The biggest mistake I made with my home studio 🤷‍♂️

Howdy! Today we're doing a studio overhaul! Lately I've been thinking a lot about creating a more optimal work environment, and today it's time to make it happen.
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#homestudio #musician #musicproducer

[VenusTheory]

Maybe time for a studio tour soon? 🤔
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[NaviRetlav]

Here is my secret for all music producers! Every day, as soon as you wake up, take the vitamin D pill and go outside for 1-2 hour trip to take as much sun as you can. This is what I was missing for past 10 years as a sound designer, and I really regret that I was spending so much time in the dark. I guarantee you that after just a week, your mental health will improve a lot, and your body will also thank you for this. Discovering this was my biggest game changer of this year! It's really worth to try.

[presidentskroob]

My 'studio' is also my sim racing rig, flight rig, home office, Harry Potter lego collection, retro game console collection, 3d printing rig, and is usually covered in teddies as my daughter wants to sit on my lap and play sims. And I absolutely love it that way!

[redstonegangster]

I can’t believe I just heard you say aiaiai seriously multiple times

[robertsillitoe]

I had the same problem - I do music, and I do work, and I spent 18 months trying to create a space that allows for both. I ended up with a space that is too much of a compromise for both tasks meaning it services neither of them correctly. So this weekend, I have finally set up TWO spaces! A work space and a music space. I can now focus on the task at hand in the optimal set-up for each. The only thing I need to do now is work out a new excuse for why I am not being productive.

[zuur]

When I redid my studio just before the pandemic (how's that for timing!) I bought a label printer and labeled every cable. Where it went, where it came from. Every power adapter got a label describing what it powered. Since only the biggest brands still brand their power adapters, that is a huge time saver. Also no more awkwardly sitting under the desk gently tugging at some cable to see what moved. :)

[ansmfella]

As well as minimalistic considerations you've covered for setting up one's studio, I have found the concepts found in Feng Shui also very interesting in application. For instance.. Placing the desk in the "command position" (back to a far wall, facing the entrance of the room) I found really helps a primal portion of the brain relax because it no longer needs to worry and protect your back if someone or something enters the room behind you. Seems subtle but having your back protected, facing and welcoming what/whoever may enter your room releases and raises your focus and energy on what's at hand.

[MantaAudio]

astonishing, how every VenusTheory-video looks like a movie. Every camera angle is just delicious.
BIG UP!! So nice to watch!

[elliotthall]

This video taught me nothing at all about synths or music...yet was one of the most valuable I've watched in probably a couple of years. I'm right behind you, not just in my studio, but in my life. Thanks for this video, man!

[NickHillMakesMusic]

This channel has become a huge inspiration over the past two days I've known of its existence. Thanks so much for all of your thorough explanations.

[taquachicuhhans]

When I worked for SSL, we had a presentation called “why do you work that way”. It’s a 25 minute presentation in three parts. 1) physical aspect was placement of your gear. With the right placement of your gear, your workflow is comfortable. 2) emotional. Your environment such as climate, ambient lighting and anything that helps with inspiration will increase productivity 3) cognitive. Learning your DAW, drum machine, synth etc (RTFM Read The Fu$&en Manual) and when to be creative. If you stop being creative to learn how to do something on your gear, your creativity decreases. In some cases you get burnt out.

[DopamineOverload]

Absolutely loved this video. Always dig all your vids, man.

My studio mimics my ADHD. It's always chaotic. It's clean and minimal, but the plugged-in gear changes from week to week. Due to immense financial strain that I feel I will never escape, I had to sell $12, 000 worth of gear from late 2021 until the present, just to keep myself fed, wi-fi on, and electric/gas operational. I honestly feel like I will never get out from under bills.

Selling all the gear I didn't "need" was heartbreaking, as I feel that the more gear I have, the more inspired I am (and this has always been true). I haven't made music largely since my father died unexpectedly in Feb 2019, and then covid.

One thing I wonder (and feel free to respond to this comment, anyone out there who can relate)... the more instruments you play, the harder it is to have a humble, minimal studio. I'm a drummer, guitarist, bassist, keyboardist/pianist and hip-hop enthusiast/beat producer. And I sing when there's no one else to sing for me or with me. And, I love gaming, too. So, by default, I need in my studio-- a drumkit (electronic or acoustic... these days my acoustic kit is disassembled and stored in an area of my studio), guitar stand with multiple guitars (acoustic and electric), and then there's the midi controllers and whatnot (Novation SL MK3 61-key, some of the smaller ones, Maschine MK3, Launchpad Pro, etc). MPC One, turntable... etc.

I truly do miss the gear I had to part with... just hoping and praying to come up from drowning, and turn it all around, financially, in a big way. Not feeling a lot of hope, but I'm trying.

