- Ergonomics and Planning Your Space
- Acoustic Treatment
- Audio Playback: Monitors or Headphones?
- Software Solutions
- Hardware Solutions
- The Importance of Comfort
What do beatsmiths, Yngwie-inspired shredders, and orchestral composers have in common? With the ever-growing number of advancements in music gear, almost anyone can write, record, produce, mix, and master a complete project from home, regardless of style, genre, or most instruments. Of course, if you’re reading this, you’re probably thinking, “Well, geez, a home studio sounds great — but I can’t make renovations or structural changes to an apartment, and who knows how long I’ll be in this space!” Fair observation! We truly get it: having a studio-quality setup in an apartment comes with many points of frustration. You can’t make physical changes to the space or do something that might mess up the walls and cost you your deposit. Even choices that technically aren’t “permanent” still reflect that you aren’t going to live there indefinitely, and keeping your gear both accessible and portable is a challenge. Moreover, you’ve got neighbors and roommates to consider as well as the simple fact of making your space into a usable studio — not just something that looks pretty or comes at the cost of having a place to sleep.
Renting an apartment doesn’t exclude you from having a killer home studio. From silky synths and growling guitars to sonorous strings and bass-heavy EDM bangers, here’s the information you need to get your rental rockin’!
Ergonomics and Planning Your Space
No matter your approach, a studio needs to be one thing above all else: a place that fosters and promotes creative fulfillment. While everyone’s studio needs will vary, accessibility is integral to having a useful space. From desk arrangements to storage priorities, every decision contributes to the mileage you’ll get out of your setup. We’ll go into planning below, but feel free to check out our previous article for a few desk suggestions here!
Constructing the Command Center
Your desk is arguably the single most crucial piece of gear or furniture you might buy for a studio. Optimizing that choice is not just choosing the desk with the most surface area. Whether you intend to spend large chunks of time at the helm or not, the consistency of the space and the access it affords will be integral in getting anything done. Keeping the space functional and organized will always lead to a more productive workflow. This also means understanding the difference between spatial efficiency and usable space.
To use a personal example: I spent time living in New York City where the Upper East Side turns into Harlem (103rd Street and Lexington Ave.). With two roommates, the unit had obviously been a one-bedroom unit that someone turned into a three-bedroom apartment. Without a spare room, my only choice for music was my bedroom: a whopping 9-foot by 13-foot space with a closet taking up part of one corner. I had arranged my bed to be catercorner from the closet, leaving a pocket of space at the end of the bed. It seemed the perfect place to throw in a desk at the time. In reality, however, there wasn’t enough space to sit comfortably in a chair, yet the gap was too wide — and the bed too tall — to sit at the end of the bed. This led to monitor placement being an issue. I had to decide if I would rather sacrifice the scant storage space behind the desk for monitor stands or keep using it to awkwardly keep my keyboard (and stand) that I would have to pull out and put away every time I wanted to write or record.
In hindsight, I could have done several things differently, but it illustrates a commonly overlooked hurdle: balancing the space you use is more complex than just putting things wherever there’s room. How you arrange your studio setup requires functional, usable space that is consistently accessible and that prioritizes the need to optimize your workflow. In the case of space, we’ll paraphrase Dr. Ian Malcolm: just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.
So, what issues did I face? In so many words: the desk, its placement, the arrangement of the room, and storage (or lack thereof). Each of these facets is interrelated, but virtually every other consideration is downstream from these. Each comes with its own concerns, and we’ll offer several solutions that may work for you.
Which Desk Is Right for Me?
Answering this question starts with your approach to music. Those who do most of their work “in the box” will benefit from a very different arrangement than those who prioritize rackmounted gear and physical instruments. From one end of that spectrum to the other, the right desk makes all the difference.
In the case of producers, beat makers, and those who work primarily “in the box,” less really is more. You can ideate, write, record, and master a song with just a MIDI controller, a laptop, a small audio interface, and either a set of monitors or headphones. For example, let’s consider the WS7500 workstation desk from On-Stage. Its simple, sturdy design includes plenty of legroom and a tiered arrangement that angles away from your seated position with a retractable tray underneath the main surface. The upper surface is perfect for a pair of studio monitors and an external display for your computer or laptop. On the main surface, you can set up gear such as your recording interface, mouse/trackpad, and other hardware that doesn’t need to be routinely moved or changed. The tray below is an ideal spot for something like a 25- or 37-key controller or a groovebox-style interface to be readily available when inspiration strikes. Plus, the open-back design ensures wires remain out of the way. The WS7500’s modular engineering makes it expandable in any direction by adding a WSC7500 workstation corner piece and the WSR7500 rack cabinet.
