How To Set Up Your Home Studio

Here’s the 4 important things you need to be aware when you set up your home studio.

What Kind of Room Is It?

The shape and size of your room are a major factor. If you only want to create beats and your room is super small, then you can get away with just a pair of good headphones. If you want to mix then you probably need a bit more space and you’ll probably need some treatment for your room.

The main problem is that the sound bounces between walls creating unwanted resonances, especially with naked walls. You have to stop this from happening! You can use professional panels like the red ones from “GIK Acoustics” that you see in our videos.

If you are on a budget then you might consider building your own panels. There are many videos on YouTube on how to make them. You can even use bookcases at the points of early reflection. Whatever you can use to break up the sound bouncing from one parallel surface to another is better than working in a room with bare walls. Wall panels however, can only address the top end and mids… if you want to stop the low end rumble you’ll need bass traps which take significantly more space.

What Speakers To Choose?

If you have a small room then you have to choose small monitors. If you have a bigger room you can get bigger monitors. The one thing you don’t want to have is big monitors that deliver more bass frequencies in a small room that can’t handle lots of low end.

Where To Place Your Speakers

Ideally you want the points where the two speakers and your head are located to form an equilateral triangle. For example, if you have 1.5m between two monitors, then you want to have 1.5m between you and your left speakers, and 1.5m between you and the right speakers.

You can use some sound panels directly behind the speakers and also on the side of the speakers halfway between you and the speakers themselves. If your room is beyond hope, then I would suggest that you invest in a good pair headphones. Our favourite headphones are the Sennheiser HD650. They have an open back and give a good representation of the mix. They are also comfortable to be used for extended periods of time.

Comfort

The last tip about setting up your home studio is: be comfortable. You are going to spend quite a few hours in front of that computer so make sure you have a comfortable chair, that your arms are in a rested position, and that your head is positioned in the right spot between the speakers.

Related link:
StudioDesk Music Commander

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