Get Known Approved Studio Setup
A short, opinionated list of the recording equipment we'd actually buy to start a home studio for hip-hop, electronic, or R&B — ordered roughly by what to get first. No 40-item dumps, no "best of" filler. Just the things that matter.
Affiliate disclosure: Get Known Radio is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. The links below are affiliate links, which means we may receive a small commission — at no extra cost to you — if you buy through them. We only list gear we would recommend regardless of the commission. It does not influence what airs on the station.
Start here — the core chain
You can make releasable records with just these four things: a mic, an interface to get it into your computer, headphones to track and mix on, and something to treat your room. Everything else is an upgrade.
Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 (4th gen)
Audio interface. The default first interface — clean preamps, low latency, two inputs. Buy this before a fancier mic.
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Audio-Technica AT2020
Condenser mic. The budget vocal standard — honest, uncolored, hard to outgrow. Pair with a pop filter.
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Shure SM58
Dynamic mic. For noisy or boomy rooms — rejects more than a condenser. Nearly indestructible.
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Audio-Technica ATH-M50x
Closed-back headphones. No bleed into the mic while tracking. A reliable mixing reference on a budget.
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Rode NT1 (5th gen)
Ultra-low-noise condenser, USB + XLR. A real step up when you outgrow the AT2020.
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Shure SM7B
The broadcast/rap vocal workhorse. Needs a clean interface or an inline preamp like a Cloudlifter.
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Audio interfaces
Universal Audio Volt 2
Built-in "vintage" preamp mode that flatters vocals. Great alternative to the Scarlett.
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MOTU M2
Best-in-class converters and metering at this price if you care about fidelity.
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Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro (80 ohm)
Closed back with extended low end; popular for bass-heavy genres.
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Sennheiser HD 650
Open back, reference-grade for mixing (don't track with these — they leak).
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Buy monitors only after your room has some treatment — otherwise you're mixing the room, not the music.
Yamaha HS5
The honest, unforgiving reference standard. Pair with a sub for low end.
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Acoustic treatment
The cheapest upgrade to your sound is fixing the room. Treat first reflection points and corners before buying better speakers.
MIDI keyboards & controllers
Arturia KeyLab Essential 49
More keys and deep software integration when you outgrow a mini.
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Cables, stands & accessories
XLR cables (balanced)
Buy decent ones; flaky cables cause hours of phantom debugging.
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A note on what we list
This page is intentionally short. We'd rather point you at one mic that works than ten you have to research. Everything here is gear that would survive being used on a record we'd play on the station. If you have a recommendation we missed, tell us through the contact form — we update this list when something genuinely better comes out, not on a schedule.