For those more instrumentally inclined, the amount of usable space you’ll need comes with the caveat of differentiating how you write and practice from how you record. For now, we’ll focus on the recording aspect. Because of the hardware requirements, having more space doesn’t only mean more room for gear or accommodating the size of an instrument, but it will also help you feel less claustrophobic, especially if you’re in a studio apartment or a bedroom. RAB Audio, Gator Frameworks, and Ultimate Support are just a few brands that offer desks at a range of widths with dedicated slots for mounting rack gear.
For a hybrid approach, side racks are perfect for extra surface area as well as for rack space for patchbays or processing gear. Plus, this adds an element of modularity to your setup that simplifies transportation and storage while giving you an easier way to reduce clutter and prevent yourself from feeling boxed in.
Storage, Accessibility, and Prioritizing Your Process
Let’s be honest: most of us have plenty of gear that — as much as we love it — doesn’t get used every time we write or record. Prioritizing your workflow around what you most frequently use will save a ton of time and hassle instead of rooting around your stuff and reconnecting equipment. It has the bonus of reducing the future hassle of storing and moving gear whether going out to gigs or moving to a new apartment.
Vertical Storage
The inability to make structural renovations and the worry of losing your deposit from damaged walls is an all-too-common limitation when attempting to build a studio in a rental. We cannot emphasize this enough: vertical storage is your friend. This is especially helpful if you’re unable to install shelves on your walls. Places like Target, Walmart, and Amazon offer freestanding shelving units that are easy to build. If you’re looking for something with more character, then try your hand at a local Goodwill or used furniture store. These are a great way to multiply your storage space with a minimal hit to your wallet.
Keep Those Boxes
Keep your boxes! They stack more easily than loose gear, will keep your stuff safe, and are substantially easier to manage if and when it comes time to move. Plus, things in labeled boxes are easily identifiable when up on a shelf. Storage doesn’t have to be a “one and done” concept. For gigging musicians, SKB provides incredibly tough, high-quality cases for DJ equipment, rackmounted gear, and more. As an added bonus, your gear is usable without taking it out of its case.
Ergonomics
If most things stay in the studio, then ergonomics is critical. Sometimes that means a funny-looking keyboard placement, but consider how quickly you can lose creative momentum if the gear you want to use is a headache to get going. Using the previous New York apartment as an example, if I wanted to use my MIDI controller, then I had to grab it and its collapsible stand from behind the desk while trying to avoid wires, monitors, and my open laptop. Then, I had to eyeball the placement while trying to imagine A) if there was enough room on one side to access it with the current length of wire and B) if it made more sense to put it on my bed where it would be closer but less ergonomic (in terms of hand placement on the keys). As a regular part of my rig, I hated doing this. Better planning could have made that tedious ordeal unnecessary.
Lay out your studio space with the most-used gear close at hand. If you need to record multiple guitar or bass parts in a single session, then you’ll want those instruments nearby on a multi-unit rack or a closet-hanger design placed on a rolling clothing rack (Walmart, Target, Amazon, IKEA).
Cable Management
Cable management also helps to seriously reduce time and clutter when swapping out instruments, especially if your various instruments have different processing or effects on them. Keeping a patchbay and a power conditioner close to your instruments will keep you from getting literally tangled up in gear. For example, if you have a single-tier keyboard stand but several different synths you need to utilize, then zip-tying an audio cable to the stand with slack at the top will help you swap synths quickly!
Acoustic Treatment
Whether it’s neighbors or roommates, nobody wants to be a menace to the people around them with loud, intrusive music at all hours of the day and night. Of course, what that means in practice will vary from person to person. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to get the sound you want without upsetting the people around you!
Acoustic Treatment: General Room
Since our goal is to avoid any renovation, we promise this won’t screw up your deposit if done carefully. Installing ceiling- and wall-mounted acoustic panels is easy because they’re extremely lightweight, so there’s no need for heavy-duty nails. Adhesive strips may seem like an easy alternative, but they risk seriously messing up the paint. For these, a few small nails are all you need! Craft and hardware stores like Michaels, JOANN Fabric, Lowe’s, or Home Depot sell plenty of unobtrusive solutions for hanging panels. When it’s time to move, the worst-case scenario will likely be a quick touch-up of paint, and it’s like they were never there.
The rest of our suggestions are even more straightforward. Primacoustic and Auralex offer flexible options in size and design for bass traps and isolation pads that are easily tucked into corners. They are made of foam and easily cut down to size. You can also benefit from putting small isolation pads under your studio monitors. These will help keep your monitor speakers decoupled from (not transmitting sound into) the floor. Portable, freestanding acoustic absorption systems are a great option if you would rather avoid mounting things on a wall.
