As you may have read, my first “studio” was really just the tiny second bedroom in my house. I set up my desk in the corner, bought some soundproofing foam from Amazon and glued it into the corner of the room, and put a piece of carpet on top of my desk (since it was made of glass).
I had a cheap $50 microphone (it was THIS ONE, though I don’t necessarily recommend it. See below for a professional recommendation) plugged via a USB cable into my regular laptop, and that’s it.
Since then, my husband built me a little studio in our basement. It’s basically a 6ft plywood cube. I’ve also upgraded my equipment, so here’s everything I have right now:
-
- Soundproofing Foam: I bought a lot more soundproofing foam (THIS ONE) and lined the entire inside with it.
- Music Stand: I prefer to stand while I narrate, so I purchased a music stand kit. HERE is the one I got. The stand wasn’t QUITE tall enough, so I have it standing on a box.
- Rechargeable LED Lights: This came with the music stand and is the only source of light in my cube so it has come in very handy.
- Adjustable Microphone Holding Arm: Since I have a legitimate mic now and not just the little CAD on a tripod, I needed something to hold it. There is a gap between the ceiling and the top of the walls in my cube so that I can fasten things onto it and have cables feed out of it….also so I can breathe when I’m closed into my box.
- Headphones: I received a nice pair of monitoring headphones as a gift. Honestly, while I’m still adjusting to my new microphone, I don’t know that I’m using these to their full potential, but it’s definitely cool to be able to hear yourself while you record. THESE are the headphones.
- Microphone: Audio Technica AT2035. Recommended to me by professional narrator (and my husband’s absolute favorite) R.C Bray. He said he recommends it to anyone starting out. I upgraded to this recently and it is definitely FAR better than my old one. The pricepoint is only about $150 and for the quality, it really seems worth it. Once I’m bringing in 4 digits of royalty revenue per month, I’ll look into a more expensive one.
- Pop Filter: THIS is the one I have, but really they’re all kinda the same so if you can find one for $10, go for it. It prevents your hard consonants, like “Ps” and “Bs” from “popping” too much and sounding extra loudin your recording.
- Small Fire Tablet: I don’t need anything fancy to read from, just something quiet. As I narrate, I read from the smallest, cheapest tablet I could find on the market, the Amazon Fire. About $50 on Amazon. I won’t link it because they’re constantly coming out with new versions and I don’t want to link you to an old one.
The headphones and microphone connect to one more important piece of equipment that sits on a little table OUTSIDE my cube. This piece is called an audio interface. My interface is:
- PreSonus AudioBox USB: Big boy and girl microphones don’t end in USB plugs, they end in those round heavy plugs that you see on the end of stage microphones. The Audio Technica AT2035 is a big girl mic, so it can’t simply plug into your computer. The PreSonus AudioBox is where you plug that in and it gives you more control over the sensitivity of your microphone and how loudly your hear yourself in your headphones while you speak. It also takes away some of the digital background noise that otherwise might get picked up if you plugged directly into your computer. The AudioBox is powered by a USB cable so THAT is what plugs into your computer. All of your recordings pass through the AudioBox before they get to your computer.
(NOTE: When I bought the PreSonus AudioBox USB it came with a free copy of their StudioOne software. Honestly, I do NOT recommend. See my other blog post about it. Audio quality comes from your equipment. All the software does is help you edit it with effects. For simple narrating, you don’t need many effects, so Audacity is more than enough. )
And that’s what’s in my studio!
