Where to Begin?
When it comes to designing a recording studio, there is a lot to consider. For instance, one room or two? How much isolation is needed? Soffit mounted or in room stands? Window? Door? HVAC?
The list goes on and on. Already I suspect you are just as lost as I was.
Two months ago my wife and I began the process of purchasing a larger home. Our family had outgrown our tiny home of 13 years. Honestly, we fit fine, we each had our space. The reasons for needing more boiled down to the following:
- We home school our children, and teaching materials were overflowing our living room.
- I enjoy making music, and my instrument collection was becoming a problem.
And so when we found “our place” we were blessed in that it had two really great rooms that would provide us with the space our children need to learn and a space for me to make music.
Which brings us to the title of this post. Where to begin? I now have the privilege of building my dream studio but am overwhelmed by choice. Which I admit is a great place to be in, but also means I have a lot of research to do.
I have spent the last two months studying studio design and construction: reading books, consulting friends, drowning in online forums and various papers, working to understand what is required. I have learned a lot, but it has come to a point that if I don’t start writing down what I am learning I will forget the details. Which is why you are reading this.
You might be asking, after two months of research, where do you begin?
The answer to that question is an individual one. After all of the reading I have done I have chosen to begin at the end. What do I want to accomplish with my studio? An obvious answer for some might be, “to make music in a nice room.” Or perhaps “60db of isolation.” Those are perfectly valid goals.
For me however, the answer is that I want my studio to exceed my expectations. I want the final product to be worthy of the work I will put into it. A spot where I can be creative without compromise.
Creative without compromise. I like that.
I’ll dig in more on what that means for my space in future posts.
