2. Introduction

Setting up your home studio requires much less investment nowadays than it used to, so that setting up a studio is worth considering not only for ambitious hobby sound engineers, but for all musicians! Anyone can profit from a small recording system, be they pianists, guitar players, music schools, voice-over artists or DJs. Of course, any band will profit from such a system in their rehearsal studio, since having one means they can produce demo tapes and are thus are one step closer to a possible album release.

For classical songwriters, too, no more convenient option is imaginable. With your own small system, you can even sit in your garden and immediately record your flashes of inspiration!

But it is really as easy as all that? Take one mic and one properly equipped multimedia PC, give it a good mix, and voilà: your own self-produced music. Isn't this exactly what we as owners of PCs have always dreamed of? And is this still a dream, or has it become reality?

So as not to keep you on the hook for too long: virtual studios are achievable - as long as, and this sis something we want to stress, all components of the recording chain from the mic via the converters through to the computer hardware and the multi-trackers, respectively, as well as the monitor speakers are professionally coordinated, and as long as correspondingly powerful software is used. Even regular multimedia PCs or the laptop you got for a bargain price at the supermarket round the corner are useful not only for games and office applications, but can be good recording tools as well. Current processors are powerful enough to compute even complex productions with 32 tracks on average in real time. However, it is suitable audio hardware and a powerful software suite that can turn your "civilian" PC into a veritable recording tool.

The so-called on-board sound cards that will most likely come with your computer are entirely unsuitable for musicians for reasons of quality, and another thing you need to keep in mind is the noise generated by your computer's ventilation fan.

On the following pages, we have put together some advice on what is important when setting up your own computer recording system.