Today I'm going to show you how to connect everything
in your studio. We'll set up your audio interface,
mic, guitar, keyboard, computer - everything you need
to start recording. If you don't have any gear yet, don't worry I've created a
video letting you know what you need to start
making music today. you can watch that video here. I give you
some great suggestions for gear to buy at different budget levels. Also if
you're looking for the cheapest studio possible I've created a
video showing you how to put together a complete studio for $350 and that
includes the computer. I'll put a link to that in the video description. To make
things easy for you I'm going to list every single item you
see today from the music gear, to the cables and
everything else in the video description. I've chosen the
best budget gear and tested it myself. If you're new
around here I'm Sanjay C. I have lots of videos on music
production and the latest music gear on my channel
consider subscribing. I always get straight to the point
in my videos and tutorials. Let's get started with the computer first.
You can get a lot done with computer alone including making beats and
complete songs. Before you start doing anything, you need
to install a digital audio workstation. Which is software. Many audio interfaces
and other music gear like MIDI keyboards come with free DAW's to get you started.
You usually download it after registering your device on the
manufacturer's website. I use Ableton live as my own DAW so I'll
demonstrate other features in this video today using that.
Settings are similar in other DAW's. Once you've got your DAW installed
even if you haven't connected anything else you can start to hear sounds by
choosing your computer's built-in sound card in your DAW's audio
settings.
If you don't have a computer yet I have a video suggesting some
good options here. You can connect speakers or headphones
directly to your computer too. But wait, an audio interface will let us do
a lot more. Let's move on to that before connecting other stuff. An audio
interface will help us record external sounds like vocals from a mic
an electric guitar or a synthesizer. An audio interface
connects by USB to your computer one cable that's it.
Once you've connected it you need to switch your DAW's audio
settings to use this audio interface instead of your
computer's sound card. Of course once you've got an interface
connected you want the interface to handle the incoming
and outgoing sounds so connect your speakers
to your audio interface instead of your computer. You typically have two types of
connectors on the back of your speakers RCA or TRS quarter inch they do the same
thing but the TRS connectors which are balanced
may help reduce interference so if you've got that connection
use it. The audio interface also has a headphone
output. Okay we're all set with the audio going out of the computer,
how about audio coming in? Well back in your DAW's audio settings select the
audio interface as your input device as well.
If you keep your audio interface connected all the time you shouldn't
have to mess with these settings ever again so can we begin recording now?
Not yet. One last thing your audio interface has
multiple inputs you need to let your DAW know which
input to record for each track. Let's connect a mic
to input 1 on the audio interface. Now back in my DAW
I select input 1 on my track. You can see that Ableton is registering the sound
coming from the mic. I'm using a condenser microphone so I
also activated the phantom power feature on my audio
interface to power the mic. There we go. Now we've got signal and we
can record. Hey if you're finding this information useful hit the like button
and leave a comment below if you have any questions.
Alright we've got the audio coming in and audio going out
and we can record external sounds now. you're doing great let's keep going
if you've got a midi keyboard let's connect that.
Most keyboards these days come with USB connections which means
you can simply connect them by USB to your computer
and start playing the instrument sounds included in your DAW.
I'm using the Arturia Minilab MKII which is a great choice. Remember when
you're recording with a computer you have
tons of software-based sounds virtual instruments
that you can play. The sound is generated by your computer
not the MIDI keyboard. If you have an old keyboard
you may only have the old MIDI ins and outs if this is the case you'll need a
MIDI to USB converter. Some audio interfaces have that built in
but if yours doesn't you can buy something like the Roland
UM1 which converts the MIDI connection to a
USB connection. Once you've made the connection
select the MIDI keyboard in your DAW under the MIDI settings.
If your MIDI keyboard has setup instructions for your specific DAW
it's a good idea to follow those instructions so you can get the most
out of your keyboard and do things like controlling the mixer
and software instruments right from your keyboard. Most MIDI controller keyboards,
even the cheap ones, come with lots of virtual instrument sounds for free.
The Arturia Minilab comes with tons of vintage synth sounds.
Native Instruments keyboards have great options too and you can even buy your
own instruments like the amazing Omnisphere.
If you're looking for a good MIDI keyboard to start with I compared the
best available now in a video here. By the way you've been watching me connect
a few cables today. I really like the HOSA
cables in my studio they haven't let me down yet. I've also
tested the Amazon basics cables for a little while
particularly with my microphones. they've been pretty good so far, links are in the
description. You saw me using a MIDI controller keyboard so far.
They don't make sounds on their own. They need the computer.
But what if you have a keyboard that has sounds built in
and you want to use those? Maybe you've got a synthesizer like the Arturia
Minibrute you see here? Well in addition to connecting the MIDI
through USB, you'll need to output the sound from the
keyboard or synthesizer to your computer. You do this by connecting the output of
your synth to the inputs of the audio interface. If your synth has
MIDI out and audio out you can use it as a MIDI
controller as well to play sounds on your computer. And also
to record the audio coming out of the synth. What if you have a MIDI controller
and a synth? You can use the MIDI controller to control the synth as well.
This is possible because my DAW recognizes that anything I play on a
keyboard can be sent to any device virtual
instruments inside my DAW or even external synths. That's great
because you can get one nice big keyboard and connect all
smaller or bigger synths you want and control everything from one keyboard.
I've connected three things by USB so far and maybe
you're running out of USB ports on your computer already.
You'll need a USB hub. I use the Anker AH241 USB hub.
It's reasonably priced and it's built very well.
Don't cheap out on your USB hub, this one is great
you can get it by using the link in the description. With the computer
audio interface, mic, headphones, speakers, MIDI keyboard,
and synth connected you've got a great setup already.
But can you do more? Yes! What about guitars?
Well those are pretty easy. You can simply connect your guitar cable
directly into your audio interface and start
playing. Most audio interfaces have a high Z or instrument setting on the
inputs. Make sure you use those for your guitars
this ensures that you get the optimal level of input
when you're recording. When your guitar is connected, you select that channel
in your DAW and start recording. If you're using an acoustic guitar
you'll need to use a mic to record its sound.
If you're looking for an excellent mic to record your acoustic guitar
I tested a bunch of budget mics and give you some sample guitar recordings
in a video here. Finally with all this microphone recording and mixing going on
you may benefit from acoustic treatment in your room.
You can buy pretty cheap foam based panels these days the flat square ones
help by absorbing high frequencies and the triangular bass
traps help absorb bass. I'll add some links to
some cheap acoustic treatment options in the video description
but watch out for a future video on my channel showing you
how to set it up. I want to touch on one other topic
before we close. Virtual instruments and effects called
plugins also VST's. These are going to be vital tools
in your computer recording. Installing them is the easy part.
You can download instruments and effects from different websites and they
install in the appropriate directory. Well...
most of the time. Sometimes you may have to add a folder to your DAW's
preferences to tell your DAW where to look for them.
Easy enough. Once you start installing lots of instruments and
effects you may start running out of space.
I use a Samsung T5 external Solid State Drive (SSD) to store
lots of my instrument files. It's really small,
light and super fast. I highly recommend it. I'll add a link to it in the video
description. If you're looking for some free instruments and effects
watch the Sanjay C News reports on my channel I always share
a few free plugins. If you have any questions on setting up your studio
leave them in the comments below.
Keep Making The Music YOU Love
and check out one of these videos next ;)