Setting Up a Home Recording Studio
By Justin LaPointe
As a professional producer, audio engineer, and studio owner, I am going to help you set up a home recording studio. We’ll discuss how to identify the ideal recording space, choose the right equipment given your budget, and enhance your studio with acoustic treatment.
First, let’s review everything you need to plan before getting started.
Key Considerations Before You Start
Before making any purchases for your home recording studio, you should consider your goals, available recording space, and budget.
What Are Your Goals?
Your recording goals will help you to determine the best space, layout, and equipment to purchase. Take a moment to write out the answers to these questions:
Do you want to record live instruments in the studio?
If you want to record live instruments, you need to account for noise — both the outside noise that can disrupt your recordings and the noise you create.
There’s nothing worse than recording a killer take only to listen back and find it tainted with street noise. Likewise, if you will be producing loud noise, consider how this will impact the people you live around. Soundproofing and sound treatment can help overcome these issues.
Do you want to mix in the studio?
If you want to mix in your studio, you should consider the treatment of the room, the shape of the room, and how loud your listening levels will be.
Do you want to master in the studio?
If you want to master in your studio, you have to consider the treatment of the room even more so than if you’re just recording or mixing. Mastering requires finer attention to detail — you must be able to hear all frequencies evenly, and doing that in an untreated room is very difficult. Consider hiring a mastering engineer for your home studio projects.
Do you plan on working primarily through headphones or through monitors?
If you plan on primarily using headphones, the noise you generate will minimally impact others around you, and room treatment becomes less necessary without as much sound bouncing around. If you’re going to work with monitors, you’ll have to add more sound treatment to your room.
Keep in mind that it is inadvisable to mix using only headphones.
Do you want to record and collaborate with other people in this space?
Most home studios are meant for the people who live there. Depending on where you live, local legislation may not allow you to bring other people into your home for business purposes. You should also consider parking availability, lounge space and amenities for your guests, and how many people can fit inside.
Do you want one open space or two separate spaces for recording and listening?
Commercial recording studios usually have separate live and control rooms for the musicians and engineers. In a home studio, you may not have that luxury and will need to have everything in one room and use headphones while recording.
The Space
Before investing in any acoustic treatment, you’ll need to decide which room(s) will work best for your home recording studio.
Different rooms respond differently to sound — which is evident to anyone who has walked from a parking garage into an office building. Rooms that produce more echo and reverb can make a recording lack definition and sound muddy.
The fewer reflections, echoes, and reverb, the better for home studios. They are best suited to a dead-sounding space.
You should also consider how the walls are positioned. If at all possible, avoid rooms with a lot of flat, hard, parallel surfaces facing each other. Sound waves will bounce back and forth between parallel walls, floors, and ceilings, creating unwanted reverb or slap-back effects, whereas they will dissipate more quickly in a room with non-parallel surfaces. In the likely event that you only have typical rectangular-shaped rooms at your disposal, you can use acoustic treatment to absorb or diffuse those reflections.
Power
Are there enough power outlets placed conveniently around your room? And more importantly, is the electrical in your home properly grounded and bonded all the way back to your utility source? You may not know the answer to that question, but it’s something you’ll need to look into if you can’t get rid of an electrical buzz in your audio signals.
Some will say you should install an independent panel with 20A+ circuits and an isolated ground — and that certainly could be warranted if you want to build a commercial-grade recording facility — but that level of electrical work is beyond the scope of this article. In most modern homes and with most modern equipment, your default electrical service should work fine. Consider installing surge protectors to shield your control room equipment.
Noise & Distractions
Will the people you live with be affected by the noise you’re making? Will you be affected by the noise they are making? Consider locating your studio in a room that is in a corner of your home or far away from busy living areas such as the kitchen or living room.
Comfort
Choose a room that you feel comfortable in. A room with poor acoustics can be treated. It’s more difficult to change a space that doesn’t have a good vibe.
What Is Your Budget?
There is a lot of flexibility in terms of the price points for software, microphones, speakers, and the other gear you’ll need to purchase.
If you are going to primarily record solo artists, you will need less equipment than if you plan to work with larger groups.
To record solo artists, you may only need a simple recording interface with two inputs that allow you to record a guitar and vocals at the same time. Conversely, to record multiple people playing at once, you’ll need an interface that has more inputs. The more inputs you need, the more expensive your interface tends to be (and the more you will benefit from having a separate control room).
Typically, home studios can be built for anywhere between $3,000-$50,000. However, those who want to invest in building a commercial studio in their home can easily spend $150,000-$250,000 or more if they seek renovations or to purchase a full-sized recording console.
Studio Equipment You Will Need
Now that you’ve laid out your goals, chosen your space, and thought about your budget, let's look at the equipment you’ll need for your home studio.
