Recording Gear

About Recording Gear

Decades ago recording high-quality audio was a complicated affair that required significant investment in recording gear and media. However this was fated to change with the music industry's digital revolution. Today thanks to the flexibility and affordability of the digital workspace home recording studios are accessible to any enthusiast or hobbyist who wishes to build one. With the basic building blocks of audio interfaces monitors recorders and accompanying software it's a straightforward task to create a fully functional recording environment from scratch.

Recorders are at the heart of any studio and they can be hardware or software-based. Hardware recorders connect directly to microphones and instruments as well as the destination media making them effective all-in-one solutions. Recording software by contrast runs on a computer or mobile device and uses an audio interface to link up with sound sources. Adding a set of studio monitors allows the recording to be played-back and edited in high fidelity. To assist those building their home studios from the ground up brands like AKG Focusrite PreSonus and Yamaha have begun to offer ready-made recording packages which are bundles comprising some combination of hardware or software recorders interfaces monitors headphones microphones and accessories.

When specialized recording needs arise purpose-built recording gear is often the best way to handle them. For instance two-in-one audio-video recorders can simplify the production of multimedia content while manufacturers such as Zoom and TASCAM make handheld recorders that shrink capable hardware into a portable size often with built-in stereo microphones.