7 pieces for your first music production rig
On day one the problem is not picking the right piece. It is getting the chain to work end to end with no dead link.
Watch the video on YouTubeOne microphone that will not power up, or one pair of speakers that lies to you, and the other six pieces are worth nothing. That is why a few-hundred-euro rig put together with judgement records better than an expensive one with a wrong slot.
This list is what you need on day one, and nothing of what comes later. No piece is here because it is the best there is: it is here because it is the first one that fills its slot without asking for another.
This isn't a ranking: seven different things, each for a different problem.
Audio interface
1. Audient EVO 4
Who it is for: Someone recording one voice or one instrument at a time who wants the chain to start with nothing to configure.
In this bracket the two numbers that matter are 48 V phantom power and direct monitoring: without the first a condenser will not start, without the second you sing on top of your own delay. Everything else is detail you won't hear on day one.
It also sets the gain for you: you sing or play for a few seconds and the interface picks the level. That sounds like a beginner's feature, and that is exactly why it belongs here — the wrong level is the mistake that ruins most first recordings.
- 2 mic/instrument inputs, USB bus-powered
- 48 V phantom power and direct monitoring
- Smartgain: sets the input level automatically
View on AmazonVideo chapter 2:29
Condenser microphone
2. Audio-Technica AT2020
Who it is for: The first vocal you can play back without wincing, in a room at least somewhat softened by curtains, a rug and an open wardrobe.
It is the condenser that has been on every list for ten years, and it holds up for a practical reason: sensitive enough to make a voice sound natural, not so sensitive that the room becomes the main character of the recording.
If the room is live and bare, the right piece here is not a more sensitive microphone but a dynamic one, which hears less around it. Worth testing before spending: a blanket hung behind the microphone and a rug are enough to tell how much the room is costing you.
- Large-diaphragm cardioid condenser
- Needs 48 V phantom power from the interface
- XLR output, shock mount optional
View on AmazonVideo chapter 4:52
Closed headphones
3. Audio-Technica ATH-M20x
Who it is for: Recording with the backing track in your ears without it ending up in the take.
Closed to record, open to mix: this slot belongs to recording, because on day one you record. Open headphones leak, the microphone picks the leak up and the backing track ends up inside the vocal — something no mix move removes afterwards.
On day one you don't need mixing headphones: you need headphones that isolate, sit comfortably and survive falling off the desk.
- Closed-back circumaural, isolation suited to tracking
- 40 mm drivers, low impedance: they run off a laptop
- Fixed cable, collapsible frame
View on AmazonVideo chapter 7:05
Desktop monitors
4. M-AUDIO BX3
Who it is for: The first listening outside your head, on a desk and up close.
They are small active monitors, meant to sit half a metre from the listener. They don't replace a studio pair, but they solve the real day-one problem: hearing the mix outside the headphones, where the balance between parts changes.
They go at ear height and at the same distance from the listener, otherwise the difference from the computer speakers is lost before you can hear it. Even two books under the speakers pay off more than an upgrade.
- Active, amplification built in
- RCA and TRS inputs, front headphone output
- 3.5-inch woofer: made for close listening
View on AmazonVideo chapter 9:05
External SSD
5. Samsung T7
Who it is for: Someone working on a laptop who finds the internal drive full by the second sample pack.
This is the slot that does not age: unlike a computer, a drive does not change configuration every two months and does not have to be re-picked when the new generation ships. Libraries, projects and takes live on it, and it moves between rigs.
For audio what matters is that it is solid state and not mechanical: a spinning drive over USB makes noise and, once the track count grows, gets in the way of playback.
- USB 3.2 SSD, no external power
- 500 GB to 2 TB
- Works with Windows, macOS and Linux with no software
View on AmazonVideo chapter 11:23
MIDI controller
6. Arturia MiniLab 3
Who it is for: Someone writing on a computer who wants to stop clicking note by note.
Twenty-five keys and eight pads take a little over thirty-five centimetres of desk, which is the real constraint when the rig lives on a shared table.
Playing a part instead of drawing it changes two things at once: how long it takes and how it sounds. The imprecision of a hand is what mouse-written parts are missing, and no humanize function really rebuilds it.
- 25 velocity-sensitive keys + 8 pads
- USB-MIDI class: works with no drivers
- Assignable knobs and faders, MIDI output
View on AmazonVideo chapter 13:41
Book
7. Home Recording for Musicians For Dummies
Who it is for: Someone who has just put the rig together and wants to understand what each piece does before buying more.
Fifth edition, and the chain it describes — room, converter, microphone, mix — has not moved in the meantime: that is why a book like this survives editions while a manual for one program does not.
It is the piece that stops the next three purchases from being guesses.
- Covers room, tracking, editing and mixing
- Independent from the software you use
- English edition
View on AmazonVideo chapter 16:13
Written by me
Linux for Professional Music Production — Someone building this same rig on Linux instead of Windows or macOS.
Disclosure: I wrote this book.
Frequently asked questions
Do I really need an interface, or is a USB microphone enough?
A USB microphone records, and to start that is fine. The limit shows up when you want a second microphone, an instrument, or two sources at once: a USB microphone is a closed chain, an interface is a chain you can extend.
Headphones or monitors first?
Headphones, no question. On day one you record, and headphones let you record anywhere at any hour. Monitors solve the next problem — judging a mix — and they need a room where you can turn it up.
How much should a first rig cost?
The total matters less than how it is distributed. A rig with a modest interface and a microphone suited to the room records better than one with an expensive microphone and no treatment. Fill the slots first, raise the bracket later.
Should I treat the room before buying the microphone?
You don't need real treatment: you need curtains, a rug and an open wardrobe behind the microphone. Those three remove the most reflections per euro spent, and they change the recording more than a different microphone would.
Wrapping up
Seven slots, one chain that works end to end. Fill them in order and you record from day one, and you find out where your own limit actually is — which is almost never where you expected.
When you feel that limit, volume 2 begins: the step up, slot by slot.
Free tools, while you are here
A microphone tuner, a metronome, a BPM tapper with delay times, the fretboard game and the quiz on what kind of guitarist you are. They run in the browser, no sign-up.
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