixing. Latency is a delay in hearing things after they've happened. You want to minimize this during recording. Consult your DAW manual for how to measure it. You can also use Unison plugins through a Universal Audio Apollo interface to record without latency. 

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Behringer has finally released their UMC 1820 and there aren't many interface options that include ADAT for under $300. Usually there's the one by Focusrite and the Behringer FCA1616. ADAT is a standard digital cable connection that allows the user to expand. Usually it seems to be for additional mic pre-amps, like hooking up our Behringer ADA8200 to the ID14 so we have 10 mic pre-amp inputs instead of 2. There are interface options for less than $100 out there that just have one mic input and not much else. Too many to review here. Your best bet is to always look on YouTube and other sites to hear recordings people have made with them. The ADA8200 is the best bang for your buck pre-amp set out there at around $200.

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​Looking at the sheer volume of audio software out there, it can be overwhelming at first. This software is the same exact stuff used by your favorite artists, engineers, and producers. 

 

DAWs usually come with a basic assortment of very usable plug-ins. People buy separate ones because they have more specific features or provide things the DAW doesn't. For example, Pro Q3 by Fabfilter allows the user to manipulate the visual waveform and change the eq that way via its spectrum grab. Revoice Pro can create realistic backing vocals or align existing ones. Waverider can control faders and write automation, Waves C1 dynamically affects frequencies in ways that the stock plug-ins in Pro Tools do not. ​We've got a guide on plug-ins, but in short, you really need to just pick an assortment of basic plug-ins and commit to them before you start a buying spree.

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​That means reverb, delay, harmonization, pitch correction, compression, limiting, gating, eq, dynamic eq, stereo imaging, and possibly analog emulations. The best starting point for one who wants to own plugins that we're aware of is the 35 plug-in Waves Gold Bundle. Like many Waves plugins, they are very inexpensive very often(though Waves requires you to pay again via WUP to update them to the latest versions). These plug-ins are generally high quality, stable, cpu efficient, and widely used(wide use helps so there's a better chance of you owning the same plug-ins as people sending you session files).

 

You may also want to consider one of the many subscription plans offered by various companies out there such as Slate, SSL, Plugin Alliance, Relab, and McDSP. Typically prices are between $14.99 and $24.99 a month with certain deals here and there. You'll get access to all their software and additional offerings from other companies sometimes. But, the plugins available from companies who are not the one offering the subscription can change. Case in point, Relab withdrew from the Slate bundle and started their own subscription plan. 

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You may need a physical Ilok to use some of these. It's just a usb flash drive system that stores licenses you own. But many companies are now offering Ilok services where you store the license on your computer or the Ilok Cloud. We've never had a serious problem with Ilok and found it perfectly stable for years.

 

On the topic of computers. In all of our testing we found that a processor that scores around 100 single core points and 1000 multicore/64 points on cpu.userbenchmark.com good to use as a bare minimum one would want for audio. An overclocked Ryzen 1600, for example. You can build a bare bones system with a processor like that for well under $500. Single core is relevant to high cpu plugins that don't spread out over many cores. Multi core is important if you want to run a lot of efficient plugins on many tracks and auxes. 8 gigs of RAM can do the trick if you're not using lots of virtual instruments. 16 gigs is much safer. We set the Windows paging file to auto and find that to be the most stable for our usage. That regulates virtual memory.

 

When you find that you're running out of cpu, you should consider using a DSP server to run plugins outside of your computer. You have two choices: Waves and UAD/Universal Audio. The Waves servers are cheaper and allow you to also run select plugins from Sonnox, Flux, and Plugin Alliance. You can sometimes find a used Impact server for $400-$500. UAD servers cost a lot more, but you get access to their exclusive plugins that we feel are usually top of the line. UAD has big sales in June and December. You can find the charts that tell you how many instances of each plugin can run on the different types of servers they offer at uadforum.com. Sweetwater often has excellent 48 month financing deals on UAD. 

 

Make sure to download the free and very accurate Keyfinder software. When we've tested songs that we know the keys of, it's gotten it right every time. Some songs are in more than one key or do things outside of regular keys. You will need to know the key of the song for some plugins. ​

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You also need a regular computer type speaker. Something like a Bose companion that's big enough to showcase a full range of sound while still being a regular consumer speaker. You'll find that without acoustic treatment, one room can sound drastically different from another. Some rooms are so bassy that everything sounds muddy. So you'll want to test your work in other rooms on other speakers. Acoustic treatment needs to be specific to your room(s) and can cost hundreds of dollars or more. If you can't treat, the best thing is just to get to know your headphones/speakers and test your work in various places. 