Speakers/Monitors $300-$3,000+
Microphone(s) $100-$4,000+
Headphone(s) $65-$1,200+
Audio interface $100+$4,000+
DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) $100-$600
Computer $800-$9,000+
Acoustic treatment $200-2,000
Miscellaneous gear
Speakers and Monitors
It’s worth spending the money on higher-end studio monitors — especially if you’re mixing or mastering. Studio monitors are arguably the most critical pieces of equipment in your home studio, providing the lens through which you perceive and refine your craft. They are essential for accurately listening to and assessing your music, ensuring that what you create translates well across various listening environments.
For most standard-sized rooms, you don’t need anything too large. I would suggest purchasing 4, 5, 6, or 8 inch speakers. Anything larger is unnecessary.
I would recommend the Neumann KH 310 or speakers from Dynaudio. If you are looking for something that is more budget-friendly, I would suggest the Yorkville Sound YSM8.
Consider going to your local music store and listening in their speaker room. This way, you can explore all of the different options to determine what you like best.
Microphones
Dynamic Microphones
Make sure you have a dynamic microphone. Dynamic microphones are versatile and robust, allowing you to record pretty much anything but especially loud instruments like guitar amps and drums.
These microphones are available at a range of price points. For a budget-friendly option, I would suggest the Shure SM57. If you can spend a little more, the Shure SM7B and the Universal Audi SD-1 Standard Dynamic Microphone are amazing microphones at a mid-range price. If you want to go even higher-end, the Sennheiser MD-421 is a great choice.
Condenser Microphones
Condenser microphones are more sensitive than dynamic mics. They are also much better at capturing the highs and lows at the extreme ends of the audible range of audio frequences.This makes them ideal for recording instruments with fine sonic details like certain vocals, acoustic guitars, and strings, among others. They can be damaged by high sound pressure levels (SPL) though, so don’t go sticking one inside your kick drum unless it’s specifically designed for it.
For home studios, I suggest the Warm Audio WA-47F or the AKG C216.
Modeling Microphones
If you are working with a variety of recording artists, a modeling microphone can be game-changing. Not all artists will sound their best on one single microphone. Rather than investing in multiple microphones to suit multiple artists, a modeling microphone will allow you to emulate different microphones by using a plugin on your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation).
These microphones are generally more expensive, but if you want to experiment with different mics, this is a great option.
I suggest checking out the Slate ML-1 Microphone or Universal Audio Sphere L22 Modeling Microphone.
Headphones
Before purchasing headphones for your home studio, you should be aware of the differences between consumer and professional headphones.
Consumer headphones are for the average listener who will only ever listen to a finished product. These include Apple Airpods, in-ear and over-the-ear headphones by Beats, and video game headsets. These types of headphones often have features that enhance the way the sound sounds to make it a better listening experience for the consumer. For instance, they may have enhanced bass and high-end or equalization presets that affect the overall sound. These effects are not helpful when creating something that you want to sound good across an array of devices and listening environments.
When recording in your home studio, you’ll want to use professional headphones that don’t have this added EQ, bass, or treble so you are getting the true sound. These headphones produce a flat response, so when you’re working on music, you get an authentic representation of what you’re creating.
You can also consider investing in newer technology, such as modelling or room correction headphones, which use software to simulate different listening environments. For example, you could simulate the sound of Abbey Road’s control room.
While modelling headphone technology continues to advance (check out Steven Slate Audio’s VSX system), most professionals would still recommend using flat response, standard professional headphones in a studio environment.
Lastly, consider how important your headphones will be given your room and monitor configuration. If you’re working in a large room with poor acoustics, you will need to rely on your headphones a lot more than if you have a nice, dead-sounding control room with great monitors.
The Shure SRH1840s provide unparalleled sound quality. The Audio-Technical ATR Series is a great option that comes in different price ranges. If you are planning on recording with multiple artists, the AKG K92s are a good quality, budget-friendly option.
Stay away from consumer-grade headphones like Beats or Apple products. As mentioned previously, these headphones will boost or cut certain frequency ranges and throw off your mix.
Interfaces
The audio interface is the critical connection point between the music you're recording, your computer, and your monitors. This is what converts microphone signal into digital 1s and 0s — something your computer can understand.
If your budget allows, I suggest investing in a high-quality interface.
I recommend the Neumann MT48, Apogee Symphony, or the Universal Audio Apollo Twin. These are both amazing products that will last a long time, from 5-10 years.
If you are looking to get started with a less-expensive option, the M-Audio M-Track Solo is one of the cheapest and most widely available interfaces. You could also look into the Universal Audio Vault or the Focusrite Scarlett.
DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)
Your Digital Audio Workstation, or DAW, is the software you will use to record, edit, mix, and master audio files from your computer. This is an area where you can save some money if you’re on a tight budget.