Acoustic Treatment: Vocals and Instruments
While we don’t want to completely silence our instruments (what would be the fun in that?), we can at least take steps to help minimize the ruckus. There are portable options from Auralex or sE Electronics for use with amplified, brass, string, or woodwind instruments. Specialized reflection filters and vocal booths from Aston Microphones or ISOVOX are also great for capturing voice recordings. Stand-mounted sound absorbers can create custom booths for any vocal or instrument performances and are easily stored when not needed.
Audio Playback: Monitors or Headphones?
Deciding whether headphones or monitors are best for you is a matter of personal preference. Technical know-how will determine which will work best for you. Ultimately, in a bedroom studio, the choice may boil down to acceptable volume levels and the time of day when you’ll be working. Studio-quality monitors and headphones can both produce the range of sound needed to mix reliably, and the accompanying visual feedback, EQ tools, and more should provide the information necessary for a great mix.
Going back to ergonomics, the primary hurdle with using monitors (apart from the volume) is your studio arrangement. Where you position your desk should accommodate the proper placement and distance from the monitors to ensure you’re getting clear playback. What matters most is that you have enough space to optimize their use. With headphones, this isn’t a concern, but you’ll have to consider mobility and wire length, which can be cumbersome if you’re moving around while you play or mix.
Choosing the Right Monitors: Active or Passive
This is another subject often steeped in myth one way or another. In truth, they both have advantages. The video below will give you a rundown on the primary differences between active and passive speakers. The same technological principles apply to studio monitors.
When it comes to planning, we’d lean toward active monitors. Active monitors are more popular, easier to install, and the speaker/amplifier matching is already predetermined. Plus, there are lots of available active monitors these days in all price ranges.
Headphones: Open or Closed Back
A primary concern with headphones is whether you are planning to use them for mixing and mastering or for recording. The easiest way to distinguish the two styles would be that open-back headphones position the driver in a free field (not enclosed), leading to a greater level of audio fidelity as resonances and lower frequencies aren’t exaggerated by the cups. Closed-back headphones offer superior isolation at the sacrifice of audio neutrality.
So, what does this mean for you? Open-back headphones are better for mixing and writing, providing a clear, balanced sound. Plus, the design makes them easier to wear for long periods. Closed-back headphones are superior for recording. There’s far less chance of the microphone picking up bleed from the headphones, and they allow you to listen at much higher volumes.
Software Solutions
In addition to layout planning and spatial arrangement, there’s the obvious consideration of the gear itself. This is a bit “chicken and egg,” so we’ll assume you’re building a studio space from scratch. Before we go any further, nobody here will demand that software instruments and tools are unequivocally superior to their hardware counterparts. Choosing one over the other is personal preference. You should carefully consider your approach to writing, recording, and producing music. Whether we’re talking about utilities, effects, virtual instruments (VIs), or anything else, plenty of premier-quality software is used in professional studios worldwide. Plus, software options can afford a degree of flexibility (through saved presets, for example) that might be more tedious with hardware, saving massive amounts of space, and they’re more wallet-friendly!
Virtual Instruments
Today we have access to virtual versions of countless classic synthesizers, pianos, orchestras, drums, world instruments, and more on top of inventive approaches to sound that would be difficult — if not impossible — to accomplish in real life. Premier VIs from Arturia, IK Multimedia, Cherry Audio, Vienna Symphonic Library, GForce, and more deliver meticulously reconstructed iconic instruments for unbridled implementation in your composition. From the lush ivories of classical grand pianos to the vintage panache of analog synthesis, any apartment studio would be remiss to leave these out!
Utilities, Effects, and Mixing Tools
Software instruments are incredible, but you can greatly enhance and personalize them with effects and processing. Heavyweights like Solid State Logic, Eventide, and TC Electronic offer an array of powerful plug-ins. Baby Audio, iZotope, Slate Digital, and Waves are just a handful of digital denizens whose suites of mixing and mastering tools have found homes in professional studios. For the guitarists and bassists among us, virtual amplifier modeling can aid or replace physical amps (and subsequent miking) with diverse options that won’t eat into your studio space.
