The heart of any good home recording studio is your choice of audio interface. One of the best parts about selecting a recording interface is the fact that there's so many available, and they all offer stellar recording quality for the price. The downside? Selecting one from the many is hard! With this quick guide, we'll go down the list of questions you should ask yourself before buying an interface.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: 5 Minutes or Less
Here's How:
- Do you need Pro Tools compatibility? Digidesign's Pro Tools is the industry-wide standard, but being compatible, even on the smallest offering, comes with a premium price. Digidesign's cheapest Pro Tools offering, the MBox 2 Mini, rings up at $329, offering only a single microphone input and two line inputs. If you don't need Pro Tools and plan on using another software program, you don't need Pro Tools hardware. Remember though, you can't use Pro Tools without a compatible interface.
- How Many Inputs Do You Need? What type of music will you be recording? Do you need more than one input? More than two? Some interfaces that are cheaper offer less inputs. You want, at very least, two microphone preamp inputs - that way you can do vocals and, say, guitar at once. If you plan on recording drums, you'll need at least four preamp inputs for kick, snare, and stereo overheads. Chances are you'll want much more for good drum sounds. But don't overdo it - you can get by with less if you don't need it.
- Are You Using Garage Band? If you use Apple's Garageband, you can get by with the internal soundcard and a special adapter for instruments. Another great option is the new Samson USB microphones; it's very simple to plug-n-play. Garage Band is very powerful and versatile for beginners, and products like Samson's USB microphone make it unbelievably easy.
- Firewire or USB? Firewire interfaces, as a rule, are more expensive than USB. If you're only doing one or two channels at a time, USB will probably be fine. Anything else than that requires more channels will require a Firewire interface to be stable.
Tips:
- Remember, the most expensive interface isn't always the best for your needs.
- Always assume on the high end when it comes to inputs. You'll be surprised how your needs seem to mysteriously expand after you've purchased something.
- Places like Guitar Center have 30 day return policies for a reason. Don't be afraid to go back to the drawing board if you're not happy.
