My Housewife Home Studio

Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with the companies of the products featured below. I just want to share my finds with those who might also be looking, that's all.

I started my songwriting career during the pandemic, in a makeshift bedroom (read: my bedroom) "studio" my brother and I affectionately call The Cave. We soundproofed using clothes and mattresses, and over time slowly collected equipment, from microphones to a mixer with too many knobs and buttons for me to make sense of. I'm decent with some aspects of technology - I previously used SAP for work and I could navigate around the front and back end for some modules - but not in this area.

I couldn't take our gear with me when I moved to the UK last month though, with a baggage allowance of only 30 kilos and needing to pack my entire life into those suitcases. So I had to start over here and rebuild. But, more importantly, I couldn't take my brother, who actually did all the technical stuff. I only ever had to play around on my phone for demo recordings, and sing. The mixing and mastering had never been my job, at least not for those songs we submitted to the streaming platforms and publicly released. But putting together a demo track was one thing, and a demo track certainly didn't have to be perfect. I also never had to take out the equipment from their boxes and assemble them, my skillset being more on the creative side of the partnership.

Thankfully, we found equipment for non tech savvy housewives like me! (I'm a wife who works from home, so that makes me a housewife, right?)

I don't have a particular choice for a microphone stand, but it's absolutely necessary to have one, so I got this (priced £19.99) per Amazon's recommendation. I just use Audacity for post-processing, though I haven't had the need to so far and I've already had three live events: an online talk, the launch party for my novel's audiobook, and an open mic session.

Anyway, here is a short raw (no music/processing) audio sample from the new "studio," with some seconds of silence, a few speaking lines in normal recording levels, and two loud claps at the end.

And I did nothing but hit Record on Audacity. At my work desk near a window, in our flat that isn't soundproofed save for a microphone isolation shield. A few feet behind me sat our small but continuously thrumming fridge. And our housemates were home, though not in the room.

Here are the rest of my gear:

Microphone, Headphones and Audio Interface: Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (£210.00)

I'm no tech guru so I can't really go into technical detail, but you can check those out on Amazon or on Focusrite's website if needed. I just love how easy to use this set is, and the USB interface is a godsend because now I can record, well, anywhere.

Pop Filter: Aokeo (£9.95)

This one's also Amazon-recommended, but they were right, it works well with the rest of the equipment. And a pop filter might seem overkill at times, but there's really a difference when you use one.

Isolation Shield: TONOR (£25.49)

This might be small, but it packs a punch. And it's wonderfully portable, something that I can easily carry around as a petite Asian girl of 5'2".

How about you? Any recommendations? I might need an upgrade in the future, as I'm looking to branch out to podcasting, voice acting and audiobook narration. Or we might have readers looking to start their own home studios. Please feel free to let us know in the comments!