Should You Spend A Big Amount Of Money Up Front?
You do not have to spend a big amount on gear at the very beginning. I would recommend starting slowly. Since these days skills are more appreciated rather than equipment, so make sure to build your studio step by step and keep testing every gear before the purchase.
Cost Of A Professional Recording Studio
There are a lot of variables that have an impact on the price of a professional recording studio price. For example, only studio monitors themselves can cost up to $200.000. Especially if they are designed to fit only current studio acoustics.
According to Rick Camp (worked with artists like Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, Usher, Dr Dre) says that the cost to build a professional recording studio starts at around 40.000 $ to 3.000.000 $ or more.
| Subject | From | To | Product |
| Acoustics | $600 | $4000 | Home Advisor |
| Preamps | $2000 | $4000 | Universal Audio 4-710d 4 channel Mic Preamp |
| Vocal Microphone | $1500 | $8000 | Neumann U 87 |
| Drum Set Microphones | $500 | $5000 | PGADRUMKIT7 Drum Microphone Kit |
| Acoustic Guitar Microphone | $800 | $2000 | Neumann KM 184 Small-diaphragm Cardioid Microphone |
| Computer | $2000 | $6000 | iMac Pro |
| Digital Audio Workstation | $300 | $1000 | Ableton Live |
| Plug-ins & VSTs | $1000 | $10000 | Waves Mercury Komplete 12 Ultimate Nexus 3 |
| Studio Monitors | $3000 | $10000 | Genelec 8050B Bi-Amplified Monitor System |
| Analog Compressor | $4000 | $10000 | Shadow Hills Industries Mastering Compressor |
| Analog Equalizer | $1000 | $10000 | WesAudio Prometheus 500 Series Stereo Analog Equalizer |
| Synthesizers | $1000 | $5000 | Nord Lead 4 Performance Synthesizer Keyboard |
Let’s cover professional recording studio equipment in more details.
Acoustics
In order to achieve a professional-level sound in your studio, you will need to hire an acoustics architect that could design an entire studio and help you with pre-planning on where to position speakers, recording booth, and your workspace. Positioning, distances matter a lot when building a professional studio, thus it is important to invest a considerable amount of money there.
Price: $600 – $4000
Apart from acoustics architect service pricing, there will be acoustic treatment tools that will cost money as well. The pricing and selection of those treatment options usually are given by audio architect himself since they can accurately measure what size of sound absorption panels are needed and where is the best place to put it.
Preamps
They are necessary in order to record high-quality sound. Microphones sometimes are not loud enough to fit in the mix. Increasing gain in the post process might cause some noise problems. Thus preamps help to solve this problem and allow you to control input gain.
Price: $2000 – $4000
Universal Audio 4-710d 4 channel Mic Preamp
Vocal Microphone
Large-diaphragm condenser microphone is a must in a professional recording studio.
Price: $1500 – $8000
Drum Set Microphones
Without a good microphone, it is impossible to record solid drum sound. Small diaphragm condenser microphones are in the purchase list as well. The number of drum mics will depend on what drum recording technique you are planning to use.
Price: $500 – $5000
PGADRUMKIT7 Drum Microphone Kit
Acoustic Guitar Microphone
To have a professional acoustic guitar recording it is essential to have a good small-diaphragm condenser microphone in your studio.
Price: $800 – $2000
Neumann KM 184 Small-diaphragm Cardioid Microphone
Computer
In order to run the software with third-party plugins without glitches, we need at least 16 GB of ram computer. Furthermore, CPU 7 with 6 core processor would be nice to have on your computer as well.
Read more about the best computer for making music here.
Price: $2000 – $6000
Digital Audio Workstation
Most common music recording softwares in professional home studios usually are such as Cubase, Avid Pro Tools, Ableton Live. The main reason behind this is that these softwares are trustworthy. They are designed in a way that you can work reliably and without any fear that your program might crash in the middle of recording. Furthermore, they are more likely to be used when recording and mixing tracks rather than producing with virtual gear.
Price: $300 – $1000
Plugins And VSTs
There are a lot of great plugins made to make recorded audio sound better. As a music producer or a professional mixing engineer, plugins will be a daily part of your life.
I’ve listed the most popular VSTs and plugins bundles
Price: $1000 – $10000
Waves Mercury
Komplete 12 Ultimate
Nexus 3
Studio Monitors
Good sound system is what makes great work possible. Hearing all the truthful frequencies in the studio is the most important thing in the mixing phase so that you would be able to make correct decisions.
Usually, there are several systems for A/B testing.
M-Audio, Genelec are one of the most powerful and trusted brands in studio monitors.
Price: $3000 – $10000
Genelec 8050B Bi-Amplified Monitor System
Audio Interface
Universal Audio Apollo audio interfaces are the best choice for a professional recording studio. It provides extremely detailed and open sound.
Furthermore, there is an implementation of thunderbolt, which gives you low latency workflow.
Another important thing is that a digital audio interface gives that character to the tone that is impossible to get with ordinary systems. This tool will make your production stand out and provide world-class service.
Price: $4000 – $10000
Universal Audio Apollo x8P Interface
Analog Compressor
Shadow Hills mastering compressor is one of industry-leading analog compressors of all time.
This analog compressor not only gives you an ability to easily and professionally control dynamics of your tracks, but also makes simple track sound warm, rich and fulfilling.
Moreover, it makes your mixing work faster since it is capable of compressing sound in a more sensitive and dynamic way, thus you will be able to achieve amazing sound easier than with cheaper compressors
Price: $4000 – $10000
Shadow Hills Industries Mastering Compressor
Analog Equalizer
Since professional studios require mainly analog gear, equaliser is not an exception as well. Some people say that it is enough to have virtual equalizer in order to mix a track.
However, analog gear has something irreplaceable compared to virtual ones. When equalizing the track, it is being modified a lot in its frequencies.
Thus when mixing with analog equalizer, it gives to the sound that colour to the sound that makes it sound rich and gives fullness to it.
Moreover it is more fun to work with your hands since you are more likely to trust your ears and natural feel rather than relying on visual representation of sound.
Price: $1000 – 10000$
WesAudio Prometheus 500 Series Stereo Analog Equalizer
Synthesizers
Analog synths are a major part when recording instrumental parts or producing a solid track. Analog synthesizers also give that truthful, raw sound that is impossible to achieve with virtual instruments.
Moogs are one of the oldest versions of analog synths and are still widely used today.
Nord synthesizers are very popular these days as well, especially in live performance since it has great sounds built in it.
Price: $1000 – $5000
Nord Lead 4 Performance Synthesizer Keyboard
Conclusion
That’s all from my take on the cost of a professional recording studio and what type of gear does it include.
Good luck building your professional recording studio, and have a great time.
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