Choosing the best audio interface is the key to excellent home studio recording. The success of your studio does not bank solely on the soundcard you use, as this hardware unit also manages sound output and input from and to your computer system.
 
You can take your pick from so many products on the market, and most of them can give you high-quality recording capabilities at reasonable prices. With so many to choose from, how do you know what to buy? Here are a few questions, as well as some hints and tips, which will help you select the audio interface solution you require.
 
Do you use Apple’s Garage Band? With the aforementioned program, you can make do with the built-in soundcard, plus a specialized adapter for using musical instruments. One tool you can add to the rest of your equipment is a set of plug-and-play USB microphones from Samson. These microphones allow even the novice sound engineer to harness the full potential of Garage Band. A more sophisticated and high-end option would be ONE (by Apogee) for one-channel interfaces at $249.
 
What number of inputs does your setup require? This depends on quite a few factors: the kind of music to be recorded is one. This will then dictate if you need one, two, or more inputs. Lower-priced audio interfaces often allow for a lower number of inputs. The minimum recommended number of inputs would be two for mic pre-amps. With this, you can record one instrument (such as a guitar) and vocals at the same time. The most basic setup for proper drum recording would require a minimum of four inputs for the pre-amp. One input is dedicated to the kick drum, another for the snares, and a couple of more inputs for stereo overhead recording. The more inputs you have for drum recording, the better the overall sound quality will be.
 
Is Pro Tools compatibility necessary? Many in the recording industry use Pro Tools by Digidesign. Recording will be convenient if all your tools are compatible with this utility. However, the simplest Digidesign product can cost a relatively large amount of money. The MBox 2 Mini only has one mic input plus a couple of line inputs, but it will set you back by $329. The next step would be the Digi 003, which allows 8 channels at $1600. Take note that you do not need Pro Tools hardware (and the high tag price) if you want to use different recording software. Pro Tools does not function without a Digidesign interface.
 
Will you use USB or FireWire? USB products can be purchased at lower prices than those of FireWire. USB is fine for one or two-channel recording. However, if you want to record with a higher number of channels, FireWire is necessary, as USB technology does not have the large capacity that FireWire has. FireWire is safer for sustaining larger amounts of data due to its higher bandwidth. The most sophisticated professional audio interfaces typically have dedicated cards for interfacing with the main computer.