Today’s topic covers a key component in any home recording set up. It’s acoustic treatments for the walls of your studio space. A fancy computer / DAW with loads of expensive plugins and pricey microphones will do you no good unless the room in which you’re capturing the performance is acoustically sound. Every great production begins with a great sounding instrument in great sounding environment. Acoustic treatment helps you achieve this.

I have compiled a list of links which provide a ton of useful information on acoustic treatment. Dig in…

Acoustic Treatment For Home Studios – This page from UC Santa Cruz packs in a ton of good info. Mostly covering the ideal construction for recording studios. They label it “home” recording studios, but these guidelines take you closer to how commercial studios are built. Nice to have an ideal goal to shoot for.

The Studio SOS Guide To Monitoring & Acoustic Treatment – Creating a great sounding room for tracking is super important.  It’s also key for monitoring purposes.  This article from Sound on Sound covers what you need to know for setting up an effective monitoring environment in your home studio.

Home Studio Acoustics – Two part article covering a variety of things to take into account when planning and constructing your creative space.

Tutorial: How to Build a Vocal Booth – Here’s a great tutorial with lots of helpful photos which lays out step by step process for building your own professional vocal booth.

Build a $21 Vocal Booth – This struck me as the most interesting solution for setting up a vocal recording environment.  Not only is it a cheap way to go, it’s also very portable and good for small and crowded rooms.

YouTube: How To Build a Vocal Booth on a Budget – This video takes you through a simple process of utizing a small closet for vocal recording.

Foam by Mail – This is a great place to purchase acoustic foam products.  The website is a bit weak, but they’re products are excellent.  I recently ordered a whole bunch of foam from them andthey worked out great.  This was my honest experience.  They’re not a sponsor.

How to Build a Quiet Studio Environment – Here’s a good look at the other side of this topic.  Reduce the amount of noise happening in your room by minimizing the sources of unwanted sound.  Lots of interesting ideas here.

Over to you…

What types of acoustic treatment or other ideas have worked for your home recording set up?

Holiday shopping season is upon us and with the state of the economy, this year’s theme is save cash wherever you can. That means getting more bang for your buck.

For songwriters and producers who run a home studio, the wish list of hot gear items seems to last all year long. While many of you may be dreaming of a shiny new pro tools rig, a smooth condenser vocal mic, or a trusted name-brand piece of vintage outboard gear, I’m here to tell you that this is the year to think on a smaller scale.

But that’s OK, because there are several key pieces that are both essential to any recording studio and also cost under $100. If your song lab is missing any of the items on this list, I highly suggest picking these up before investing in that Neumann U87. These are items that any home recordists will certainly appreciate and use on a day-to-day basis for a long time to come.

The prices listed here indicate the average going rate as of this post (the future is quite uncertain these days…)

Boom Mic Stands – $25
You always need a few mic stands ready to throw a mic on an instrument, vocal, or guitar amp. Stands with a boom are definitely the way to go as they offer much more versatility – especially when you’re using your shoe closet as a vocal booth!

MIDI Keyboard – $75
Used in conjunction with production software such as Reason, you will need a physical way to put that human touch behind sampled sounds. My suggestion is to go for at least a 49-key as this provides enough room for several octaves of playing. Most of them are connected via USB these days.

Shure SM57 – $85
The go-to mic for so many situations. Use it on guitar amps, vocals, horns, really anything. Extremely durable – you can drop it off your roof and still it still sounds great. Vocals may benefit from a more expensive condenser, but this one will get you through a session when you’re on a budget and it’s a huge step up from a radioshack microphone.

Headphones – $99
The price tag will vary a lot here. The most important thing when shopping for studio headphones is how isolated the noise is. The main purpose of using headphones in the studio is for listening while playing into a recording microphone. You don’t want the mic to pick up any noise coming from the headphones.

DI Box – $40
A DI box can make a big improvement for recording instruments direct. Usually you would use it for bass or keys. DI boxes can get expensive, and audio professionals might argue in favor of high priced options, however many do-it-yourselfer’s don’t use DI boxes at all. By adding it to your set up, you will greatly reduce unwanted buzzing and humming.

Vocal Pop Filter – $25
This is a must have for recording vocals. All of those “P”, “S”, and “T” sounds create bursts of air that absolutely kill a vocal recording (and there is little you can do to fix them later!). Go for one with a metal clamp and not a cheaper plastic clip-on. The cheaper ones will wear out quickly.

Tuner – $75
A great recording begins with a great performance. A great performance begins with great sounding instrument. A great sounding instrument begins with proper tuning. You get the picture. For you gigging guitarists out there, I would also highly suggest a stomp-box tuner, which works great for both the stage and the studio.

The rise of the home recording studio has had a huge impact on the way we produce music. These days songwriters have become do-it-yourself recordists with an affordable DAW, a few mics and a pair of monitor speakers. Say what you will about the sound quality, but the trend is certainly here to stay.

Today I’d like to share a simple tip for getting the most out of your performance on a recording when you’re playing the roles of artist, engineer, producer and studio assistant all at the same time.

It’s important have a solid understanding of engineering and microphone techniques to produce a recording. Any experienced producer knows the importance of spending hours and sometimes days just placing mics and getting sounds– by that I mean doing solidifying the tones, room acoustics, and overall “sound” for your project.

All of that setup time can be grueling, especially if you’re bouncing between chairs or rooms to hit record and then play your instrument. Once you have finally dialed in the settings your going for, you hardly have any energy left to perform the song!

The key is to step away for a while before you start laying down real takes. Go out to lunch. Have some down time. Get some sleep and start fresh the next day. Do something to get you away from the studio for a while so you can come back refreshed and ready to give all you can to your performance.

Before you step away, be sure to keep everything in place so that when you come back, all you need to do is sit down, pick up your instrument and hit record. Leave the mic stands set tightly, the chair set exactly right, the amp and effects knobs dialed in, the computer on and the session loaded up. It might be a good idea to leave a sign on the door, marking your fragile set up off limits to nosy roommates, toddlers, or pets.

In the end, your songs will benefit from an energized performance. Starting fresh for a new recording is crucial to maximizing your creative and emotional output. Give all you can to your music, and don’t let the mechanics of a recording session hamper your creativity.