Hardware Solutions
Synthesizers, Controllers, and Beat Production
We understand that software can’t replace everything, but having a smaller studio doesn’t mean you have to forgo every piece of hardware. Tabletop synthesizers and miniature modular rigs can offer powerful, versatile sound design with flexible placement and arrangement options. Similarly, grooveboxes and beatpads are a great alternative for natural-feeling approaches to production and percussion without the spatial needs or neighborly considerations that come with a full-size drum kit. You can use these to quickly develop ideas and then record the final version later in a larger, fully equipped studio. While electronic drums can be deconstructed and stored or used with headphones, they still take up as much room as an acoustic set. Frankly, if you want to record live drums, then it’ll be challenging (or impossible) to do in your apartment.
Amplification
With amplified instruments, volume doesn’t have to be a limitation. Passive and powered DI boxes offer plenty of playback choices, and most preamp or amplifier pedals provide a versatile array of tone-sculpting and output options, eliminating the need for a dedicated amp altogether! Of course, if you decide to keep an amp on hand, then a reliable clean channel is all you need when you’ve got a never-ending supply of virtual amplifiers that can run on your computer. Doing so would let you maintain the physicality of microphone placement and ambience all without giving up the considerable space of full-size amps. Physical and virtual effects and pedals can be easily introduced into the signal chain for endlessly customizable sound.
I/O Management, Interfaces, and Microphones
Building any musical setup always has some variation of the phrase “in case I need it” dancing in your orbit, as in “I might never need to track more than a few instruments in a single session, but I’ll spring for the 16-input interface, you know, in case I need it.” There’s nothing wrong with being aspirational; we’ve all been there! Taking stock of your current writing and recording needs will save you space and money and will keep your projects focused and on track. The phrase “analysis paralysis” comes to mind — having so many options can be overwhelming, and, as has been said, limitation breeds innovation. Similarly, the amount and variety of things you need to record at one time can be easily streamlined with a nearby patchbay, reducing overlapping wiring while allowing you to have MIDI and audio I/O readily available with minimal setup. Whether you need more of one or the other should factor into your decision.
The same is true of microphones. Sure, it’s good to have a collection of classic and contemporary mics for many needs, but they’re only as valuable as your ability to use them. As essential tools, they don’t take up much room, but considering the scope of your needs will increase the mileage of your gear without cramping your space. Are you recording vocals? Does your instrument sit primarily in a specific register? Are there any special considerations with the timbre or quality of your instrument? Tailoring your setup to meet your recording needs doesn’t have to come with an exorbitant price tag. Companies like AKG, Shure, and Sennheiser are known for producing versatile microphones that reliably capture clear audio from numerous sources, making them perfect for an apartment-based arrangement.
The Importance of Comfort
It’s almost impossible to overstate that your studio needs to be comfortable, considering the amount of time you’ll spend there. Working on music can be fun, but it’s still work at the end of the day. It requires dedication and time — lots of time. While there are no singular solutions to remedy writer’s block or to conjure inspiration, your studio should be a physically and psychologically comfortable space. Lighting greatly impacts mood, and switching between a harsh, single overhead light to a few floor lamps or ambient lighting can be incredibly relaxing.
Music is a labor of love, and one that is always in motion. Don’t feel bad for time spent that isn’t immediately “productive.” This is a common feeling among musicians, one that can be magnified by a poorly arranged studio. Operating within your current restraints is one thing, but if you have the physical and financial capacity to add the optimal gear to your studio, then you’ll find yourself much more creatively fulfilled. As someone who has recently come out of a long hiatus with the guitar, having a dedicated space to play and practice is immensely more satisfying than pulling out all the gear every time I want to play. Little things go a long way!
Remember, the studio is your space. While considerations of ergonomics and accessibility should trump purely aesthetic choices, that doesn’t mean you can’t personalize it! Posters, furniture, books, decorative displays, artwork, and lighting are all perfect inclusions to make your studio space inviting, personal, and fun. Even if you know this won’t be your forever home, committing to the mindset that this is today’s permanent workspace will help you to feel grounded in your work. A studio workstation should feel like an extension of your creative process and just as much a part of your home as your bathroom or kitchen — it should not feel like a separate space you get to visit periodically. That may seem like a pedantic distinction, but owning that it’s your space will help you get comfortable with the practice of writing and recording in this manner, especially if this is your first time getting into this type of workflow.
Taking Your First Steps
It’s impossible to consider every permutation of an apartment-based studio setup. These tips and suggestions should serve as helpful guideposts in deciding how to arrange and equip your studio. When push comes to shove, you can always expand your arrangement. What’s most important is building a space that’s comfortable, inspiring, and capable of meeting your musical needs without being overwhelmed by the possible avenues for growth. Thinking ahead is all well and good, but you have to start somewhere to get somewhere. If you’re ready to get your studio going, then give us a call at (800) 222-4700 to speak with one of our Sales Engineers to help you make the most of your time with the music.