Show us your home studio setup!

It's this: HAMMARP Countertop - 98x1 1/8 " - IKEA

with these legs: GERTON Leg, adjustable - IKEA

With a ....load of sanding and the keyboard platform is custom made.

 

Nice work, thanks for posting the links!

 

No problem!

 

The never-ending evolving Studio.....

 

Macbook 2.3 i7 16GB
(2) Yamaha HS5
(2) M-Audio Bx8
Gemini sr-10 sub
Mackie Onyx-1640i
Shure SM7B, (6) Shure SM57, (2) Shure SM58, Shure Beta 52, (2) Samson cO2, MXL 990, Rhodes NT1-A,
Preosonus Studio Channel
TC-Helicon
(2) Behringer Tube Ultraflex
(2) Opal Advanced Gate
Empire Electric 6x12, 4x12, and 2x12 cabs (v30, g12, Swamp Thang)
Empire Electric 1x15, 4x10 bass cabinets (Eminence)
Ludwig Drum Kit With Zildjian A-Custom Cymbals

 

You're absolutely right about all of that. Some of it I've corrected over the years (those photos are now 3 years old).

I've always focused on the "big picture stuff" in my studio, which is the only reason I've been successful for the past 7 years. I've never been the type to worry about the manusha.

I've seen too many people get caught up in the small details or obsessing over gear that will ultimately make little or no impact on their studio or business.(btw I'm not saying you do this. I know nothing about you or your studio)

 

I think the word you were trying for there is "minutiae"

And yea, while there is an element of "Get working, don't worry about the little stuff", getting the acoustics right is less of a "small detail" and more of a "big picture" in my books. It also tends to be a case i find, in this modern era with musicians knowing more and more about mixing, that if you look like, in any way you don't know what you're doing or haven't made decisions for a reason other than convenience (monitors go here because then they're not in front of the screens)

The great thing is also that getting good acoustic positioning and treatment is neither hard nor expensive if you can work a drill, a screwdriver, saw and staple gun.

The gear thing is more of an on-balance thing. I've seen people put a $3000 microphone in a ....ty room with, through ....ty converters and A/D (like Focusrite Saffire - c.$70 for the preamp and A/D... and it's like... wot?

 

Acoustics=small detail

Knowing your room=big picture

 

haha dammit, I swear I spell checked that word before posting it. Still failed.

 

Gotta disagree.

As an Engineer, yes knowing your room is a relatively important thing. As someone who works in 1 specific space obviously you can learn to compensate for deficiencies.

But the skill doesn't translate. You go and mix in another space and your balance will be completely off, or you'll waste vast amounts of time referencing.

Yes. Getting caught up in the desire for a perfect sounding room is just as much of a rabbit hole as GAS is.

However, being a studio owner and not fixing a key element of your work environment is just bad practice in my experience. If you can afford it (and self-constructed and diagnosed acoustic treatment is neither hard NOR expensive to do) and have some basic knowledge of what to look for and how do basics like saw a piece of wood and hammer some nail into it...

Like good practice is SO important to working as an Audio Engineer. Wasted time is dead time, and spending time having to test a mix on headphones because you can't trust your low end on your speakers through the whole mix process is dead time.

Acoustics for control rooms and recording spaces aren't complicated.

1. Look at your room dimensions in comparison to ITU recommendations. Do a practical analysis of Room modes and RT60 using Fuzzmeasure and a measurement microphone. Do a theoretical analysis as well for good measure to understand where your key problems that you might not be hearing as such are. This also allows you to say "no that might look like a problem area, but it's the character of my live room.

2.Work out a solution for any really problematic modes if you have the time and budget.

3. Work out what needs to happen to get the room to have an RT60 that's where you want it. How many square metres/feet of absorbent material you'd need to get it there.

4. Set your control room up untreated as close as is practically possible to ITU recommendations for monitor positioning/height and computer screen positioning, make sacrifices for practicality and aesthetic where necessary.

5. Do the mirror test in your control room. Have someone sit in the mix position - Have a 2nd person walk around the room holding the mirror on the wall. Whenever you can see the cone/tweeter of your primary monitors, make a marking (pencil/masking tape etc) Once you've done that you know your 2D positionings for your early reflection treatment.

7. Compare the square footage/metreage of your treatment for early reflections to your needed treatment for RT60 in the control room.

8. Make enough panels to cover both issues (whichever is more). If you end up with a room that's too dead once early reflections are treated, liven it up on other points of the wall with mirrors (which will make the space feel more aesthetically open) or use diffusers instead of absorbers (more expensive to buy/difficult to make but are the best solution.)

