Analog mixers can be connected to computers.
Making a recording studio out of a room in your home has been a growing trend as technology has made it simpler for many people to set up their own computer-based recording system. You don't have to be able to build a computer from scratch to make it work as a studio computer. Almost any fairly new computer can be outfitted to do a good job mixing and recording audio.
Instructions
1. Get a computer. If you are an expert at building computers, by all means build just what you want from scratch. Otherwise you can purchase any computer as long as you keep the following in mind. You'll want a quality sound card, a large amount of memory, a large hard drive and as fast a processor as you can get. Almost any new computer will do but the most important thing to focus on is a fast processor.
2. Connect an audio mixer. You can use an analog mixer but that requires buying and connecting a sound card that has 1/4-inch inputs to connect the mixer's output. You can buy a digital USB or Firewire mixer that connects directly to those ports on your computer.
3. Plug microphones into your mixer. Depending on how many microphone inputs you have you can connect anywhere from 1 to 8 or more microphones. Most microphones have either XLR or 1/4-inch connections. You can either buy microphones with the type of connection you want or use a converter cable to connect them.
4. Purchase or download and install audio editing software. Programs such as Adobe Audition and Audacity have many tracks that you can record to. Pro Tools, an expensive and high-end recording and editing program, recently introduced a free entry level version. In the software, set your input to the mixer or sound card you connected to the mixer.
