Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
(opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab) (opens in new tab)
  • Plugin Week 2023
  • Guitars
  • Amps
  • Pedals
  • Drums
  • Synths
  • Software
  • Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Recording
  • Buyer’s guides
  • Live
  • DJ
  • Advice
  • Acoustic
  • Bass
  • About us
  • More
    • Reviews
Magazines
  • Computer Music
  • Electronic Musician
  • Future Music
  • Keyboard Magazine
  • Guitarist (opens in new tab)
  • Guitar Techniques (opens in new tab)
  • Total Guitar (opens in new tab)
  • Bass Player (opens in new tab)
More
  • Plugin Week A-Z
  • Best free lo-fi plugins
  • Top EQ plugins
  • Music Gear Reviews
  • Free music samples
  • Best free music-making software

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

  1. Home
  2. Tuition

The singer-songwriter's bedroom recording toolkit

By Computer Music Specials
published 24 October 2018

  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
Get your sounds down

Get your sounds down

RECORDING WEEK: If you’re spent a while writing a song on your guitar or keyboard, it follows that, sooner or later, you’re going to want to record it.

There are various ways of doing this, but one of the best - and certainly the most flexible - is to use a computer and a piece of software known as a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).

These are the basics, but if you want to do the job properly, a few other bits of kit will come in very handy indeed. It’s these that we’re focusing on here: from interfaces, mics and headphones to stands, pop shields and rolls of tape.

Recording Week is brought to you in association with Universal Audio. Check out the Recording Week hub page for more tips and tutorials.

Page 1 of 9
Page 1 of 9
Audio interface
The missing link

Audio interface

All computers include some form of onboard soundcard, and coupled with your DAW, this may be all you need to listen to your computer’s output.

Once you start using a mic, however, you’ll need a mic preamp to amplify its level, possibly phantom power (more on this in a moment) and most likely separate headphone and master outputs.

The simplest way to get all these elements sorted is to buy a dedicated audio interface. This typically connects to your machine via USB or FireWire, and once installed, its inputs and outputs appear within your DAW as physical connections.

Page 2 of 9
Page 2 of 9
Microphones
Make yourself heard

Microphones

If you’re recording everything individually and in mono, your best bet will be a large-capsule cardioid condenser mic. You can use this for both delicate and full-on vocals, on intricate sounds like acoustic guitar, and on guitar amps and piano.

If you want to record two things at the same time (guitar and voice, say) or in stereo, you’ll need two mics, and for best results these should be of the same type. Note that a non-valve condenser mic will need phantom power.

Page 3 of 9
Page 3 of 9
Accessories
Kitbag essentials

Accessories

Analogue tape may be a thing of the past, but sticky tape certainly isn’t.

With leads knocking around and various things to keep in place, you’ll find a roll of gaffer tape helpful, and if you need to label things, masking tape is easy to remove afterwards and can be written on in pen.

Obviously pens and paper will come in handy for quick notes.

Page 4 of 9
Page 4 of 9
Stands
Better than your hand

Stands

It may be stating the obvious, but your mic will need a decent stand, preferably with a boom for easy positioning.

Large-capsule condenser mics can be heavy, and a decent stand not only protects your investment but helps isolate the mic from ground rumble and shouldn’t have any annoying rattling bits. Of course, if you’re using two mics together, you’ll need two mic stands.

Less critical but also useful are music stands for propping up lyrics, chord charts and so on.

Page 5 of 9
Page 5 of 9
Leads
Build a cable collection

Leads

Connecting your gear up will require a selection of specific leads. Mics and preamps typically use XLR connectors, so you’ll need a female-to-male XLR lead for each mic.

Most headphones use standard quarter-inch jacks that are balanced for stereo operation, so this will be important if you want to extend your headphone feed.

Bear in mind that you’ll always need longer leads than you think, particularly once you tuck them out of sight to avoid tripping over them, so overestimate the mic lead lengths and coil up the excess if you have to.

Page 6 of 9
Page 6 of 9
Tuner
Make sure you're pitch perfect

Tuner

Some of the most annoying problems you can encounter when recording concern pitch. Obviously you’ll need all instruments you use to be in tune as much as possible, and in tune with each other, and your best point of reference is a tuner.

You’ll find that humidity and temperature can cause tuning problems, so it’s often best to retune every few minutes or even between takes. This will also give you enough consistency when compiling the best performance from different takes.

Some DAWs include handy tuner plug-ins, so check in with yours before shelling out for a hardware model.

Page 7 of 9
Page 7 of 9
Monitoring
Listen and learn

Monitoring

Assuming you already have your DAW set up with monitors, when it comes to recording, the emphasis shifts to headphones.

In an ideal world these should be of the closed-back type as this prevents your cue headphone mix from bleeding into your microphone. The other thing to bear in mind is that if you’re recording in the same room as your DAW, anyone else you’re working with will need headphones too, so you can all listen with the monitors cut.

If this is the case, and you only have one headphone output on your interface, consider getting a headphone splitter box.

Page 8 of 9
Page 8 of 9
Pop shields and wind shields
Plosive prevention

Pop shields and wind shields

Miking things up close can cause various air-related issues. The most common are the plosives in speech and singing, which cause a low-frequency boom.

This is particularly problematic with cardioid condenser mics, so hand-in-hand with that purchase should come a pop shield. These aren’t too expensive and can be bolted onto the mic stand itself - much easier than fiddling around with homemade efforts.

In a similar vein, if you’re recording anything else that creates strong air movement, you may find a more typical foam wind shield helpful.

Page 9 of 9
Page 9 of 9
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
  • (opens in new tab)
Computer Music Specials
  1. Mindful Harmony
    1
    Mindful Harmony is a free online chord progression composing tool based on the circle of fifths
  2. 2
    Marcus King might play vintage gear on record but this rig tour shows he takes modern "off the shelf" pedals on the road
  3. 3
    Noel Gallagher says the Robert Smith remix of High Flying Birds’ Pretty Boy “sounds exactly like The Cure”
  4. 4
    Tascam’s Portacapture X6 looks like a compact and versatile multitrack recorder that can also be used as an audio interface
  5. 5
    Here are our 5 favourite effects in Kilohearts Essentials, the biggest free plugin bundle on the internet
  1. Boss DS-1W
    1
    Boss DS-1W Waza Craft distortion pedal review
  2. 2
    Mindful Harmony is a free online chord progression composing tool based on the circle of fifths
  3. 3
    John Mayer live, acoustic and alone: our 6 favourite performances
  4. 4
    Chuck D on Rick Rubin's holistic production style: "Art is what you feel. No one should tell you what Art should come out of you. He gets that"
  5. 5
    Here are our 5 favourite effects in Kilohearts Essentials, the biggest free plugin bundle on the internet

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab).

  • About Us (opens in new tab)
  • Terms and conditions (opens in new tab)
  • Privacy policy (opens in new tab)
  • Cookies policy (opens in new tab)
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers (opens in new tab)

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.