Cable management is always tough. USB devices (controllers) and how no hubs ever work well enough to have more than 8 USB devices connected, without weird-ass behavior or flakiness happening in some way... and then, there's the camera stuff. I keep the lighting simple ($20 clamp-on LEDs from Amazon), $20 semi-wide-angle Chinese-made webcams for most of the video (had to sell my beloved Panasonic Lumix G7), etc... just trying to constantly pump out content, with the cheap stuff I have.

Another thing that drives me nuts: I live in an older house, with uneven floors, uneven ceilings, weird ceiling angles, etc. It's spacious, but everything is unstable (desks, etc), no matter how hard I try to remedy this. I'd love a modern house with level floors, but... we do what we can.

I hope anyone who took the time reading this feels nothing but gratitude for their setup and life... times are tough, depression and anxiety is at an all-time high... and it's hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel, even if there is one at all.

Stranger, I believe in you. Stay creative as always.

[elliotr]

When you said "with having all of this stuff, there was a sense of obligation to use it", that echoed my exact sentiment from one or two months ago when I made a concerted effort to re-design my own relatively-new studio. This year I finally came into the money to buy the things I needed/wanted for making music:

- A strong computer
- Sample libraries largely of my choosing for every orchestral instrument category
- Nice plugins

I'm glad I stopped buying things fairly early on, as it wasn't actually as early on as it could have been. I learned I really only want to use one or two reverbs for orchestral music, not... 8. I really only want to use a small handful of every other kind of plugin. I don't actually want my 55" 4K 120FPS 9ms latency TV as a monitor, as it serves mostly as a large, acoustically-untreatable reflective surface that I have to strain my neck to make full use of.

Less really can be more. I just want to make music, I have almost no interest in acquiring any more 'things' (besides maybe replacing my TV with a normal people monitor - anyone want a TV?), sample libraries, plugins. I just want to practice scoring, writing my own music, and sleeping and eating healthily. And probably socializing more. Having too many *things* gave me a strong sense of responsibility to constantly be auditioning different reverbs, synths, compressors etc. for 'the right one', when in reality I was almost equally happy with them all. They're all fun to dial in in their own way, but that fun quickly becomes exhausting and a huge distraction from the only reason I cared to buy this stuff in the first place.

[stateazure]

My studio is a lot smaller than your space, which also forces optimisation. I'm also not a collector of gear, so that helps with the limitations. Redundant gear usually gets sold, with only a few things shelved. Gaming rig, sim rig and VR space are in a separate room. My studio really is just for music production and nothing else, so when I walk into that room it's for one reason only. My studio is somewhat inspired by Martin Sturtzer's studio, which is even more optimised than mine!

Your studio looks awesome, and probably suits your content better and I'm also jealous, of all the space you have to play with there.

[DirettoIZM]

Great video, as usual. One new thing I recently did was to create a "portable" desk that has my iMac, Arturia Keylab 88, smaller monitors, headphones and audio interface on it that I can literally "wheel around" into whatever room in my house inspires me. Looking out different windows, heck, just being in a different room does something for my mindset. Ultimately, I'll mix it all in the regular studio, but when creating being free to move around seemed to inspire me.

[muralist_]

Absolutely true. I work both as a professional artist (painting huge murals, designing on photoshop / clip studio etc) and as a composer, writing all kinds of genres.
The best thing that I could have done, was the moment where I decided to split up my computer & desk into two computers on two desks. Both actually in the same (big) room, but on the opposite sites. Both arranged with tools and applications ONLY for that certain purpose.

So... when I'm sitting in one 'corner' I can't be distracted by other things. I work on that thing only, with that mindset and those particular tools and setup.

Works perfectly!

[krazywabbit]

What has worked for me is breaking my room down into stations. I work from home so I have a work station. There is the video production/gaming station. And the "noise making" station. This creates a mental perception of areas within an area. I also have place where I put things that are portable so when I get tired of being in the room, I can go play in the sun. Is all of this perfect? Nope. Am I having fun. Yep!

[aquaticborealis]

Something I found pretty helpful. Take a synth and a laptop/iPad and go somewhere else. Maybe a spot somewhere else in your house, or maybe a studio space, cottage, someplace else. But only take one or two things is key. I found this to be freeing and I was more productive.

[ChristopherOrth]

Great vid, and well done on your process! I've also found that documentation is crucial to not getting lost down a trail over and over of trying to remember what midi channel something is receiving, etc. Label everything. Keep documents of all the audio and midi routing, and anything else you find yourself looking for over and over. Same with having one folder on cloud sync with all my gear pdf manuals in it so any device can call up and answer a use questions super quick when they come up.

[peacevalleyaudio]

For about a year I had a photography and music studio in the same room. (our master bedroom) Now our 19 year old son moved out and my wife and I have utilized his room for a dedicated photography (for me) and crafts studio (for Her) . We thought sharing a roon in a smaller townhome was gonna suck, but it doesn't. We actually spend a little more time together. That's a bonus i guess. LOL But anyways having my music and photography separated now has not only reduced clutter, it has also created some harmony for my wife and I. Cheers to you Cameron