Back in the olden days, home studio recording took a lot of specialized and expensive equipment.
Now anyone can get started on their at home recording studio with just a few hundred dollars and some know-how. But it can be intimidating to know where to start.
If you’re looking for home recording studio ideas, look no further. We’ve put together five tried-and-tested tips to improve your home recording studio setup. Read on to learn more!
1. Room Treatments
Professional studios have acoustic treatments that help to control the sound in the space.
These treatments are achievable in a home music recording studio with a little elbow grease and investment.
There are several types of treatment. The first is acoustic foam. This is excellent for absorbing high-frequency echoes that will muddy up your recordings.
Another type is bass traps. These can be made at home from Rockwool insulation and wood framing. These will ensure that bass frequencies are more controlled in your space.
2. Upgrade Your Signal Chain
You don’t have to invest a small fortune, but upgrading your studio will go a long way towards improving your home studio recording.
Microphones and interfaces tend to be the biggest bottlenecks when it comes to good sound quality, so invest the most money in these items.
If you already have a decent interface, consider upgrading to external preamps to really super-charge your microphone recordings.
3. Eliminate Noise in Your Signal Chain
The best interfaces and microphones in the world cannot stand up to dirty house power. This is what causes hums, noise, and interference.
To really get the best sound out of your gear, look into getting a power conditioner. These come in a range of prices and features. At the very least, look for EMF filtering and ground hum elimination.
Make sure to plug all of your gear into these power conditioners. If that’s not possible, move the unconditioned equipment to a different outlet to prevent interference.
4. Maximize Your Mic Placements
Even having the best gear in the world cannot compensate for bad recording techniques.
When recording, make sure that your mic placements are capturing the source to the best possible detail.
Before recording a full take, check for phasing issues and make sure that the tone of the recording sounds good.
Good mic placement technique takes a lot of practice. Check out sites such as Multitrackhq for tips and tricks on home recording with microphones.
5. Learn Best Practices
Much like mic placement, studio best practices take time to learn and master.
These include things such as proper gain staging, good vocal techniques, and DAW organization and workflow that will make a huge difference in the quality of your home studio recordings.
Home Studio Recording For Everyone
With a little research and practice, high-quality home studio recording is accessible for everyone.
Remember that all of the gear in the world is not a replacement for good ears and practice. So don’t fall into the GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) trap when you’re just getting started on your home recording studio setup.
For more technology tips and tricks, be sure to check out the “Technology” section of our blog!
