Before you start putting together your home music studio, it’s important you figure out your goals with your studio.

Do you want to invite other artists into your home to produce and/or mix their music? Or do you just need a place to produce and mix your own tracks? Or do you simply want to record demos?

Knowing why you want a home studio will help you make decisions, like how much time and money to invest in your setup. Don’t move onto the next step until you figure this out.

Again, people have recorded pro-level tracks on just their phones, so I use the word “essential” here lightly. It depends on your goals, but if you want a versatile home music studio, below are the things you’ll want to get. And you can keep your costs below $1,000 easily.

A digital audio workstation (DAW) is the recording software. You can definitely spend a lot of money for Pro Tools (the industry standard) or Logic Pro, but you can also start with a free or very affordable DAW.

I use Reaper, which is free with a $60 license on the honor system. If you have an Apple computer, you have GarageBand built in. BandLab is also another free and reliable option.

An audio interface is the device you plug your microphone and instruments into, which then connects to your computer and transmits the sounds your recording. There are so many good audio interfaces out there, I’m not going to suggest specific models.

Just make sure your interface has these features (pretty much every interface has these):

• Built-in preamps
• Compatible with your software and computer
• Has enough inputs for what you need

For just $100, you can get one of the most respected microphones in the industry: the Shure SM58. It’s a durable dynamic mic that you can use on pretty much anything.

If you have a little more money, you can pick up a Blue Bluebird (condenser), a Shure SM7B (dynamic), Rode NT1 (condenser), or any other number of mics for under $300.

You’ll need an XLR cable to connect your mic to your interface. Just starting out, it doesn’t matter which one you get because they’ll all do the same thing.

Pick up a stand that can hold the mic you choose. Other than that, it doesn’t matter which one you get.

A pop filter is mesh fabric that goes equal distance between the singer’s mouth and the mic. It helps reduce plosives, which are consonant sounds like P, S, T, and K. Any sound that cause a blast of air to shoot out of the singer’s mouth.

You need headphones for tracking vocals and live instruments. You may want to start with closed-back headphones because those reduce mic bleed. You can mix on them too, but open-back headphones are more ideal for mixing because they allow some sound to escape and encourage cross-ear bleed.

If you really don’t have the money, you can wait on getting studio monitors. But it’s ideal to pick up a pair of monitors because they’ll give you a more accurate sound picture to what the listener will hear.

You can get away with not having a MIDI controller (i.e. a keyboard that plugs into your computer or interface). You can draw MIDI notes in your DAW or play them on your computer’s keyboard, but you’ll have a much easier time if you get an affordable controller.

Ideally, you’ll want to get absorption panels, diffusors, and bass traps. But the cost of all that can all add up quickly, so you can use what you have.

The big idea is to cut down on room reverberations (some people call this echo). So hanging things on the walls and having furniture in your studio space will help.

You can hang blankets, instruments, and framed artwork on the walls. And you can have a couple chairs or a couch in the room. If you have hardwood floors, it’s a good idea to lay down a rug where you’ll be recording and mixing.

Regardless of your goals, it might be a good idea to start with a simple home music studio setup. This way, you can become familiar with your equipment, which is one of the most important elements of recording at home.

You might realize that all you need is a simple setup and you don’t actually need to invest thousands of dollars into building a studio in your house. And if you’re renting, you probably won’t be allowed to rip out drywall in order to properly soundproof your walls.

Start simple. Upgrade from there.

Once you have your recording space and equipment, it’s time to set up your home music studio. Here are the three main steps…

Ideally, you want your desk along one of the shorter walls, assuming your room is rectangular which most rooms are. If possible, you’ll want your desk to be about 1-3 feet off of the wall so there’s not too much bass buildup from your monitors. At the same time, you don’t want your chair (and your ears) to be in the exact middle of the room.

You also want to make sure your instruments are easily accessible. If you can, keep everything plugged in, ready to go, and within arm’s reach. When you get an idea, you want to minimize the time it takes to record that idea.

For the best sound, your monitors should follow these guidelines…

• Create an equilateral triangle between your ears and the monitors
• Put the monitors at ear level when you’re seated
• Angle the monitors slightly inward, pointing them towards your ears
• Place the monitors 2-3 feet from the wall behind them
• Place the monitors an equal distance away from the side walls to reduce unwanted reflections

Ultimately, the most important thing is to listen to well produced, mixed, and mastered tracks through these monitors in your home music studio. This will give you a reference for what your music should sound like.

We’ve talked briefly about acoustic treatment, but let’s go a little more in-depth. Here are the different types of acoustic treatment and how to set them up…

• Bass Traps: Put bass traps in the top corners to address low-frequency buildup and standing waves. Triangular corner bass traps are effective for both vertical and horizontal corners.
• Identify first reflection points: These are areas where sound directly reflects off the walls and reaches your ears. So install acoustic panels or diffusers at these points to reduce reflections, like the side walls at ear level, the ceiling above your chair, and the rear wall directly behind you.
• Absorption Panels: Put absorption panels on larger wall surfaces to control mid and high-frequency reflections.
• Diffusion: Diffusers break up and scatter sound reflections. Place diffusers on the rear wall to create a sense of spaciousness without overly deadening the room.

As you set up your home studio, focus on becoming familiar with your gear, software, and space.

The better you know your DAW and your gear, the less friction there is between your ideas and getting them recorded and mixed.

And if you know what a good track sounds like from your headphones and monitors in your room, you have a much better guide for what your music should sound like.

Don’t be scared away by all these fancy home music studio setups you see on social media. Work with what you can afford and become familiar with it. Then let the music happen.