Best Home Studio Gear

Super cheap, but gets the job done with quality pre-amps.

Pro-quality sound at an affordable price. There's a reason why this is the go-to for many beginner recording artists and producers.

This is the interface I currently use, and it's fantastic! Great quality audio in a very compact package makes it great for mobile recording, or saving space on your desk.

Superb recording front end for musicians and producers who need just a little bit more connectivity, letting you record up to four mono sources or two stereo line sources such as synths or drum machines.

Also a great if you need to record multiple instruments at once as it has four inputs.

Widely recognized as one of the best interfaces in this price range. 

We used an earlier iteration of this interface exclusively when recording songs for a band I'm in called "Lines". Super slick design, legendary sound quality, and portable, it's hard to beat this interface. 

These mics are pretty much legendary, and they are some of the most popular microphones of all time. These are durable dynamic microphones, with the SM57 being mainly designed for instruments, whereas the 58 is designed for vocals. 

Since the SM58 is a dynamic microphone, it isn't going to pick up quite as much detail, and in my experience with it, it can sound a little thin, and is probably best for more aggressive vocals.

This is most similar to the mic I currently use (the MXL mic I have is no longer in production). Really great quality, clear, and detailed. 

A staple for radio and podcasts, this dynamic mic is actually great on vocals as well, and is very versatile. It's a mic I've used in both home and pro studios, and it gets the job done very well. 

Its ultra-low self-noise means you'll effortlessly capture clean, clear audio.

Sounds absolutely stunning, especially when you put it on vocalists

This was the mic I recorded vocalists with the most as part of my college audio engineering program. This is used in a lot of pro studios, and is considered one of THE BEST microphones on the market.

A lot of people will recommend the KRK Rokit 5s in this price range (which are actually more expensive), but I traded out my Rokits in exchange for the iLoud Micro Monitors that I currently use. Why?

Because if you have a bedroom studio, or otherwise mix in a smaller room (like a room in your house) then the Rokits are probably just too boomy for your space. 

Though they may look small, the iLouds pack a punch without overwhelming your room. They are laser-focused as well, which makes them the best monitors for less-than-ideal rooms. Even if you have a well-treated room, they are still great, linear monitors that even the pros will use. 

Also, since they're small, they're also very portable. Definitely THE BEST monitors in this price range.

The pro studio I spent a lot of time recording and mixing in used the legendary Yahmaha NS-10s. THese HS7s are a home studio version and are very popular.

Comfortable, closed-back critical listening headphones with a good sound. They don't leak much, which makes them a good option for recording.

The Sennheiser HD 600 are good critical listening headphones with excellent detail and clarity, perfect for mixing. They do lack a little low-end bass though, so you might find yourself adding into just a tad too much bass when mixing. 

With that in mind, just back off the bass boosting when mixing with these.

These are open-backed headphones, which makes them better for mixing as they attempt to mimic the effect of monitors by allowing bleed. 

Yes, this is actually a great DAW for beginners to use

The Pro version of GarageBand, and one of the BEST DAWs in my opinion. It's what I use almost exclusively right now.

This is what I got started on and used for years before I finally switched to an iMac computer.

This has some of the best audio editing tools I've seen in a DAW, and can work magic, but it can be very overwhelming, even for professionals, which is why you don't hear much about it.

A favorite of electronic artists, I've only used it once myself, but a lot of producers will swear by it. 

Also a favorite of electronic artists, it seems to have a lot of built-in short-cuts for electronic music production, so much so, that actually has a bit of a reputation for not being a real DAW. 

That partly stems from its history when it was once called "Fruity Loops", and was understood to mostly just be placing loops.

But it has really come into its own in recent years, and a lot of big electronic artists adore it.