Help setting up a (basic) home studio, that can still create great results?

[QuestionAsker]

My workspace up until now has been putting my laptop on my dresser drawer, an SM57 w/ boom arm, and a MCA SP1 condenser mic balanced within one of the dressers.

My aim is to set something up something cheap and basic, yet that can provide professional results.

I only really need to record voice, acoustic guitar, and plugged guitars (bass, electric guitar).

Looking for tips on how to best utilize my space to create professional recordings.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to get started? - like what might be the best way to arrange my room for recording music? Where to put sound deadening panels? Best way to setup a vocal booth in my closet?

My plan currently is to:

Build a desk, to go right next to the closet. There's about 73 inches (185cm) from the closet to the bed, so I was thinking of using most of that space for a desk (~70 inch desk).

Rig up some sort of vocal booth in the closet. Use hanging clothes as sound insulation, and perhaps put egg cartons on the walls all around the hanging clothes. Open to suggestions if there is a better solution.

Not sure what else to do in the room to ensure good results. Any suggestions?

Here are pics of the space:

 

[john]

Forget egg cartons and foam panels. For a really low amount of cash you can build some very effective room treatment:

 

 

There are other tutorials out there, but many use rock wool and other less ideal insulation. This tutorial covers all you need for the walls. Note, this covers in-room treatment to reduce your room reverb. It does nothing to address sound proofing.

You may also consider a printed fabric facia to make the panels more aesthetically pleasing. It can be a good place to hang old tour tee shirts. Pin them to the fabric facia. It makes them decorative, reflect your personality and doesn’t compromise the panels acoustically.

 

You might also consider building removable window baffles. Very similar to these panels except in two layers, and the size of the windows.

 

Ceiling wise there are various tutorials on building a “cloud” (ceiling sound absorber). This would be last on your list. That looks like a tile floor, so buying a rug of decent density and thickness would be a good idea.

 

Mike wise, it isn’t going to sound pro with an sm57. Put that on your list of upgrades, near the beginning. Buy yourself one of the Röde capacitor microphones, or similar.

 

Buy or make a pop blast screen. Invest in a mic stand. They ain’t expensive.

[Steve Mueske]

What kind of music do you write? Do you mix on headphones or with monitors? Do you record guitars with mics or virtual plugins? What is your budget?

[Glammerocity]

I bought new Presonus E3.5 monitors, which were budget at £80 but still well-reviewed. I'm old enough to remember when mixing with headphones was a no-no but I recently read that 70% of people are now using some kind of headphones or in-ear device - my YouTube analytics say the most popular devices are mobile phones, which might be why bottom end has been more prominent in modern music. I mostly listen to other music with my headphones, so they're like my reference track. I do my arrangements and initial mix with monitors, then tweak details with my headphones.

 

I watched a video recently on mixing bottom end, which explained how we've evolved to listen less to bottom end, because it was less important to humans for survival. Because I use stems for mashups I can isolate a bass stem and I've found modern bass is often so low that it's just a rumble, with the pitch barely identifiable. I've even duplicated a track and pitched it an octave up to mix in and stress the pitch a bit more.

 

Speaking of saving your ears, Boots in the UK are doing free ear tests, which I recommend. Not something generally mentioned in mixing tutorials. I took my whole band for a test in the 90s, specifically because we were always trying to get the other guitarist to turn his amp down. We all had a little noise damage around 6K, which is what makes conversation difficult to hear over background noise. The guitarist's line was lower than the rest of us right across the spectrum. Knowing I had a little damage in my left ear helped me avoid over-compensating when mixing. So I went for another test last week. I had to get the wax removed first, which they'll do for £60, or you can get it free on the NHS. My age has obviously affected my results but while other frequencies have dropped a little, the difference between those and the 6K is less. And my range is still wide enough for mixing without guessing. Good to know.

Edited June 20, 2023 by Glammerocity