Helping a Family Make a Home Studio

My sister's boyfriend's family talked to me about them wanting to make a home studio. Most of the kids in the family play instruments and sing, the mom is especially good at singing. They have been asked that they should record themselves, but they don't know what right equipment to get. They knew I did voice-over and audio engineering, so they asked me what they should get. So a few days later I sent them links to the equipment they could get. I gave them three choices depending on how much they were willing to spend: 

$471            with TWO Audio-Technica AT2020 mics, an audio interface, stands, and acoustic panels
$631            with TWO Rode NT1-A mics, an audio interface, stands, and acoustic panels
$1,111         with TWO Blue Baby Bottle mics, an audio interface, stands, and acoustic panels

When I went to their house, they had a whole room they wanted to make a studio. Unfortunately, it was very echoey and was full of reverb. They asked me if they would need the "echo stuff." So I included three dozen 12x12 (a square foot) acoustic foam panels to reduce the reverb. They also said they wanted several mics if there were several of them recording (like a singer and a guitar). So I gave them the choices between the Audio Technica AT2020 for $115 each, the Rode NT1-A for $195 each (I bought this one when it was $360, so the price has had a dramatic drop), or the Blue Baby Bottle Mic for around $350 each. Then, I put two microphone stands in the list (I found a bundle of my favorite cheap stands for just $33 for two stands). Then I put an audio interface jsut like mine, but with four channels instead of one, by Behringer. 

So they chose the $631 rout. I think they chose very well!