Originally Posted By: Guitarhacker
You can get professional results in the bedroom.

However... The closet as a vocal booth is not really necessary and don't waste your time with egg cartons on the wall. They're totally ineffective as sound treatment. Generally, your bedroom should be acceptable unless you live near a busy road or a motorcycle clubhouse. Carpet, furniture, curtains, impact the sound of the room. You don't want it too live or too dead sounding. Look for the middle ground. All of my vocal tracks are recorded in a room with very little acoustic treatment and most with my fan running and animals outside making animal noises. Listen carefully to some of my songs and you might hear dogs and chickens and possibly goats. I try to eliminate the obvious ones with a retake punch.

I'd spend the money on a condenser mic and a good audio interface. Good monitor speakers or mixing specific headphones are a necessity. You need to hear the music as accurately as possible

Then, learn as much as possible about recording and mixing. The best treated room with millions of dollars invested in state of the art gear in the hands of a beginner will sound like crap while at the same time a bare bones laptop and mic in the hands of a professional will sound amazing.

My philosophy has been to buy the right equipment for me to get the job done and then learn how to use it most effectively.

And don't overlook the ability of band in a box to provide you with professional level backing tracks for your project. Then all you need to do is lay down a good vocal track on top of the instruments.

There's a lot of people here that can help. Listen to the music in the showcase and ask questions. Post your music and ask questions specifically about the mix, and listen to the advice given.

That is my 2¢ worth for now


Thanks Guitarhacker - I agree, in the hands of a pro, a basic setup will sound great. Hopefully I can create something minimal, that will sound good at the same time. I been focused purely on songwriting the past 2 years almost, now gotta start learning the sound recording aspect of it.