I don't have much experience with working with vocals yet, but I have read a ton of theory about it and I record instruments.
1) A/I . As Apollo twin or solo might be freakishly awesome, they're freakishly expensive. Some other brands that imo are considered on the top are RME. Motu also gets pretty nice results. The preamps in the old mbox were also very good. You had the combo of mbox with pro tools express, they don't sell that anymore. The mbox mini has different preamps afaik. The more expensive versions that come with pro tools still have those good mboxes with proper preamps. Would be good to look into the combination if you plan on working with a DAW. If that's still too expensive, there are other options.
Entry level AIs that'll give you good results and get you very much near that pro sound. Until you then start getting close to earning money with it, you could always upgrade to apollo.
Some entry levels that I favor: Steinberg UR series for the preamps (might be necessary checking if they solved their driver issues they had a few years back), Focusrite scarlett, mackie onyx, NI komplete audio, TC electronic impact twin, Motu. Around and above 300 bucks, I'd say Motu, around above 500, I'd say RME, probably apogee as well, then as soon as you can afford apollo, that'll dominate my choice probably. In the lower price segment ( around or below 300 bucks), I don't think these a list brands differ much in converters, might differ some in pre amps, but as I said, they're in my book considered a list and all have pretty decent pre amps. Their flaws and qualites will produce a sound you hate or like.
2) Microphone. Rode nt1a and Shure sm58 come highly recomended. There are some customized mics that do well. I got an alround AKG perception and am pretty content about a (80 bucks) budget mic.
With a good mic and one of those ok or super interfaces, then comes room acoustics. For vocals, I'd absolutely go with a reflection filter if your room's acoustic treatment is crap. The devine RF10 comes for 45 bucks. Better quality the more you spend, but the 45 bucks filter will do the trick.
3) Room treatment. Read up on room treatment. There's tons of youtubes (studio rescue is one I like) and internet pages (on a budget
From study to studio, no-budget acoustic treatment ) that'll take you through some steps to get a minimum of acoustic treatment done. From there, you can see on how much you want to spend for it. It is , important though. Get the minimums done. Read up on theory and watch youtubes.
4) Monitoring (subjective opinion built upon some experience, tons of research and speaking to more experienced ppl). This is a very big grey area imo. Currently working on a proper monitor set up to replace my muddy rokkits. It all comes down to preference imo. There's a ton of speakers and monitor speakers that with higher quality, will come with something we call flat response. While in fact, all those speakers have flat response but none sound the same. So what is flat response then? I'm currently looking into passive speakers that have the same qualities we kind of like from our monitor speakers. Best to do, is go to a shop and listen to them. Don't buy rokkits though, there's better alternatives in that price range. The rokits are way too muddy and present in the lower frequencies that don't translate well to other systems. That makes you having to adjust for it. Which, is something we all do. Getting your mix right, is a matter of adjusting stuff by ear. We all have preferences to what we like hearing. We all have preferences on how we want to hear our reference setup. In the end, it all comes down to learning to mix on those speakers you have. There's some people doing that on very imo crappy el cheapo speakers. The active route might be easiest, but gives you little room for fine tuning it to your own liking. You'll get a complete package in a box. With the passive route, you can choose how much money goes into the amp, what amp in turns of power and quality brand. Also, bass presence can only accurately be simulated in a proper placement of one or more big enough woofers to eventually give you that bass. With all kinds of accoustic problems that you can encounter where certain frequencies get exaggerated or cut off. With active speakers, definitely the lower segment (anything under 500 bucks per speaker), all your marbles get put into one product. With anything around and under 500 bucks per speaker, that means economizing on quality of everything in that speaker. Amp, woofer quality, tweeter quality, etc.
So, go down to a store and listen to some monitors. Have a minimum of room treatment and have your monitor speakers placed correctly.
Then are you gonna get a subwoofer? If you want a correct representation of those really low bass frequencies, you need big ass woofers. Which in terms, are harder to control through treatment in small rooms. So, ideally, you'd have to test those new monitor speakers in the room you're gonna place em. You can do that with stores that give you a period that you can return em.
