Hardware to begin with for beginner?

YDvoych

New member
Hi.

I'm thinking to go back to rap production. As for a beginner, what would be considered a must-have equipment without breaking a budget?

I know mic and headphones are needed. Then comes isolation box, pop filter, etc., which can get very expensive but not everything might be needed for ok-like sound?

Thanks!

Hi.

I'm thinking to go back to rap production. As for a beginner, what would be considered a must-have equipment without breaking a budget?

I know mic and headphones are needed. Then comes isolation box, pop filter, etc., which can get very expensive but not everything might be needed for ok-like sound?

Thanks!
 
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When did you start and stop producing? Do you Rap also? Eschew the iso box but get the aforementioned equip you mentioned. Think in terms of a home studio only and not commercial.
 
What you planning on plugging that mic (and headphones) into?
You need an audio interface.

What are you recording onto?
You need DAW software. Buy it - updates and support are important.
I assume you have a computer... Pack as much RAM in as it'll take or you can afford.

Pop filter is easy - wire coat hanger and a pair of tights. Gaffa Tape.
Man has been stealing tights from wifey (of moms if you's a youngun) since dot for pop shields.
 
'Pack as much RAM in as it'll take or you can afford.'

Why?

Because dealing with audio is memory intensive - your processor will thank you for it by allowing your DAW to not stutter/click/pop as often, when your running complex fx chains and processor heavy plugins.
Anything that can alleviate pressure from your cpu is a good thing imo.
I'm running and older i3 with 12Gb ram and it's bang on.
(I've also just upgraded to an SSD so I'm waiting around a lot less as well!! :-) )
 
ya, I think Guru has covered everything important. You'll need a stand for the mic too, and possibly a pop filter and shock mount, but you can make the pop filter from stuff like Guru said. The shock mount will make sure any vibrations from above you or in other rooms do not travel through the stand into the microphone. lol you'd be surprised....

hmm if the mic is USB, you're fine without an interface. BUT if the microphone is XLR, you'll definitely definitely DEFINITELY lol need an audio interface. Cheapest ones are like $100 but even an iRig can record audio into your phone now for $40, but a real audio interface is highly highly recommended.

Other than that, a laptop with a functional DAW to collect the audio information coming from your microphone (through your interface) into the software. I'm sure you know what these are (Fl Studio, Pro tools, Logic, etc..).
 
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hi, in my opinion you don't need much!!!

1) music production software ( Ableton, protools etc.)
2) digital interface (medium quality) they are about $ 100. This will be where your sound quality will come from!!!!
3) Microphone and pop filter and isolation box
4) A MPK ( midi keyboard) so that you can create melodies and much much more.

i recon for all this stuff you are looking around $ 1500!!!
for your hardware stuff just buy it second hand!!! brand new they cost too much.
 
I would think some kind of a keyboard or pad device would be an important piece to have. Technically, you can bang out beats on a keyboard, but I feel that a keyboard helps tremendously.
 
I suggest you purchase akai mpk mini mk2. It is cheap and small so you can move it easily. In addition, it has two octaves, 8 pads and 8 knobs. Also, it include some nice software.
 
2) digital interface (medium quality) they are about $ 100. This will be where your sound quality will come from!!!!

This is a questionable statement, to say at least. First of all, we're talking about an audio interface - it has both digital and analog components, since for most people that's its main job - to convert the digital 0s and 1s into analog (and thus audible) sound, and vice versa. I guess technically you could say it's a "digital interface", but that term basically applies to just about anything attached to a computer.

The second part is more dubious - if you're making music with just virtual instruments and samples, in your computer, then the only thing the audio interface does is what I described earlier - to convert the digital data into analog audio, so you can listen to what you're doing. It doesn't change your files in any way at any point, so the quality will be exactly same when using a $50 or a $5000 interface. There are some differences in the converters, and this has the indirect effect on quality in that they determine how well you can hear your sounds and mixes, but let's just say that the converters even in modest beginner interfaces are so good these days that one doesn't need to worry about that at all - converter upgrades are the last 5% gain when you go super high end, when you've spent $10k+ on the room treatment and monitoring.

Bottom line: the interface is not "where your sound quality will come from".
 
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