The ease of finding professional quality recording equipment at a consumer price has exploded in recent years, leading to more and more musicians and podcasters setting up a home audio recording studio. The investment is relatively small compared to the value you can get from recording your own music. You’ll need sound proofing foam, a space to work within, and decent equipment to capture sound.
Setting Up the Space
Make sure that your space is large enough for you to move in, while being small enough to prevent bad acoustics. Closets, especially walk-in closets, are excellent for that purpose. If acoustics are questionable, you might need to add some sound diffusing acoustic foam panels to try and direct sound better within the space.
Most people will be fine with egg crate sound deadening foam. It’s good for budget setups, especially when paired with acoustic foam cloth, and it’s easy to order in bulk. Once you’ve got your four walls, and your foam panels, you’re fairly set to go. Cover each wall in panels using double-sided tape.
Equipment
The computer you build makes a big difference if you plan to do any audio editing. Be prepared to dump money into a processor, and potentially various devices designed to capture or distort sound on multiple channels.
There are entire books written to describe what makes for good audio equipment. take some time to learn about frequency response, or the range that a microphone can hear. Sensitivity is huge with microphones. Some of that can be edited in post production, but a good setup makes for a good recording to work with.
The Foam Factory, Inc. is Southeast Michigan’s largest provider of sound proofing foam solutions for recording studios.
