Build a home recording studio with Raspberry Pi 500: choosing your equipment

Here’s what you need to know to equip your new studio, from micro to medium budgets. This is the second stage of a multi-part tutorial from Raspberry Pi Official Magazine; if you’d like to follow along, skip back to the first part, about setting up your recording space, to get started.

Following on from our guide to setting up an acoustically treated recording space at home, it’s time to get to the hardware. Quieter than an actively cooled Raspberry Pi 5 setup in most cases, Raspberry Pi 500 is a great studio computer (other Raspberry Pi 4, 400, and 5 models also work well, if you use a silent case or no fan), but you’ll need a little more equipment than that.

A basic voice recording setup could include a USB condenser mic, studio monitors, and headphones

Audio interfaces

You’ll need an external audio device. For basic voice recording, we’ve successfully used a pocket-sized consumer USB DAC (AudioQuest DragonFly Red, £135) and a USB microphone. This is enough, with the right software and driver setup, to handle vocal and spoken word recording, editing, and mixing without any quality or latency issues.

More sophisticated productions require more gear. A guitar can also be connected via a USB guitar lead, and USB XLR microphone leads are also available. These generic devices are available from brands including t.bone, Lindy, and Behringer for around £13, and they’re functionally interchangeable. If you have a condenser mic that requires 48 V phantom power, you’ll need an additional power unit.

Raspberry Pi 500’s three USB ports are sufficient to connect both an audio capture device and a DAC, but if you have multiple instruments to connect, a more sophisticated audio interface makes sense and saves ports

This is a point in favour of dedicated audio interfaces, such as the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (£159), currently in its 4th generation, which has two powered XLR inputs, two TRS or TS inputs, a stereo pair of TRS outputs, a TRS headphone port, and can record two live inputs at once. You can save money by getting an older model, and even those with software controls are supported thanks to a Linux driver project. Other good entry-level audio production interfaces are made by Behringer, Presonus, Steinberg, and Roland.

Instruments

Assuming you already have the instruments you play, you’ll mostly need to consider either mic’ing up acoustic instruments or making sure you have an interface with the right connectors for your electric instruments.

If you primarily compose using MIDI step entry and plan on mostly working with loops or in your DAW’s notation or piano roll interface, you don’t necessarily need any instruments, although a MIDI keyboard can come in handy. We opted for a lightly weighted, 49-key Novation Launchkey 49 Mk4 (£222), designed for use as a DAW controller. MIDI instruments can be connected via integrated USB, Wireless USB, or traditional MIDI ports assuming your audio interface has them – our Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 doesn’t, so we used USB.

Make sure that you have enough space for any instruments you need, add floor- or wall-mounted instrument stands as required, and ensure that your audio interface is equipped to handle them. 

If you just need to connect a single guitar or bass, generic USB interfaces are conspicuously cheap and work well

Microphones

Dynamic microphones use a magnetic coil to pick up sound, while condenser mics use a lighter, thus more sensitive, electrostatically charged diaphragm. Dynamic mics are robust, highly directional, and well suited to the rigours of a stage environment. They’re not favoured for studio use, as they’re less sensitive to sound than condenser mics and have a narrower frequency response. But if you frequently have background noise in your environment, the reduced sensitivity of a good-quality dynamic mic could result in a better-sounding overall recording. We use a Shure SM-58 for vocals and SM-57 for mic’ing amps and instruments, as these live workhorses sound great and border on indestructible.

For vocal work in a sound-treated room, we strongly recommend a more responsive large-diaphragm condenser mic, connected via either USB or XLR. Entry-level favourites include the Audio Technica AT2020 XLR mic (£75), Logitech’s Blue Yeti USB/XLR mic (£120), and the Rode NT-1 XLR mic (£135 including shock mount).

We’re using a desk mic here with a solid stand with a heavy anti-vibration base, plus a mic cover

Headphones

Headphones allow you to monitor – i.e. listen to – whatever you’re recording and let you listen to previously recorded parts that you’re trying to accompany. Closed-back studio headphones won’t leak sound for live mics to accidentally pick up their sound. 

We used Adam Audio H200 headphones (£135) for this. Shure’s SRH440s are a little cheaper, and also good for the job. However, you can use whatever you happen to have, as long as they don’t leak noise and have a fairly neutral sound profile. So if you have a favourite pair of sound-isolating earbuds, they’ll do perfectly well if you don’t want to shell out for new cans straight away. 

Avoid the kind of open-backed cans that are aimed at hi-fi enthusiasts (these tend to have a great soundstage but least sound) and on-ear headphones.

Studio monitors

Eventually you’ll also want studio monitors: speakers with a neutral audio profile designed to make the job of mixing music easier – no bass boosts or hi-fi EQ tweaking.

We’re using Adam Audio TV5 (£135 per powered speaker – £270 for two), which are about as big as our desk will comfortably hold, measuring 290 × 180 × 270 mm. These are near-field monitors, designed to accurately reproduce the full frequency spectrum of your music at a low volume, close to your head, so you don’t need to blast your ears apart.

We’ve also run with larger monitors: Behringer’s Truth B2030A monitors (£281 for a pair) are much larger powered loudspeakers, measuring 317 × 214 × 211 mm. Their sound is a little less precise than the Adams, but is still appropriately neutral at low volumes and is a solid choice if you’re working in a larger space.

If you’re on a budget, Mackie’s compact CR5-X speakers (£159) fall between computer speakers and monitors, and are reasonable choice for the money if you’re not doing high-precision work.

Other equipment

To go with your microphone, you’ll need a mic stand or boom arm. Options include desktop mic stands, booms with screw clamps to hold them to the edge of your table, ceiling-mounted booms, and a variety of floor-standing mic stands. Most condenser mics are threaded, but you’ll need a microphone clip to attach to the stand if you’re working with a traditional dynamic stage mic, while condenser mics will benefit from shock mounts.

Another consideration for your mic is a pop shield or cover to soften plosives (hard consonants such as p, k, and t).

And last but certainly not least, you’ll need the appropriate cables – there’s nothing more frustrating than buying cool new gear that you can’t use – and any relevant adapters, such as 3.5 mm to 1/4-inch TRS stereo adapters for headphones, if yours don’t come with one.

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