The know-how is the most important thing in the home recording studio. But certainly not everything! If you use the right equipment, you naturally have an advantage in terms of recording quality. Many microphones already come with several accessories – but the quality and workmanship of these products are often not comparable to the quality of the rest of the hardware.
If you want to achieve the best possible sound quality, you should make high demands on the quality of the accessories and equipment in the home studio. These accessories are partly used to improve the recording quality, partly to optimize the workflow and partly to enable the use of certain products to record certain scenarios.
From the pop filter to the microphone spider and the right cable to the mixer: a whole range of devices and products can be used as accessories in the home recording studio. But which parts are recommended and what should you look for when choosing accessories? In this article, we show you how to find the perfect accessories for the home studio.
Reflection filter for better shots
A reflective filter is a semi-circular screen made of aluminium, plastic, or a similar lightweight material. Inside the semicircle is special sound foam in the shape of egg boxes. This fine-pored foam absorbs sound waves instead of reflecting them. In contrast to smooth surfaces, no sound is reflected into the microphone and the recordings are spared.
A reflection filter (also called a reflection screen) is attached to the microphone stand, but can also be mounted on a separate tripod behind the microphone stand with the studio microphone. Good models are already available for around €100. Especially in home studios that are not optimally insulated, such an accessory is a very good addition to the rest of the equipment and helps to raise the sound quality of the recordings to a whole new level.
Pop filter/pop protection for less pop noise
A pop filter helps to avoid annoying pop sounds on the recordings. Some types of microphones are more susceptible to such hard pops than others. These sounds are created when the singer (pop sounds can also occur when speaking) pronounces hard sounds. These include “P”, “T” or “K”. These sounds can be removed from the recordings using the DAW, but this is not always optimally possible.
These sounds have a specific sound pattern that is reflected in the sound waves of a song or speech. These particular sound waves are stopped by the pop killer. The product is a thin layer of acoustic foam clamped in a plastic or aluminium frame. The pop filter is placed directly in front of the microphone grille, so the user’s sound waves have to pass through the pop screen.
Microphone stand, table tripod or articulated arm
Fixing the microphone in the studio is an important step in setting up a home studio. Of all the accessories, this is probably the most inconspicuous, but at the same time probably the most important. While hand-held mics are possible with a vocal mic or podcast mic, it’s not an option for most users. The microphone must always be at the same distance from the speaker, singer or instrument.
A tall mic stand is perfect for recording vocals. Here the singer has to stretch so that the diaphragm is tense and the voice sounds clear and concise. A table tripod is perfect for voice recordings, and an articulated arm is also suitable for these recordings. If you want to record musical instruments, you can use practically any type of microphone stand – depending on which type of attachment and fixation of the microphone is best suited for the respective instrument.
Microphone spider for better recordings
A microphone spider is a thin metal or plastic frame that has rubber bands inside. These are arranged in a network and hold a threaded ring inside the spider. The microphone is screwed into this threaded ring, and the microphone spider itself is then attached to the microphone stand. In this way, the microphone is elastically mounted in the home studio.
This ensures that hits and bumps against the microphone stand or the microphone does not end up in hard impact sounds or other disturbances on the recordings. Similar to a pop filter, a microphone spider is already included with many studio microphones for beginners and advanced users. If you rely on higher-quality hardware here, you can increase the recording quality even further.