Building A Studio - My New Home Studio Pt. 1

Equipment Used:

Today, we are changing a small kids bedroom into a control room! I am hoping that this video is a great step-by-step guide on how to build an amazing studio in your house.

My old engineer, Mike Arango, who went to work for Sweetwater has generally offered to help us out with this exciting new project!

In the room, we want to have a control room where we can mix and master, but also in the corner, to be able to put a vocalist -- this isn't a big room I'm talking about, it's the typical size for a kids bedroom, but our friends at Sweetwater think that they can help me make this happen!

There are a few things to cover when looking at a room. The two big things are one, what is the room sound like inside (we will get into this with the dimensions and treatment of things), and the second is how much noise is acceptable to get in and out of the room.

This cheatsheet will talk through Room Mode, Treatments, Absorption, Reflection Points, and MORE!

❤️My Favorite Plugins:

❤️GEAR:

Join the community here:

Facebook Group

Facebook Page:

Instagram

Twitter

❤️❤️Free 3 Part Mixing Course:

#ProduceLikeAPro
#HomeRecording
#BuildANewStudio

Produce Like A Pro is a website which features great tips to help the beginning recordist make incredible sounding home recordings on a budget.

[Producelikeapro]

Have YOU ever built a studio before? Let me know your "building a home studio" tips and tricks below!

[hendricksam]

Timely!
I'm 24 and I'm in that phase of making those critical crucial decisions for my small space.
Much gratitude!

[dewey]

Hey Warren!
This is going to be a great series. I'm sure many folks will look at their environment and start thinking of ways to improve their space. I built a 24x40 studio from the ground up in 1995/6 centered around 3 Adat's which were just becoming available at the time. I researched everything but I was young and had no clue as to acoustics...anything actually...looking back. Lol. Also, no budget to address it properly so all my treatment was homemade. Cheap Auralex 12 inch foam sqares, floor to ceiling in the 5x5 vocal booth. The drum room, 12x12 had 2 outer walls that I had floor to ceiling insulation covered in black burlap that actually sounded really good.
I made some gobos from with rigid insulation covered by black burlap as well. Framed 2x4 carpet remnants on backer boards as deflection hanging above the console and more burlap covered panels on all the walls. It wasn't perfect, but it actually did have a positive effect on the sound and for a young guy it was a dream come true. These days I'm solo in an upstairs bedroom looking forward to see how things go for you on this project. I know I'll want to redo everything! Hope the arm and hand are healing up well!

[CaptainMoto]

This will be very helpful to your audience, Warren. Gavin Haverstick designed my own home studio a few years back, he's a great guy and does excellent work.

[sharonraizor]

Years ago I visited a friends big photography studio. One thing I noticed was that everything was wheels. Everything could move around to create different spaces, so when I converted my basement to a recording studio I made everything except the mixing station movable. Every gobo was on wheels, every platform for drums, etc. could be moved. This has proven to be very helpful.

[rjb]

*This is an excellent idea, Warren!*

Setting up my home studio in my 22' x 15' living room/dining room space. I've eliminated the dining room section where the studio will be set up.

All will be placed at one end, with the sound throw running down the longer 22' space. Can't do much with the living room end, but I expect a lot of diffusion/absorption from the hard and soft furniture. Trapping the corners will be done in the studio end only. Proper cloud may be tough as the dining room chandelier will have to be eliminated, but a solid one-piece cloud is out because of the light socket. May have to do two strips instead.

Setting up the desk at the 38% location permanently is not feasible, so I've built the desk (a coverted wooden kitchen table) with wheels to keep it close to the wall when not in use, and easily rolled out to the sweet 38% spot when in use. I've three 4-space racks with a monitor on top of the middle rack and a 12-space side car for additional gear. Some day I'll actually learn to use all the stuff I've added over the years! Will be adding a roll-out drawer for a MIDI keyboard, computer keyboard and mouse as well. This is only the 2nd time in all my research that I've run across the 38% factor for desk set-up. Would've thought it was more commonly known.

Looking forward to this series as I plan on *stealing almost every suggestion presented!*

Your vids are terrific and I'm sure we'll pick up a ton of info from your efforts, Warren. By the way, I love that sweet Yamaha guitar you play in some other videos. I've got over 20 guitars myself. One would think I'm something special, based on my collection... but I'm more of a blues hacker who never saw a *Tele* he didn't like!

[wagnerribeiro]

Building a proper studio is my dream. But I cannot complain. My humble and small home studio makes me glad because it is very functional indeed.
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and experience with us. You make the difference, Warren! Cheers!

[StandbyCymbalist]

thx for highlighting Bob Golds room mode calculator. I'd been doing my own measurements, but this is wildly easier and more informative.

[paulEmotionalaudio]

New life goal. Build a decent home studio! So cool.

[Stastylen]

Mike Arango is a great guy! He has helped me with tons of gear purchases through the years!

[kronik]

Mike is my assigned sales engineer at sweetwater, and he has always been lovely to talk to over the phone.

[papa_da_engineer]

sound treatment (panels and or diffusion) is by far the most important part of any room or studio

[deajae]

This is great. I’ve thrown my studio together when we moved house 6yrs ago and have always said ‘I’ll get round to setting it up properly one day’, well with this information I’m gonna learn and set mine up as you do yours. I don’t have your budget, but I’ll try my best to make it better.
Thanks Warren.

[thrivesuffer]

Love this, especially the graphs and diagrams. I have some experience with external soundproofing to minimize sound leak. You need to think of the room as a big bucket of water, wherever the water would leak out so would your sound. Doesnt matter how waterproof your bucket is, if you have a hole in it, it's going to leak. Some problem areas you will find are light and power sockets! You need to back fill them with spray foam often. You want a heavy airtight door. If you take an old hollow core door and fill it with play sand and attach rubber seals all around. Remember to isolate any speakers so there is no acoustic coupling happening. And the number one tip for this is if you know you are going above and beyond (such as a weekend of recording drums) talk to your neighbours before hand if you can and see if theres any no-go times

[ThomasLoyd]

I guess what I took from all this is that I prefer to get all direct recording and use headphones for my studio. Sound acoustics management is a major pain in the ass. Oh well, hopefully the wife can stay happy with my aspirations! Thanks for sharing this part of your insight Warren! And thank you Sweetwater too!

[tedbahas]

Great video. Mike Arango definitely rocks. He totally knows his stuff.

[eazyfreek]

I Can't Wait To See It Come Together and To See It Finished. Thanks For Sharing This With Us. Thanks Warren...

[tylerwmbass]

Love working with Mike, he’s been my Sweetwater sales engineer for a while!

[velvetsound]

I’m building a studio in my basement right now, 23x16. I’ve been using the FabricWall system and have it installed now, following the videos from Colt Capperune, and am really pleased with the results.

[brenttauromusic]

Really excited for this series, Warren!