

The Spark is a great sounding jack-of-all-trades type mic with a unique "focus" button that gives your sound a bit of a presence edge in a very musical and usable way. For our budget, my suggestion is: Blue Microphones Spark: $200īlue mics are hard to go wrong with for mojo and quality, and now I can finally say that at a true entry-level price point.

The best bang for your buck is to get a mic that can cover a wide range of sound sources and to find something that does it well for its price point. This interface boasts:Īll of your input and output needs with a DAW and a third-party plugin from arguably the name in reverbs included. It's hard to beat the quality and features of this unit in this price range. For our budget, my suggestion is: Lexicon Lambda: $100 And since you really do tend to get what you pay for, it can be hard to find all of that effectively rolled into one quality unit at any price point, but especially on the low end of things. Most interfaces you get are effectively a mic preamp, line mixer, monitor controller, headphone amp, and AD/DA converter all rolled up into one box. This is going to be your method for getting things in and out of the computer in the audio realm. Otherwise, you'll want to begin by getting yourself a decent computer before venturing any further into your home-recording endeavors. Note: For the sake of this list, I'm assuming you have access to a stable, moderate-to-high-power laptop/desktop computer (doesn't necessarily need to be a Mac). The following is where I would suggest you start your search to get the most flexible and effective turn-key setup on an in-debt-up-to-my-eyeballs-for-going-to-college budget. Having a setup that allows you to get the most for your money while maintaining an acceptable quality standard that leaves room for modular upgrades can be a bit of tightrope act. The Voice Memos app on your smartphone can only go so far as a recording device, and having access to something with a little more horsepower can be a welcome advantage.Īs with anything in the music and tech world, the sky is truly the limit for how much you can spend on a home studio, and for those just starting out, knowing where to begin can set your head spinning. These setups are a great place to do some pre-production work for a studio session, work out songwriting ideas, edit audio for YouTube or other social media posts, and are overall an excellent asset to the modern musician. With consumer-grade recording gear becoming more and more affordable, almost every musician out there either has, or knows someone who has, a home studio of some sort.
