Earlier this year, we published a post on how you can get everything you need for a recording studio for under $1,000. We wanted to revisit that idea again, but for studios with a bit more of a budget to work with.
As technology has advanced audio production, it’s impressive what you can do with $5,000. Whereas in the past as professional studio was at least in the tens of thousands of dollars (if not hundreds of thousands), today you can have professional grade equipment for much less.
If you have only $5,000 to spend, here’s how you can build a killer recording studio, assuming you already have a computer that’s decent enough to run a modern day DAW (64-bit, at least 4GB of RAM, high quality processor…). If you don’t have a computer, look into picking up a Mac mini.
Glyph Studio mini Professional Portable Hard Drive 1TB - $200
You’re going to need a good external hard drive to record your music to. Glyph has been making high-quality hard disc drives for audio and video professionals for years and is a trusted brand. At 7,200 RPM and Firewire/USB 3.0 connectors, this drive is fast enough to handle all of your needs.
UA Apollo Quad - $2,500
For your recording interface, the Universal Audio Apollo Quad is the perfect piece of gear. It has excellent A/D conversion and impressively transparent preamps. With 16 inputs, you’ll have more than enough recording options. The real magic, though, is the UAD-2 power that allows plugins from Universal Audio to be processed through the interface, saving your computer precious memory and power. For best results, be sure to get the thunderbolt card.
Cubase 7 - $410
While Pro Tools is by far the DAW of choice for most pro studios, that doesn’t mean it’s the best. Many producers in recent years have used Logic Pro, Ableton and even Fruity Loops to cut hit records. While each DAW offers its own range of features, all of them will allow you to record and edit high quality digital audio. Cubase offers a good balance of audio mixing tools with an intuitive MIDI programming interface. And at $410 it’s hard to justify paying nearly $300 more for Pro Tools.
With your DAW, interface and hard drive covered you’ll still need a few more things to get your $5000 studio up and running. In our next post, we’ll cover the rest with monitors, mics, your MIDI controller and room treatments.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
