The Essential Audio Equipment For The Dorm Room Producer

Here’s something a bit different from the

The Dorm Room Producer is someone who is a little strapped for space and can’t go dragging drums into his room to record.

He’s more likely to record through the computer and mix with smaller monitors or exclusively through headphones. So what do we have for the people who are producing in the dorm room or in the corner of their bedroom?

The Interface

You won’t record drums anytime soon in a cramped room, so all you need is a small interface to record vocals and the occasional instrument.

Something like the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 is all you need for the dorm room.

Two high-quality microphone at an affordable price is a pretty good way to make the Dorm Room Producer happy over the holidays and beyond.

The Monitors

Smaller is better when you need every inch of your desk.

Looking at monitors in the under $200 price range with four star stands out.

They seem to be a great choice if you’re starting out or you need all the extra space you can get.

They probably won’t compete against high-end monitors but they do the job really well for this kind of purpose.

The Microphone

A nice, high-quality condenser is all you need for recording both instruments and vocals.

The Rode NT1A Anniversary Vocal Condenser Microphone Package comes with a pop-filter, a cable and a shock mount.

It’s great value for money and is more than enough to start producing in the bedroom.

The Acoustic Treatment

Because the walls will probably already be plastered with posters, there’s not much room for acoustic treatment on the walls.

Luckily, the can help decouple and isolate the sounds coming from the monitors to help you get clearer sounding mixes.

The Headphones

Just like the serious home studio engineer, the dorm room producer needs a pair of great headphones.

But only this time, they need to be isolated so that he can record and mix while everyone else is asleep.

The Audio-Technica ATH-M50 serves this dual purpose nicely.

Education

Like I said in the previous gift guide, equipment will only go so far. Some of the best ways to improve your equipment is to actually improve your skills instead.

That way you’ll start using your equipment better and you’ll get more out of it.

Here’s a list of educational tutorials that are Audio Issues Approved:

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Image by: matt.searles

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