After my article on how good gear is today “The Best Recording Gear In 2020” the team thought it would be fun to see how much it would cost you to set up a decent home recording studio in the 1980s (the beginning of the home recording revolution) and compare it to what it would cost now.

We are going to choose some of the most cost effective favourites from the period and then equivalent products today, much of the hardware used then has subsequently been replaced by software.

Fostex B16 Tape Recorder (£2995 + £300 for remote)

A marvel when launched in 1984, the Fostex B16 gave 16 tracks on half inch tape. Noise was reduced using Dolby C noise reduction. The package was a bargain at £3000, with the remote a further £300. Reviewing it for Home Studio Recording magazine Ian Gilby wrote “the Fostex B16 does represent a formidable package that is both attractive in terms of its facilities and cost. It is well designed, functional and portable. The built-in Dolby C noise reduction maintains a very respectable recording quality that belies its 16 tracks on ½" format. In short, this is a marvellous machine, I only wish I could afford one.” Full review at Mu:Zines

Seck 1882 Mixer (£1500)

The Seck 1882 was often paired with the Fostex B16, offering remarkable value for money. The Seck 1882 took a somewhat unconventional approach to design, mounting the entire console on one circuit board. This made the console incredibly thin. Added to this it was equipped with hundreds of tiny knobs and buttons which made it quite fiddly to use. However it was well equipped and was used in many home studios. In the March 1985 edition of Home Studio Recording Ian Gilby wrote “The Seck 1882 mixer is, without doubt, one of the most versatile and compact units on the market today. Its facilities offer almost everything you would desire including a slightly unorthodox EQ stage that surprisingly, sounds better in reality than it looks on paper. The icing on the cake, however, has got to be the mixer's routing system which has certainly taken a leaf out of the big boys' book; Soundcraft, Harrison and the like.” Full review at Mu:zines

Cabling (£200)

Yes you had to cable the stuff together in the 80s and it soon got costly, even if most of it used phono and jack cables.

Yamaha NS10M (£300)

There’s not much to say about the Yamaha NS10M that hasn’t already been written. Suffice to say they have become the stuff of legend, but not necessarily because of the sound quality. It was often remarked when people asked why people mixed on NS10s that if a mix sounds good on them it will sound good on anything!

Quad 405 Power Amp (£247)

The Quad 405 was a two channel stereo amp, used by many to power their studio monitors. Originally built for the home market, these dull cream coloured blocks that used banana plugs for connection were often the amp of choice for home studios. Although connection was a bugger as well, so if you ever have a desire to buy one be prepared for some cabling gymnastics.

Yamaha REV7 Reverb (£1200)

The Yamaha REV7 was the first affordable professional digital reverb and became an overnight success. Based on its bigger brother the costly REV1, the REV7 offered stereo reverb and effects along with EQ. It had a mind-blowing 30 presets, with the option of another 60 user presets.

Sony DTC1000ES DAT (£999)

We struggled on the team about what to include as the 2 track mastering device. Depending on how much money one had it ranged from the Aiwa 770 pro cassette recorder, but for those willing to stretch the Sony DTC1000ES was mixing heaven. It offered 2 tracks of of 16bit @ 48kHz recording and was the ideal machine to master to for those who were preparing tracks for CD pressing.

Drawmer DL221 Compressor (£370)

In the 1980s Drawmer compressors were a staple of home recording studios, in fact many pro studios used them too. British built, the DL221 was a workhorse compressor with a few tricks up its sleeve including being used as a de-esser, owing to the option to side-chain it with filters. Paul White reviewed it for Home Studio Recording in 1985 and said “For the small studio, the side chain access and monitoring is a significant selling point as it means that the unit can be conscripted into use as a de-esser or a de-popper with the simple addition of any equaliser you have lying around.” Full review at Mu:zines

Drawmer DS201 Noise Gate (£345)

Like Batman and Robin, wherever you found a Drawmer DL221 compressor then you were almost as likely to find the DS201 noise gate in the rack. A real workhorse noise gate, the DS201 is still sold today and described by Drawmer as “A sophisticated dual channel noise gate incorporating a number of features pioneered by Drawmer, which are invaluable to the sound engineer, and not found on conventional noise gates.”