Some active speakers I favor: JLB LSR 305 or 308, Mackie Mr5mkIII or 6 or 8, Adam A or F series. There's tons more to choose from. For example the Yamaha HS series, which I find harsh in the higher frequencies that can tend to create fatigue. These are just a few of the options I like atm. You can listen to examples online at
Resource Center . All very biased by how your currently listening to it and something getting lost in the acoustics ofcourse. Listening to it online might not be as crazy as ppl might initially think though (
Studio Monitor Comparison - Full Resolution Samples).
If you want to go the passive route, advantages are that you have a wide range of speakers to choose from. What you want to look for is quality. Learn how to read a frequencie response chart and look those up. Passive bookshelfs compared to active monitors at or below 500 can compare pretty good. It is very important to what amp you connect it. There's an entry level amp that gets a lot of love and a lot of hate at the same time, the RA-150 from alesis. Other brands that is entry level and ok is the samson servo. Anything from QSC, Crown and Crest is quality. All have their own personal coloring. As do active speakers, which many people will contradict. Again, why do all those active speakers sound differently? With the passive route, you can choose where to save money and you can pick a single item to upgrade.
You say dorm room, is that a small room? Getting a subwoofer to work right in there is gonna be hard. But, imo, getting a good bass represence in there is gonna need treatment and carefully going through placement. Something that'll have to be done with bigger woofer speakers to get a good bass representation anyhow. While you go for 5 inch speakers with a sub, or bigger woofers without a sub. It is, in the end, the only way to properly get a good bass representation. I narrowed my choice of entry level bookshelfs to reference on to the Wharfedale Diamond 10.2, which has my preference, or the Paradigm atom mini monitor. Although, quality bookshelfs in that price range hooked to a good amp will outperform those muddy krks pretty quickly. So, you could go for 5 inch, or maybe even 4 inch, together with a 7 or 8 inch sub, or go for 6,5 or 7 inch main monitors. You could even go for 8 inch main monitors. It'll all require correct placement and room treatment. Some monitor speakers are more forgiving to small spaces and poor treatment. Like the focal alphas. They're more of a closed monitor. You then have to like the sound they produce though.
Then fine tuning this. The settings like crossover on the sub, the volume on the sub, sometimes active speakers come with somewhat of eq options for low and high, etc. Making your pick and checking if it works in your room, with whatever you go for.
Anyhow whichever option you'll pick, it is probably more important that you get your 'ears trained' . Get used to your room, what frequencies are under and over represented. Get used to how a mix should sound. Achieved by going down to local studios and listen. Listen to lots of different systems. Pick a mix for example, listen on different systems on how that sounds, then on your own system and try to compare. Have more then one setup you check your mix on. Listen to finished tracks on your monitor setup and get a feel on how those sound on your setup.
Right, those are some of my additions. I'm not pretending that I know a lot. Lots of it is acquired through help from posts and people on this forum, some experience, tons of reviews, tons of theory, etc.
Hope this'll help.
P.S. Checked your soundcloud. I like your voice and raps, reminds me a bit of timberlake. I don't like the twerk track too much. I like the feel of Do you. Production wise, I like the one by the soup the best, although the stereo imaging of the guitar is the only instrument that I think is done alright in balance with your vocals. They all miss in the lower regions as far as I'm concerned. They all miss a lot in stereo imaging and acoustics. They sound very closed. If i'd get these tracks in my hands, first I'd do is tune the reverb on all of the tracks and tune the master bus compression and instrument placement. I'd probably do something with your harmonies on the vocal. Unless that is something the producer and you went for, that is something it could be made better. The mixing of your vocals onto the rest of the track sounds to me that there can be a lot of improvement. Volumes aren't in balance. They all sound like they oughta be mixed and mastered better. If that's something, mixing and mastering, you want to have done by a professional, then , imo, you're set. If that is something you want to achieve already, imo, there's room for improvement.
