Hello Kelcrow here, I started home recording in 1988 and when I'm not talking about home recording I'm a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer and engineer. So you can see why I get so excited talking about this subject. To start off with I've made a lot of mistakes when it comes to building a home studio. And the reason for this article is so you don't make the same mistakes I've made because it cost a lot of money when you make these kind of mistakes. Now if your just starting out most musicians use one room and that is OK but you need to try to choose a room as rectangular has possible because it is easier to control standing waves (that's a whole other article) than a square room is. Then once you have your room picked out or you build one like I did down the basement of our house. Then the next thing is sound reinforcement this is where the standing waves come in and your desire to tame them as best you can.
I found a really cheap way to do this is using those mattes that interlock like a puzzle work really well and you can find them at Walmart, Home Depot, or Target and their cheap compared to the foam. Now after you set up your desk and monitors at ether end of the room or you may want to use one of the long walls to set up your desk and monitors I've seen a lot of engineering rooms done this way sometimes it's just better with standing waves because the shorter distance. Then you'll what to attach those mattes to the wall with ether spray adhesive or some kind of mounting system. Now you have to figure out just where to put the mattes on the walls. First of all you'll need to surround the monitors that means you'll want two rows of mattes or foam behind the monitors. Now the monitors have to be three feet apart at the center of the cones so that means the two rows behind the monitors should be four feet apart on the wall. By the way a row can be 2' X 4' or 4' X 4' depending on your situation. And remember keep the monitors right at ear level when your sitting down at your desk. Then your going to start the wrap to the side walls you'll need both corners done across the corner of the two walls to create the wrap around now what you'll want to do is take a mirror with it facing your desk walk down the side walls until you see the monitors in the mirror that is where you'll want to start your next set of rows then go another two feet and put the last rows of your wrap around. There you are completely surrounding the monitors. And for the rest of the room you will need to walk around and clap your hands and when you hear an echo or a fludder (quieter than an echo) you'll want to put some foam or mattes there as well but don't get carried away you can over do it and that will hurt the sound of your room as well.
Now I hope you have your room setup and ready but before we can move forward we have to talk about cables and their importance I' m only going to say one name MOGAMI that's the only name you need to know when comes to home recording and cables these cables are what the pros use and so should you just start out knowing this. They are pricey but that's because they have a life time warranty, they have gold plated tips and they are completely transparent so quite you won't even know their there. So why is cabling so important? It's what connects all the other components and that is important when your routing your gear you don't want excessive noise. Now if you need custom cabling I would suggest this website www.psyoniclabs.com they have great people and great prices and great service. But if your on a budget you should try to get the stock made cables and you can find those to at the above mentioned website as well. Lets move on now remember I'm just writing about the basics here. And these are very important topics of the basic studio. But we have to be careful not to go over budget here the cables are going to cost enough but are well worth it and remember only buy what you need. That brings us to another subject your DAW (Digital Work Station) I'm not going to talk to much about this because this can be vary complex. And right now you're just trying to get started so I will introduce to you another website www.musicanddjinstructionalmedia.com The Home Recording Blueprint this is a step by step guide on how to record at home with very simple steps to great sounding home recordings and you don't need a lot of equipment or a engineering degree that's the best part. I have learned this is the easiest and cheapest way to home recording on a budget and you will come out sounding great. Well I hope this article helps you realistically achieve the commonly shared dream of all aspiring recording artist and DJ s. To have a home studio of your own. Happy Recording.
I found a really cheap way to do this is using those mattes that interlock like a puzzle work really well and you can find them at Walmart, Home Depot, or Target and their cheap compared to the foam. Now after you set up your desk and monitors at ether end of the room or you may want to use one of the long walls to set up your desk and monitors I've seen a lot of engineering rooms done this way sometimes it's just better with standing waves because the shorter distance. Then you'll what to attach those mattes to the wall with ether spray adhesive or some kind of mounting system. Now you have to figure out just where to put the mattes on the walls. First of all you'll need to surround the monitors that means you'll want two rows of mattes or foam behind the monitors. Now the monitors have to be three feet apart at the center of the cones so that means the two rows behind the monitors should be four feet apart on the wall. By the way a row can be 2' X 4' or 4' X 4' depending on your situation. And remember keep the monitors right at ear level when your sitting down at your desk. Then your going to start the wrap to the side walls you'll need both corners done across the corner of the two walls to create the wrap around now what you'll want to do is take a mirror with it facing your desk walk down the side walls until you see the monitors in the mirror that is where you'll want to start your next set of rows then go another two feet and put the last rows of your wrap around. There you are completely surrounding the monitors. And for the rest of the room you will need to walk around and clap your hands and when you hear an echo or a fludder (quieter than an echo) you'll want to put some foam or mattes there as well but don't get carried away you can over do it and that will hurt the sound of your room as well.
Now I hope you have your room setup and ready but before we can move forward we have to talk about cables and their importance I' m only going to say one name MOGAMI that's the only name you need to know when comes to home recording and cables these cables are what the pros use and so should you just start out knowing this. They are pricey but that's because they have a life time warranty, they have gold plated tips and they are completely transparent so quite you won't even know their there. So why is cabling so important? It's what connects all the other components and that is important when your routing your gear you don't want excessive noise. Now if you need custom cabling I would suggest this website www.psyoniclabs.com they have great people and great prices and great service. But if your on a budget you should try to get the stock made cables and you can find those to at the above mentioned website as well. Lets move on now remember I'm just writing about the basics here. And these are very important topics of the basic studio. But we have to be careful not to go over budget here the cables are going to cost enough but are well worth it and remember only buy what you need. That brings us to another subject your DAW (Digital Work Station) I'm not going to talk to much about this because this can be vary complex. And right now you're just trying to get started so I will introduce to you another website www.musicanddjinstructionalmedia.com The Home Recording Blueprint this is a step by step guide on how to record at home with very simple steps to great sounding home recordings and you don't need a lot of equipment or a engineering degree that's the best part. I have learned this is the easiest and cheapest way to home recording on a budget and you will come out sounding great. Well I hope this article helps you realistically achieve the commonly shared dream of all aspiring recording artist and DJ s. To have a home studio of your own. Happy Recording.