Atari 520ST MIDI Computer and Mono Monitor (£749)

Before the days of Mac and PC wars there was a studio music computer favourite in the form of the Atari ST. It came in two sizes the 520 and 1040, denoting the amount of memory in each one, with the rather larger offering 1040K of RAM - yes you read it correctly, just over 1MB of RAM! What made the Atari so popular for musicians was it had MIDI built in, which meant once you had the software there was no further hardware to buy to make music. Writing for International Musician in 1985 Jeremy Vine said “Where Atari have excelled themselves is in having implemented MIDI on the ST as a standard interface. Situated at the rear of the machine are the two ports, MIDI IN and MIDI OUT (THRU). Beyond that, Atari haven't done any fancy tricks but their mere presence opens up a world of possibilities for the musician. It's the combination of GEM, MIDI, 512k of RAM and the speed of the micro which makes this a real treat.” Full review at Mu:zines

C-Lab Creator (£285)

Back in the day there were two main music sequencer packages used by the masses, Steinberg Pro24 and C-Lab Creator (or Notator if you wanted scoring). Creator was a work of genius that combined multi-length patterns coupled with a powerful Arrange window that made sequencing a track a doddle. In some ways using Creator is still easier and better than most modern DAWs for sequencing MIDI. The MIDI timing was certainly tighter. Creator morphed into different incarnations over its life until it was bought by Apple and became Logic - the rest as they say is history! Full review at Mu:zines

C-Lab Unitor (£349)

If you wanted to mix your MIDI sequences with your audio then you needed to lock your MIDI hardware to tape using SMPTE. For those using C-Lab then the Unitor was the simplest way to do this. The Unitor plugged into the side of the Atari ST and then sent and received SMPTE code via jack leads. It also offered additional MIDI port expansion.

Roland MT32 (£450)

There were several multitimbral sound devices in the 1980s, early low cost units included the Yamaha FB01, TX81Z and the Roland MT32, followed later on by units like the Roland U110 and the EMU Systems Proteus. The MT32 was a small black box based on the Roland D50 and offering 7 channels of audio and drums and was a favourite of Atari ST owners needing sounds for their computer music making. All modern DAWs feature plugins that offer the same if not better quality sounds to use. This is what Martin Russ said in Sound on Sound in 1987 “With a suitable software package, the MT32 will make a very useful expander for the sequencer user. In fact, a single MT32 plus computer-based sequencer could satisfy virtually all the requirements for a simple but complete MIDI set-up for a home recordist: synths, drums, reverb - just add vocals (and creativity) for an instant hit!” Full review at Mu:zines

Akai MX73 (£599)

If you want to record any MIDI then you are going to need a MIDI controller. The Akai MX73 was a good quality well priced MIDI controller and used in many studios during the 1980s.

The Core System

So there we are, the core of any 80s recording studio. Of course you’ll need to add mics, headphones and instruments to record effectively, but the basics come to the total shown below…

TOTAL PRICE = £10,893

What Would You Need Today To Get The Same Features And Quality?

A Computer - Windows or Mac - £500

A new Windows computer or a refurb Apple Mac can be purchased for less than £500 and are powerful enough to run any application to match the performance of old tape and sequencers. An Intel i5 Windows laptop from a reputable brand will cost around £480, or a refurbished Apple iMac, Intel Core i5 2.5GHz - 16GB - 500GB - LED 21.5" can be purchased from a dealer for less than £500.

Now the even better news about the software…

PreSonus Studio One Prime/Pro Tools Intro/Garageband - Free

Any of the DAWs shown above are free. All have 16 tracks of high quality audio, MIDI and a mixer with built in effects.

PreSonus StudioLive AR16c - £530

StudioLive AR16c: 16 channel USB-C™ Compatible Audio Interface / Analog Mixer / Stereo SD Recorder.

• 18-channel hybrid USB-C mixer

• Integrated 2x2 SD card stereo recorder

• Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity

• 16 built-in, premium-grade digital effects

• Complete with comprehensive software bundle

Arturia KeyLab Essential 61 MIDI Keyboard - £230

61 note full sized keyboard controller with MIDI hardware control. It includes Analog Labs 2 and UVI grand piano.

• Can Be Used To Control External Hardware Via MIDI

• Velocity Sensitive Keys For Capturing Every Little Nuance

• Includes Ableton Live Lite, Analog Lab 2 & UVI Grand Piano Model D

Adam Audio T5V Studio Monitor - £270

The T5V is a highly affordable two-way nearfield monitor and optimized for small control rooms. It will sound far better than the beloved NS10 speakers do and give a much more accurate sound. Check out our review of the Adam T5V studio monitor

That’s all you need to replace the gear shown above and get comparable results, with a total cost of…

TOTAL PRICE = £1530

Summary

As you can see, the cost of entry to get the same, if not better results than those afforded by recording setups of the 1980s, is around a 10th of the price, as a community member pointed out, if you account for inflation then the cost today would be an eye watering £33,580.65. Furthermore, modern systems are more flexible, take up far less space, burn far less electricity and use far fewer user serviceable parts.

Gear has never been cheaper or been as flexible and powerful. The next time you want to moan because a piece a software or a plugin doesn’t do everything you wished it did then you may want to remind yourself of how lucky we are to record and mix today!

Modern recording gear is a bloody miracle, there is no other word to describe it. Now go and make some music!