The Feng Shui of Home Recording
- by Tatiana Ryckman, Open Labs Staff Writer
While the trials and tribulations of recording should lie in the creation of your opus, they often start with figuring out what you need to set up your home studio. This is a quick guide to get you started.
Some of the most frequently overlooked aspects of home recording are the most mundane. Shiny new gear may be exciting, but the acoustics and layout of your room can make a huge difference. Though professional studios may pour thousands into sound-proofing their building, most digital recording (what you're likely to set up in your home) does not require the same level of isolation.
To best retrofit your new studio it's important to start with rooms that are non-adjacent to kitchens, bathrooms, or the room where your roommate is playing video games at full volume. Because these non-adjacent rooms will have the least coupling noise (motion caused by sound striking one side of the wall and radiating out the other side), you'll have less work to do to inside the room itself.
Once you know where you'll be recording, filling cracks and holes in walls is the best place to start. The space around doors can often cause the worst sound leaks, though weather-stripping materials from your local hardware store should provide satisfactory sound insulation. A spring-gasket at the bottom of the door, for example, can help to significantly reduce sound transfer. Because many interior doors are hollow or thin they should be replaced if possible. If replacing the door, or reinforcing it with a piece of thick plywood, isn't an option, hanging a thick curtain in front of it can help.
Closing gaps on windows can be trickier, depending on what you're willing to do. Work can range in difficulty from filling the space between the two panes of glass on storm windows to covering them with a heavy drape. Like doors, gaskets can be used to reduce noise leakage, and plywood, hinged like shutters or put on sliders, can be fitted tightly against the window.
Electrical fittings and vents can also cause noise problems. Fittings can be sealed by taking the plates off light switches and filling the gaps between the box and the gyp board. Adding a sealing gasket when you put the plate back on will give an additional sound barrier. Air ducts are trickier, and building a baffle is your best bet for keeping distant voices and whooshing noises off your tracks. You can find details about building your own baffles at: http://www.recordingeq.com/EQ/req0801/baffle.htm. Putting one of these on each vent connected to the studio ducts, even those in other rooms, should eliminate most incoming sound.
Now that you have the walls taken care of, it's time to focus on the audible feng shui of the room. It's no surprise that the shape and furnishings of a room can affect the way things sound (the difference between a bathroom and a living room, for example) so it's important to understand your room's acoustics. As Petr Elsea said in his guide on acoustic treatments, “There are expensive instruments available to measure the quality of sound in a space, but the best ones are on the sides of your head.” Listening to music in different rooms can give you an idea of how sound reacts to your new studio. He also suggests clapping your hands, “You should hear a slight broadening of the sound, but little reverberation and certainly no pitches or echoes.”
Hanging objects on the walls (called diffusors) help to break up the sound instead of reflecting it. Remember that pyramids, lattices, or computer-designed random surfaces all work well, but concave curves can focus sound rather than diminish it. There are numerous other materials that serve the same purpose: eggcrate foam pads, mattresses, and other sound absorbing panels can help you achieve the best sound in your new studio.
The positioning of the equipment itself is also important, and many artists will tell you, “It's all about the sweet spot.” The “sweet spot” is the point at which the two cones of sound from your speakers cross, and provide the best balance of sound from each speaker. This distance will depend on a number of factors: whether you're using near field or mid field speakers, if you're using a subwoofer, the size and shape of your room, and the materials the room is constructed of.
Audio Engineer, Burt Morton, suggests that the “speakers and listener form an isosceles triangle, with both speakers equidistant from the listener.” He also notes that the relative positioning between the speakers and the wall has an affect on the recording. Placing them on a wall is referred to as half-space, while arranging them in a corner is called quarter-space. “The closer the speakers are to a wall or a corner, the more bass response you can expect.” Morton says, “If you have too much bass response, or it's too muddy, use a bass trap or furniture to help diffuse the sound.”
Beyond finding the sweet spot, much of the room's layout is based on personal preference. Many find it helpful to have all their equipment within easy reach, which could result in a semi-circle set-up or just a table of gear, depending on what you're working with. Choosing a direction to face is also a matter of preference. If you're using midrange speakers and foresee having clients to share your work with, setting your room up length-wise could be helpful, allowing plenty of distance between the speakers and the position from which you're going to monitor, as well as space behind you for guests.
From there it only gets more subjective. How much space will your gear take up and how do you need it to be laid out? What colors help you focus? Do you need a specific couch to recline on in order to think of your next masterpiece? Do you need a wet bar? These things (and many more) have little to do with the actual recording process, but can have a dramatic effect on your performance and may be helpful to consider in advance.
(image courtesy: The Beat Factory)