Building a Home Recording Studio
How to Build a project recording studio in your home on almost
any budget.
by Kevin Healy
January 01, 2007
Technology has changed the face of recording in the music industry.
PC based recording has allowed artists to build home recording studios
that are almost of equivalent in quality compared to a professional
recording studio. Laptop studios have also been on the rise, giving
artists total control and freedom over recording and song writing
in any environment.
So what does this mean for you? It means you have plenty of choices, and budgets to work within,
when creating your own project studio. A few questions you should
ask yourself before building a home recording studio:
Do you plan to record a band all at once or recording band members
one at a time?
Are you comfortable using computers or do you like using hardware?
Where is the best place to set up your studio?
What equipment is going to get used the most?
Location & Room Construction
The first thing you should consider when building a studio is
the amount of space you have to work with. Software studios tend
to take up a lot less space than hardware studios, but if space
is not an issue I would recommend going the hardware route. The
shape of the space is also important. Square and rectangular rooms
are more desirable than L shaped rooms, and having 2 rooms or a
room with a closet is ideal. L shaped rooms are bad because they
are hard to get proper speaker placement for a good sounding playback
when mastering a track.
The geographical location of your studio plays a role in soundproofing
your studio. You do not want to be under a heavy traffic airplane
zone or near any loud interferences (ie. Trains, highways, etc)
but work with what you have I just wanted to bring these points
to your attention when choosing a location for your recording studio
If you plan to be doing a lot of on location recording then maybe
you can benefit from a mobile laptop studio due to its small size
(less to lug around). Computers are advancing at such a fast rate
that new laptops are of sufficient speed to run recording, editing
and mixing software.
Software & Hardware Studios
You can always build a combination of both. PC based studios with
hardware accessories like: effects units, synthesizers, instruments,
microphones, etc, are great because you are never limited in any
of the paths you take, all sound equipment is made to work with
each other some how, just make sure you do your reading into compatibility
and reliance issues of the equipment.
If you want to run synthesizers along side software synthesizers
then by using a midi interface card or a sound card with midi capability
then you can meld your hardware and software to run in sync with
either the synth, or the computer, set to control the mater timing
of the devices.
What you will need for the most basic recording set-up:
- a computer with a sound card
- a microphone and a mixer (or microphone preamp)
- powered speakers or stereo
- a midi keyboard (optional)
This will enable you to record vocals and record instruments on
a single track basis. The midi keyboard is optional, you can always
click the notes in to your sequencer patterns, but most prefer to
play the sounds on a midi controller.
The Layout of your Studio
The mixer is usually the heart of your studio, so it should be
the main focus of how you gear is arranged. A good rule of thumb
is to sit in your chair, stretch your arms out and swivels around,
anything within reach of your arms is considered valuable space
reserved for your most often used equipment. There is no "best"
way to set up your gear , it will all depend on how you go about
writing your tracks and what set-up is most comfortable for you.
There are many different rack mount solutions for you to use in
your studio, you can have racks integrated into studio desks, table
top racks, and roller racks that can be tilted for ease of use.
I'm sure as you quickly noticed that cables will be snaking all
over your studio, creating a lot of tripping hazards and the chance
of a cable getting snagged and your gear getting damaged. A good
solution for routing cables is to buy some flexible plastic tubing
and slice it down the center then route the cables through the hose
and have the enter and leave anywhere along the hose through the
center cut, you may also want to notch out holes along the center
cut so that your cables don't get pinched depending on the type
of flexible plastic hosing that you use.
Speaker Placement
Proper speaker placement to maximize the purest sound from your
speakers has become an art it includes factors such as matching
characteristics of your amp to your speakers, dealing with the positive
and negative space balance in the room as well as taking into account
any reflective properties of furniture, flooring and walls of a
room.
A few tips to help you achieve a decent sound:
- Raise your speakers to ear level
- Do not tip them on their side
- Do not put them directly in the corners of a room, Position
them a little bit out from the wall
My best advice is to buy the best equipment that you can afford.
It always sucks when you buy some new equipment only to find out
that six months later, you need to upgrade the equipment because
you decided to go the cheap way first, costing you more in the long
run.
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