My first suggestion is to familiarize yourself with a free DAW like Garage Band, which is built into most Macs. Another option is Reaper, which operates similarly to Cubase or Pro Tools, which are both more expensive.
If you plan on working with other engineers and producers, get a more popular DAW. Logic Pro, Ableton Live, and Pro Tools are commonly used, industry-standard DAWs that will allow you to collaborate more easily with other professionals.
Computer
Macs and PCs will both work for home recording setups, but there are some considerations you should be aware of.
Personally, I like to use an Apple laptop. Logic Pro is a robust, popular DAW that is only available on Mac, and Garage Band comes free with most Apple computers. They also integrate very easily with most home recording interfaces. I would suggest an entry-level Macbook or a MacBook Pro if you have a higher budget.
If you want to use Windows, anything that supports mid-level gaming will support recording software. Ideally, your computer will have 16GB or 32GB of RAM to run your plugins and your DAW. If you’re on a tight budget, 8GB of RAM will suffice.
Acoustic treatment
Do not underestimate the importance of acoustic treatment to your home studio. Even the most expensive and sophisticated equipment can be rendered almost useless if your room sounds terrible. On the other hand, a well-treated room can help you produce amazing recordings with budget-friendly gear.
Note that acoustic treatment does not mean “sound proofing.” It’s not about keeping sound in or out but rather making sure it doesn't bounce around the room. Reflections from hard surfaces will interfere with the sound that you record and monitor. You don’t want sound waves to bounce off one wall, bounce off another one, and then back to your ear or microphone. You want to be dealing with as much direct sound as possible.
The first step is to treat parallel surfaces with acoustic panels. The cheapest and often most effective way to do this is to design & make your own like we did at Barnhouse. Alternatively you can buy custom made acoustic panels off Etsy or you can buy panels from a speciality acoustic company like GKI.
*Pro tip: If your monitors are already in place (the speakers, not the computer screens), sit in your standard listening position and have someone move a mirror around the walls of your room. Any time you can see a monitor in the mirror’s reflection, you should note the mirror’s location for acoustic treatment.
Next, treat the area directly above your listening position. In home studios, the ceiling is often the closest surface to the listening position — this results in a lot of reflected sound and can cause all sorts of monitoring and mixing issues. To treat a ceiling, you can build something called an acoustic cloud. Here is a great video on how to correctly install and position a cloud.
Lastly, you’ll want to deal with the low frequencies that accumulate in the corners of your room and along the back wall. Low frequencies behave differently than mids and highs, and they tend to create standing waves in locations where two surfaces are close together — pockets of space where the frequency response becomes uneven and the bass is much more pronounced.
You can deal with these easily by using bass traps. A bass trap is a type of acoustic panel that is designed to absorb low frequencies. They’re typically thicker than a standard acoustic panel.
Miscellaneous gear
Don’t forget to list and price out the other supplies and equipment you’ll need, such as
Audio cables (XLR, 1/4" TRS and TS, RCA and others as required)
Power cables (IEC cables for gear, extension cords and power bars as needed)
Microphone stands and clips
Pop filters for recording vocals
Chairs and stools
A desk and something to hold any rackmount gear
Any personal touches to make your studio as comfortable as possible.
TL;DR - Setting Up Your Home Recording Studio
Goals & Space Considerations:
Define your recording, mixing, and mastering goals to determine studio layout and equipment needs.
Consider potential noise issues, both from within and outside your studio.
Select a studio location away from high-traffic areas of your home to minimize disturbances.
Decide whether you need separate spaces for recording and listening or a single multipurpose space.
Budgeting:
Home studios can range from $3,000 to $50,000. Plan your budget based on your recording needs and the number of artists involved.
Acoustic Treatment:
Prioritize acoustic treatment to ensure sound clarity, especially in rooms with hard, parallel surfaces.
Treat walls, ceilings, and corners with acoustic panels, clouds, and bass traps to manage reflections and low frequencies.
Power & Electrical Setup:
Ensure your room has enough well-grounded power outlets.
Regular electrical setups suffice for most home studios but consider surge protectors for your critical gear.
Comfort & Design:
Choose a comfortable room since a good vibe is crucial for productivity.
Simple aesthetics and personal touches can enhance your workspace’s feel.
Essential Equipment:
Invest in quality studio monitors for accurate sound assessment.
Select microphones based on your recording needs (dynamic for loud instruments, condenser for detailed sounds).
Choose professional, flat-response headphones for true sound monitoring.
Opt for a reliable audio interface and a compatible DAW that suits your budget and collaboration needs.
Use a computer robust enough to handle your DAW and plugins.
Miscellaneous Gear:
Remember to account for all necessary cables, microphone stands, pop filters, and furniture to complete your studio setup.
By addressing these key elements, you can create a home studio that is both functional and conducive to producing high-quality audio on a flexible budget.