9. Enjoy your treated rooms and no longer having to consciously or subconsciously adjust for the issues.

 

Obviously if you're working in more than just your own room then that changes my point completely.

 

This is where I do my work, minus the instruments. The room works well enough although I will likely invest in some dampening in future.

 

My new B7K has drastically simplified my bass recording. I have seperate lines for the clean and dirty signals. A little compression on both and some eq'ing on the clean side. Easy peasy.

 

I agree. Treating your room is one of the most important things to do. Yes, you can learn a bad room and compensate for it when you mix but there's nothing like hearing what you're really going to get. The workflow will be so much faster. Also great monitors become worse monitors in a bad room. I did all my treatment myself for like $300 - best studio investment ever. Getting mixes delivered faster means more work done

 

Yes. But my point was that even in a room with great acoustics, you need to know your room. So, knowing your room... still the big picture part.

 

Get ready to cringe.

Here's my humble little corner in my mancave. When I mean humble I mean HUM-ble!



The brain of our home heating system is literally right above the desk where the wall and ceiling meet. Behind the desk wall is the garage with a washer and dryer. Needless to say, there's a lot going on in this area and it gets pretty noisy. I'm not sure what's going on with the electricity in this house but I keep frying computers and end up shocking myself or other people that come and jam. I'm currently running extension cords from other parts of the house to power things.

As far as what I use, I am currently using a second-hand HP Ultrabook with Win7, Sony Acid Pro as my DAW (but I use Audacity for recording), Ezdrummer for quick scratch drum tracks and then Addictive Drums for the real deal sounds, an M-Audio FastTrack Pro for an interface, a Pod HD500x for guitar and bass, an MXL 990USB mic for vocals or acoustic (I also use it to record jams and practices), and a pair of ATH-M30X cans for mixing. The Bose speakers on top of the desk are crap and are just for listening to stuff.

I have zero treatment and a large sliding glass door behind me. Can anyone top (more like bottom) this poor man's setup?

 

That's not much different than what I had when I lived in Antioch, Ca, except my stuff was older, was pre pc when I had a Tascam Porta 01 with my $12k touring rack, and my synth rig: Roland Juno 106, @Juno 2, Emu Proteus MPS+ Orch, and a Roland MC501 sequencer. This was up to about 1996, then I moved to Concord, got a PC a few years later, started using a DAD for midi sequencing, and got an Alesis QS7, along with a Johnson Millennium J250H head.

 

My current setup:



Alot of fairly new additions. First of, I actually got a single room to put my home studio in when I moved to my current appartment, which is awesome.

My amp is not shown, but is to the right of the camera: A bugera 333xl and a peavey 2x12 with a v30 and a greenback. The bugera is used as a power amp for my Engl e530 which is in the rack seen on the desk.

Adam A3X monitors, Focusrite 2i2, Palmer PAN 02 di-box (to not clip the 2i2), and acoustic foam from EQ acoustic that I added yesterday.

The foam helps a lot. The stereo image from my speakers are alot clearer and the highend it also alot clearer. The foam does not really do much below 500 hz or so, but I knew that when I brought it. I was curious about the foam as many places on the internet you will find people that state that "it does not work at all" and "is a waste of money" and almost going to the "you are better of without it".
I am glad to find that it does work to some extend. Yes it could absorb more, but I don't want to completely deaden the room, so the damping is fine for me. No it does not help very much with the lowend, but I didn't expect it to. All in all 50 euro very well spent for 16 tiles of 30x30 cm + fixture. I just found out that a local store sells a semilar product foor 200 euro for 24 tiles, which is "a waste of money", but as long as you look around a bit this can be a very cheap way to improve your studio.

I still need some kind of bass traps, and I am considering to go with foam for those as well - anyone has advice for that? Also I am planing on upgrading to some more heavy/thick curtains to dampen the sound in the direction of the window.

 

Acoustic Panels | Bass Traps | Diffusors | GIK Acoustics

Your foam panels are positioned at the first reflection points which is good and you have noticed a difference in the sound of your room which is also good. You now understand that acoustic treatment improves your room. If you were to replace the foam panels with GIK Acoustics 244 Bass Traps at the early reflection points your reaction would be . Spend some time on their site, they encourage D-I-Yer's, and have many useful articles and videos explaining room acoustics. I currently have four 244 Bass Traps and two Tri-Trap Bass Traps. My only regret is not have more.