studio "architecture" on the cheap?

[sm.arson]

Right now I'm a senior in college, and I've been running a small project studio out of my apartment for several years, getting lots of business and valuable experience doing all kinds of odd production jobs for students and faculty. When I graduate (all too soon), I'm going to properly run this as a full-time thing.

As I'll be broke & paying back student loans, I won't be able to buy a house or any other property that I can rip apart & remake into a propper studio. I'll need to rent, so for a while I'm going to have to make do without a "real" acoustically controlled room.

Where would you set up shop? Rent a house? A thick-walled apartment with an extra room? Do those portable walls and platforms work well? Can I make a booth with those?

Has anyone here setup a makeshift studio like this?

[wrave]

I moved to the "boonies" a few years ago and the very first thing that came to mind when I read your post was to suggest you get as far out of the city as possible but not too far that your clients won't make the trip. Of course small towns have their own "hazards" including barking and howling dogs, my town also has a railroad almost encircling the town, something I must wait on fairly often, truck on the highway four or five blocks away can whine in the background and the airport and the small planes also can put a session in "pause" mode pretty quickly. There are also small factories that seem to have the loudest exhaust systems I've ever heard here in town but I can easily shut them out.

All of that makes the location sound less than desirable but there are times when there is no outside noise whatsoever. I lived in the city most of my life before moving here and I'll put this location up against any city apartment (where do you find one with "thick" walls?) or rented house.

It's amazing to me how much I noticed the city noises after living here for just a few weeks. I am much more sensitive to sounds now that I've started recording at home and I can tell you "noise pollution" is a problem that exists everywhere.

As a compromise and to better my situation (I hope you can find something in these ramblings that maybe you haven't thought of and that will help you in your planning) I would move completely out of town, buy a few acres in the woods, build a professionally acoustically conditioned studio and a small "guest house" for clients and have the perfect recording studio. Unfortunately, even after a few years out of school I haven't been able to accomplish this "perfect" scenario.

So, in all reality and practicality you will likely find that you'll have to "make do" and I think some good acoustic isolation for your studio, where ever you build it, will be one of your most important investments. Of course, since you mention going in business, all aspect of the recording industry will be important but when looking for a location remember that no matter where you locate there will always be some external sounds and the best bet is to minimize them from the outset or be prepared to invest in acoustic isolation. You won't be able to suspend a session when you have paying clients.

Me? I just wait for the moon to set and the coyotes to stop howling!

[Ernest828]

Being that wrave said everything but what you really needed to hear I will try to answer your question but I need more info...

Where do you live? What is around your dwelling? Factories? Other houses? Are there dogs? Airports? Trains? etc... you get the picture.

How much can you afford to pay in rent? (I`m not being nosey, you need to figure this out first)

How do you envision your studio when you get it up and running?

Answer those questions and then I can help you out.

Peace,
Ernest

[sm.arson]

I currently live on the engineering campus of UIUC (Urbana-Champaign, IL). There are virtually no "audio" distractions. The whole township is very quiet.

I pay $450 a month for a one bedroom apt. (it's a project studio with a bed in it), but if I lived slightly farther away from campus, I'd be able to get a two bedroom for the same price. The most I'd want to pay without getting a bogus IT job would be $600.

As I specialize in urban and otherwise "young people music", I expect any and all instruments to be wired, only needing a microphone for vocals & acoustic instruments. Basically, everything can be done in one room, with an acoustic "booth" constructed from those portable auralex walls. I'm really hoping that vDrums will keep getting more realistic.

Ideally, I'd like to keep everything portable. If I ever did need a complete room dedicated to acoustic recordings, I think it would be more cost effective (in the long run) to use plasma displays & cameras. It seems like overkill now, but the price on technology is moving down, while the cost of custom-building a control room stays constant. The price of real estate will always rise.

[Ernest828]

OK cool. It seems you have a very "ideal" situation for a college student. I`m assuming your upstairs / downstairs neighbors don`t make much noise so I would simply keep the studio where it is right now and in the near future, when you graduate (and you "outstay" your campus welcome), get that two bedroom apt. outside of campus and dedicate one room to the studio. Right now I would imagine some of your clients are wondering what your bed is doing in the studio. :-)

If you are doing alot of vocal recording and single instruments, I wouldn`t bother to worry about getting that imaginary "sound proof studio". I know for a fact that you can record kick *** vocals in an apartment because I do it every day. I`m 10 miles out of JFK airport, 2 miles from a major NYC highway and the vocals that I record in my closet really sound good. Clients have told me that their vocals always sound better here than they do in other studios. (It comes down to the right mics, pres and fooling around with your space. Anyone who says, "You can`t record great vocals in an apartment!" has never experimented in doing so.

In a nutshell, get the Auralex if you want. However, you can deaden the sound of a room by throwing some materials around it like a comfortable couch, rugs and of course curtains. If you want to create a vocal space, try dedicating a corner of your apartment to the vocalist. Put a place rug in the corner and some auralex materials around those 2 meeting walls and let the vocalist breathe. (Hey Sarah McLachlan records like this an her albums are the ****.)

As an engineer, I love to have the artists in the same room with me (even if I have to monitor with phones). Communication is key and that moment when music breathes and takes on life is what makes recording an art. Isn`t that what we`re trying to do here in the first place?

Let me know what you decide.

Peace,
Ernest

[cadesignr]

Hello, this is my first time here. I am responding to your post, because I wished I had access to forums like this when I started thinking about building a studio. Every rental I lived in, had an incarnation of what I percieved as a "studio". But my first suggestion for your descision(design) hiarchy ,is to define your absolue tolerance level of noise, as it relates to recording. i.e. if you have 110 db of noise outside of your partition and exterior walls, how much will you allow to get in, in db. 50 db., 40 db, etc. Measure the sound level of noise outside with a sound level meter, at the noisiest time of day. Then measure the ambient noise inside. wala- you will then know how much noise is being transferred to your space.
Once you decide how much of that you will tolerate on your recordings, then you have a much more tangible way of looking at how to stop that much noise. As far as structure borne noise, thats an animal of a different color. I am no expert, just a believer in common sence. Rent something one story and made of brick! Have fun with your studio