Tips for Setting Up a Recording Studio at Home
- Written by News Company
A lot of people think that creating a recording studio at home is a huge project. The truth is that setting up your recording studio is easier than you think it is. Although this is an expensive project and takes months of planning, research, and preparation, all you need are some essentials and you can set up a relatively good recording studio at home. If you think it’s all about equipment, you are partially right. You do need the best equipment but that is not all. You also need the essentials for insulating your room and making it into a space worthy of being called a studio. It includes elements like padding and other things that we will discuss later on. If you live in Canberra then you need essentials like double glazing windows Canberra or anywhere else that you live.
Here are some tips to help you in making a recording studio at home:
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Keep It Simple
Most people think that they need advanced items if they are beginners, but that is not the case. The truth is that most experts prefer to keep it simple. If you try too much too soon you can become overwhelmed with all the equipment and get discouraged by the initial results thus quitting the plan altogether. This means that all your hard work goes down the drain and all the money that you have invested will be completely wasted. So make sure that you keep it simple enough to handle the complexities of setting up the recording studio.
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How Cheap is Too Cheap?
The home recording studio is an expensive setup. Not many people have huge savings to buy all the expensive devices and equipment. That is why a lot of beginners look for the cheapest solutions so that they can begin recording as soon as possible with the least amount of capital. Just make sure that you don’t sacrifice quality for the sake of getting cheaper equipment. If you are serious about your music then you have to make sure that you buy quality pieces of equipment.
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What Does the Perfect Starting Studio Contain?
If you are serious about building your recording studio at home, here’s what you need:
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A Computer
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DAW/Audio Interface Combo
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Studio Monitors
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One or Two Microphones
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Headphones
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Few Cables
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One Mic Stand
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A Pop Filter
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Ear Training Software
As long as you keep it simple, you can start as soon as you want with the least amount of capital invested. Later on, you will upgrade things like these DI boxes so you can have a balanced signal from your instruments or microphones in post-processing.
When you get all these items, you will be able to create a simple yet functional home recording studio. For anyone who is just starting, this is the perfect setup.
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Designing Your Room
Once you have the setup, it is time to design the room that you will be using as your studio. Most people don’t think about it. They either neglect this altogether or underestimate the importance of designing a room for the studio. The truth is that a well-designed room can make quite a difference between a well-recorded project and a poorly-recorded project, that seems like it was worked on in the garage. So, spare yourself the irritation and the frustration of bad music and make sure that you give the proper attention to your room.
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Choose the Best Room
Choosing the best room might not be as simple as you think it is. If you only have one option then it is quite simple, but usually, there are three or four rooms from which you have to select from. You have to make sure that the one you select is just the right room for you recoding. Some rooms are better than others when it comes to building your recording studio.
Here’s what you have to avoid in a room that you want to select:
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Small Spaces
The basic rule of choosing a room is that the bigger the room the better the sound quality will be. Big rooms have the space for multiple musicians at a time and they have the space for equipment and gear that you will be bringing in from time to time. A smaller room might offer privacy and coziness but choose bigger for better sound quality.
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Noise
We are so accustomed to all the noise that surrounds us that we don’t even hear it. But once you have a microphone in front of you, you will start noticing all the noise that is recorded along with the music. All sounds are magnified through the microphone and you will start noticing the noises that you never gave importance to before.
For example, noises of:
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Passing cars
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Noisy neighbors
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Plumbing
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Birds chirping
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Crickets
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Wind
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Rain
These and many other noises will create disturbance in your recordings. Therefore, you need to make sure that you select the quietest room that is preferably facing far away from the street that you live in. No matter how much you try, there will be noise so you have to make sure that you install noise cancellation gears on your walls, floor, windows, and doors.
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Poor Flooring
The best flooring options for a recording studio are hard surfaces similar to concrete-like tiles, and hardwood floors also are best suited for this purpose. Carpeted floors can cause problems because with time carpet wears out and cannot absorb noises and recording high frequencies becomes difficult because of this.
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Poor Acoustics
If you have selected a particular bedroom to be your recording studio in your home then see if the room has high ceilings asymmetrical walls and hard surfaces. Otherwise, if your room has low ceilings and a parallel wall made of drywall. All these factors will negatively affect the acoustics.
Conclusion
A typical home might not have all these things so don’t look for perfection. Just look for a room that has most of these elements and you will be good to go. As you are a beginner, you don’t need these things all at once. When you start recording your music, you can change your settings as you go. For now, you are ready to record in your new studio