“What matters is the relationship you build with what you have. “Don’t agonize too much about any particular purchase,” advises JR Seaton, better known as the techno producer Call Super. Start with what you can afford and trade up further down the line. Second-hand stores, the online used-gear marketplace Reverb, and eBay are all crucial resources-one good thing about the relentless pace of music tech is that musicians are forever getting rid of gear in order to make room for new toys. While prices can easily start to add up as you build out even the most basic studio, there are ways to economize. Even so, in talking to a number of artists and producers from across the musical spectrum, we’ve narrowed things down to give budget-conscious novices some guidance.
Though it can be hard to know where to begin, the good news is that there is no one right answer. Home recording studio equipment options are plentiful, and prices are a fraction of what they once were: A basic bedroom setup, even when working on a tight budget, can yield the kind of results that would have required booking time in a professional studio not so long ago. For aspiring artists interested in making music on their own, there has never been a better time to get started.
