If you’re a music enthusiast who enjoys producing and you’re seriously thinking about committing to it, then you will have no doubt considered constructing a studio in your spare room at home. A home studio is more than adequate at a semi-professional level and does not cost a fortune to set up like a professional industry-standard studio.
First things first
The key consideration for building your own studio is room choice. When choosing the room there are a couple things you must bear in mind; is the room too close to your sons/daughters (if you have any)? Does it have thick walls for better soundproofing? Is there a fan or air conditioning unit that regularly makes an annoying noise? Ideally, you should pick a room that has natural soundproofing- as this will reduce the amount of padding you’ll need to put in later. By nailing the room your studio vacates, you will be able to save a substantial amount of money as the ideal room should have fairly good soundproofing and acoustics and won’t find yourself having to spend loads sorting these out.
Microphones
The next step is to choose your microphones. There are hundreds of different types of microphones on sale, from really cheap supermarket branded ones to high-end models from the likes of AKG and Shure. Some manufacturers even sell dedicated microphones for specific instruments like guitar or drums as well as vocals.
Shure and Sennheiser both make high quality condenser mics that are great for studios as they are small but are easy to direct the sound.
Speakers & Headphones
Yamaha is an industry favourite for speakers and headphones; they have an excellent range for different needs and budgets. Whether you decide to spend tens of pounds, hundreds or thousands on headphones and speakers, the main thing to remember is that the more you spend, the better your productions will sound. So if you were to spend £1500 on a pair of pro audio speakers, the music will sound great to your ears but this may not be the same for everyone else.
Recording Software
Whether you’re a Microsoft maestro or a Apple advocate, the one thing that matters is the recording software that you use to make your beats or record your music. There are variety of decent audio interfaces that don’t break the bank from manufacturers like Lexicon, UK Multimedia, M-Audio and Focusrite.
Of course you’ll need other components to put in your studio (cables, stands, mixer, amplifier etc) but the above just covers the basics.
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