How To: Building a Studio at Home and Recording Music

Do you want to record music at home? If so this guide will help you out. First off you need a room, large or small, to dedicate to recording, as well as a possible smaller, or zoned off room for the microphone/singing booth, if you want. We will start off with your need to have items.

Your computer, studio monitors (speakers), and editing/production/recording tools are the basics. Some good software to start with is Audacity, because it is free and easy to learn. You can also look into Pro Tools, Reaper, FL Studio, and/or Sony Vegas, which can also be used for video.

That covers your editing tools, now onto recording tools. As far as microphones, you have condenser mics, and dynamic mics. Some mics (usually condenser mics) need to have a power input which can be attained by plugging in and routing the mic through an external interface or mixer, which can be plugged into your computer by Firewire or USB.

Your production tools are going to be the devices and interfaces that do most of the hard work. Some useful tools are Firewire and USB devices like mixers, interfaces, EQ’s, and other equipment. You can also invest in a vast array of microphones and different instrumental software and mixer software. A MIDI plug in device, such as a MIDI capable keyboard is nice too, but not necessary. Out of all this, your computer is the main plug in and hub for all of these devices, so a good sound card, not integrated, would be a basic must.

Once you have all of your software and hardware, you can also invest in two other things: Acoustics foam, and a pop filter. A pop filter is the round screen that goes in front of your mic to take out the hard pops, and edgy noises that most vocalists don’t like to have on their final tracks. The acoustics foam could be replaced with egg carton foam, or some other form of sound deadener, to prevent sound from bouncing around the room and back into mic, creating distortion.

Now that you have all of your supplies, let’s start with the room and acoustics foam. This foam will be used as a sound deadener, as I stated above, so you will want to make sure you don’t have any hard surfaces. Wooden floors, paneled walls, glass and windows, all can be subtle, but still create distortion.

Using proper insulation and molding to seal off and insulate the windows would be a first step, or choose a room with no windows. Picking a room with carpet already on the floor would be best, then adding acoustics foam to the wall and maybe sound deadening paint or covering on the ceiling would be your next step.

The area of the room that you pick to be your vocal booth should be close off from the rest of the room, either a closet, or a makeshift room using blankets hanging from the ceiling would work fine. Make this room large enough to sit/stand in, place a few mics, and a place to set your laptop for recording. Which brings me to another point, it isn’t a MUST, but a laptop helps out greatly in recording. The versatility and movement ability, as well as the quietness of it compared to a desktop helps. You can still use a desktop computer and a desk but you would just run the wires and hookups out of your vocal booth to your computer. This is where the process becomes easier with two people.

In your vocal booth, behind your mic, you should setup a V shaped deadener right behind it, to catch any sound that bypasses the mic to make sure that none of it bounces around and creates distortion. This can be achieved by getting a V or L shaped piece of metal, wood, or cardboard and putting the foam and material on it, then propping that up on a stand or attaching it to the mic stand, and place it behind the mic.

When you are ready to start recording, just record a blank track, and listen for background noise. Depending on where you live, this may let you know if you need to do more work to close off the room and sound proof it. I live in a noisy area where there is a lot of traffic and noise outside in the afternoons and I have thin walls on my house, so I have a lot of deadener, foam, and other items set up to prevent that from interfering with my recording.

The last thing I will add in here is the tools I use. I purchased the Pro Tools Vocal Studio from Bestbuy about a year ago, and it has served me well for all of my needs. It includes Pro Tools SE and an M-Audio Producer USB Mic. It will run you about 100 dollars give or take depending on where you live, but it is a solid investment to get you on your feet recording music.

Recording vocals and instruments takes time, and some money to setup the studio, but all of the above should get you well on your way to creating your very own at home studio for a low budget.