How to Build a Home Studio That Inspires Creativity
Recording music isn’t just about capturing sound. It’s also about creating an environment that will allow inspiration to flow more freely. Home recording studios have become increasingly popular over the years, especially for artists who want to escape the chaos of urban life. It can give them a more secluded and immersive atmosphere that will allow them to be more creative.
Setting Up Your Space for Home Recording
Recording music at a home studio can come with a number of advantages. Not only is it more affordable, but it can also give you access to a more flexible (and more comfortable) space than what you may get in a large-format recording studio. You will, however, have to make decisions on everything from how you arrange and treat your space to what type of equipment you need.
Here are some helpful tips on how to set up your space for home recording:
Orient the room correctly — You don’t want the listener to be at the center of the room, and you should try to place your speakers in a symmetrical fashion with respect to boundaries. Performing both of these steps will make sure you get an accurate picture of the mix.
Use quality equipment — You want to have one or two quality mics, a quiet audio interface, as well as one or two good preamps (which may not be included with the interface).
Make the room quiet — This can involve setting up a smaller space that you can use as a booth. But if you’re recording in the same space where you’ll be mixing, you need to figure out how to make the room quiet. This can involve housing equipment inside a sound isolation rack, using an HVAC system that’s “designed to be quiet,” or just turning it off while you’re recording.
Install acoustic treatment — This is one of the most important steps in setting up a home recording studio, so you want to be targeted in your approach. You will need to focus on the “first reflection position,” which is where your speakers are going to send sound off to a close boundary. This can be your console, a wall, or even the ceiling.
Manage your low-frequency response — This is harder in a home studio than it is in a commercial one because low frequencies can’t be effectively absorbed by standard acoustic treatment, but you want to do the best you can. Focus on the room’s corners, because they have the most surface area and are where most of your low frequencies are going to build up.
Make it fun but functional — Every studio needs to have some type of signature, because they’re about more than just taking care of business. Recording studios are also where people can have fun, so don’t be afraid to add a little “personality” to your home studio design.
If you’re having trouble planning out your home studio, don’t be afraid to get help by hiring a consultant. Paying a few hundred dollars for some professional advice could save you thousands in plugins and gear.
Finding the Right Gear for Your Home Recording Studio
If you want to have a functional home recording studio, you’ll need to have the right gear. And while you don’t need to have an expensive mixing console with a ton of preamps, there are some things that are important to every home recording studio. This can include the following:
A good large diaphragm condenser (LDC) mic — Every recording studio needs to have a “workhorse mic,” and large diaphragm condensers (LDC’s) can cover a lot of ground on a sonic level (whether it’s for recording vocals or tracking drums). There are a lot of options on the market and at various price points. So, you’re sure to find a great mic that won’t break the proverbial bank.
A good pair of small diaphragm condenser (SDC) mics — If you run into a situation where an LDC won’t get the job done, an SDC usually will. And because they work well for instrumental recording, it’s a good idea to have two. You’ll be able to cover transient-heavy sources (such as percussion and other acoustic instruments).
Aside from the essentials, here are some useful pieces of gear that are worth mentioning:
A 500 series rack — This is a special enclosure with a number of slots that can provide power and input/output (I/O) to a variety of modules (from mic amps to multi-effects processors). Buying a larger unit with 8-11 spaces gives you some amount of “future-proofing” when the inevitable case of Gear Acquisition Syndrome (GAS) starts to take hold.
The AudioScape 76D Compressor — The Urei 1176 is widely considered to be the best FET compressor ever made, and it’s given rise to a number of knockoffs (both analog and digital) and so-called “clones” made by many different companies. The AudioScape 76D is one of the best on the market, and it won’t require you to make a $5,000 investment.
If you’re on a budget and can’t afford to buy outboard gear, you can find a number of free and low-cost plugins that can do the job just as well (if you’re willing to do a little research). And don’t be afraid to use the stock plugins that are available in your Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). I personally love the linear phase EQ that’s available with Cubase Pro.
Final Thoughts
Recording in a home studio often involves a process of “trial and error,” which is another way of saying that it’s a “process of discovery.” It’s hard to say what you’ll find on your home recording journey, but many classic DIY albums have proven that some of the best and most influential pieces of art can come from small and noisy rooms.