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​To finish our your mic setup, you'll want various kinds of stands to suit the guitar amps, drum kit pieces, and singers. It's probably best to buy these in a store because there are so many different stands with different attachment parts that you may order some and find that the stand has the wrong piece for your mic. But there are good deals on Ebay and Amazon for stand and cable packages that clearly show everything, so if you know exactly what type of adapter you need on your stands, you can sometimes score 4 or 5 stands plus 4 or 5 cables for around $80. XLR cables that are not well constructed are prone to falling apart and loose connections cause noise and hum. Finally, a pop filter that costs a few bucks is good to have to protect your vocal recordings from plosives and spitting noises. Some mics, like an SM7b, can get by without one though.

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​If you're a person who likes physical controls, you'll want to look into a midi control surface. These are not cheap. If you don't mind doing one fader at a time, a Presonus Faderport seems to do everything you'd want to do and can be found used for $50. It has motorized faders and touch automation. A lot of people like the Behringer BCF2000, but it does not do touch automation, is very noisy, and we've heard it requires two hands to adjust one fader. After the BCF2000, you're getting into stuff that is not really priced for the budget consumer. 

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​For purists who have the money, you could buy hardware fx, compressors, and eq. Your usb interface would have to have inserts for them. The FCA1616 does. We've never used hardware, but from what we've read, it makes mix recall a lot more difficult. It's not like a plug-in where once you insert it, it's there forever unless you uninstall it from your computer. Sound-wise, a lot of people claim hardware is always better. However, in blind tests many forum users have often preferred recordings done with software. Developers themselves have claimed their software and hardware versions produce near identical results. Still, there are many hardware pieces that have never been ported to software by companies like Eventide.

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​A usb flashdrive can be handy, especially if you are a Waves or Plugin Alliance user, because you can store your licenses and take them with you wherever you want. Other than licenses, a flashdrive is good to have so you can bring audio and project files from place to place. If you have a Microcenter in your local area, they usually have the best prices on Flash drives and SD cards. We have been using their flash media for years with no real problems. 

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When you use a DAW, it will probably be set to 32-bit float and you can export 24-bit files without dither. Dither adds noise when converting where you are losing bits. Mainly when going from 24-bit studio files to 16-bit for cd burning. You can use a limiter plugin like the Sonnox Oxford Limiter V3 as the last plugin in the chain on the master fader and set it to dither to 16-bit. Usually ​the option is included in the plugin. Goodhertz Dither is generally what we use.

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Lastly, if you listen to real tracks from Rock Band, Guitar Hero, or Jammit, know that those tracks sound way different from your's because they are heavily treated with very specific FX, often by a new engineer who did not work on the album. On Gearspace, famed engineer Michael Wagener (Metallica/Dokken/Megadeth/Skid Row/Ozzy) has often talked about gear he used. This gear was also used by many others. Harmonizers, Reverbs, Room simulators, pitch shifters, compressors, all these things with very specific sound signatures. These pro tracks, especially ones from the 80s, are treated with things like a Lexicon 224 or 480 reverb, Eventide H910/H949/H3000/H8000, along with classic compressors like 1176, LA2A, and DBX160. That's in addition to the saturation and other qualities of analog tape and mixing consoles. Unfortunately, a lot of this classic gear has not been ported to native software. But enough of it is available as affordable and accurate software that you can get a classic sound.  

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It's tough to say what plug-ins to buy first. A lot of it depends on budget. And if you're planning on working with audio for the long haul. There are dozens of plug-ins we use on a regular basis. 

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If I were to break it down to the most essential, here would be the list:

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* To indicate extra importance

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Sonnox Oxford Eq*

Sonnox Oxford Reverb*

Sonnox Dynamic EQ*

Cranesong Phoenix*

Cranesong Peacock

Dave Hill RA*

Fuse Bucket-500

BX SSL 4000 E*

UAD Studer A800*

Black Box HG-2 MS*

SSL Bus Comp V2

Lindell 80 console

Overloud Tapedesk*

Overloud Dopamine*

UAD Capitol Chambers*

Eventide H3000 Factory*

UAD Distressor

Tokyo Dawn Molot GE*

Overloud Comp 76 V2

UAD 1176

Seventh Heaven Pro

CLA Effects

UAD Lexicon 480

Eventide SP2016

Sonnox Vox Doubler

Softube Fix Doubler*

Softube Fix Phaser

Softube Tube Tech MKII

Lindell 902 De-Esser*

Acme Opticom XLA-3*

Schoeps Mono Upmix

 

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U-he Satin*

Acustica Magenta*

Unisum*

Softube Weiss DS-1*

Sonnox OxFord Limiter*

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​For more detailed info on all these things, see our education and blog sections. The videos section links to many great youtube videos where you can hear everything in action.

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Links:

Gearspace Botched Mastering Again
Samson MTR 201 Review
The Sun City Rockets
​Keyfinder
Gearspace Thread On Botched Mastering
Ultimate Plugin Analysis Thread