HOW TO STUDIO
Are you sick and tired of recording vocals in your car? Do you want to make use of that spare room? Have you gone through a breakup and need a new hobby to prove to your ex that you do, in fact, have a life outside gaming?
If you answered yes to any of the above, it’s time to build a [music] studio. This isn’t going to be an exhaustive guide, but mostly recommendations I’d make based on making a studio myself. We’re going to break the whole process down, assuming you’re starting from scratch like I did. Please take everything written here with a grain of salt and a spoonful of ‘but why?’.
(Image credit: Provided by writer)
1. Find a good room.
Rectangular if possible. Cover the floor with rugs and find a decent sized desk. Throw a couch or something against the back wall. You want to kill enough sound in the room without turning it into an absorption chamber.
Think about others too. Your family will not appreciate you crafting 808 slides at 11pm, so pick somewhere that isn’t too noisy or close to anyone who would be annoyed. If you’re an amateur vocalist like I am, you will appreciate being as far away from anyone as possible when recording. Trust me. It gets bad.
2. Don’t cut corners on gear.
You don’t have to blow three grand on equipment. Conversely, you will get what you pay for. This means your three-year-old Beats by Dre headphones won’t cut it. All you really need are monitoring headphones (not the same as normal headphones), an audio interface and maybe studio monitors (but this can come later). If you’re a vocalist or musician, you will definitely need the interface, otherwise purist producers can get away with a small headphone preamp between your headphones and your laptop.
3. Acoustic treatment.
Egg cartons will probably not suffice. You want to treat the room, not absorb every single sound. Look into making some panels out of old timber. Stuff them with insulation/towels, cover in fabric and you’re good to go. Cover the walls relatively evenly, but make sure the wall space directly in front of/behind/beside your monitors (speakers) is treated (if you use monitors).
‘Tik Tok lights are optional’ (Image credit: Provided by writer)
The most difficult step will always be acoustic treatment. The other most difficult step will be accepting that your room will never be properly acoustically treated. Hear me out though. You’re setting this up on your own, with a spare room, with little to no money. It’s not going to be professionally treated. But it doesn’t have to be. All you really have to do is kill enough reverberation to hear through your monitors cleanly.
Unfortunately there’s no one size fits all for treatment either. It’s gonna depend a lot on the room, and even what the walls are made out of. Just keep experimenting and find the best configuration of speaker/seat/acoustic panels.
You’re probably not going to win a Grammy with the above, but it’s enough to make a start. There’s so much more that could be said about making studios. I haven’t even covered monitor placement or anything to do with software. Everything you need to get started is on the internet though, so get off your backside and make some art.
