Building a Home Studio? Start Here. Berklee professors and alumni break down the basics of setting up your home music studio, and share tips on how to get the most out of your home recording projects.
By
John Mirisola
March 5, 2025
Image by Maddie Ross, courtesy of Tape Op magazine
Some of the greatest recordings of all time have been made with remote recording setups and minimal equipment. Consider Billie Eilishs When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Or Bruce Springsteens Nebraska, or Bon Ivers For Emma, Forever Ago.
Theres a distinct charm to records made in DIY settings. Sometimes this results from the less pristine recording environment (say, the sound of the ambulance crossing through the background of Bon Ivers The Wolves) or the limitations of the equipment (the way the tape machine peaks and distorts as Springsteen howls on State Trooper). But its also due to the often less structured kinds of creative flow recording outside of a studio setting offers. Recording at home makes it easier to get ideas down quickly, and capture the raw joy of creation (I have taken out my Invisalign, and . . . this is the album, Eilish laughs with her brother, Finneas, in their childhood home at the start of her debut album).
The advantages of home recording are many and obvious: it can be more affordable, more flexible, more comfortable, and more portable than making a record in a large format recording studio. But setting up a home studio can be a daunting task. From how you arrange and treat the space, to what equipment you use, to how to get the most out of your home recording projects, there are so many choices to make along the way.
In this article, well cover:
How to set up a home recording space
How to orient that room and when to apply targeted acoustic treatments
Gear recommendations for building out your home recording toolkit
Basic home recording concepts and common challenges
Tricks for microphone placement and recording techniques from acoustical engineer Yuri Lysoinavov BM '05
Practical tips from Sarah Tudzin BM '14 and Suzy Shinn '11, two professional producers and musicians who regularly use their home studios in recording projects
Setting Up Your Home Recording Space
John Storyk in front of Electric Lady Studios
Image courtesy of the artist
John Storyk, who has taught courses in acoustics and studio design at Berklee for more than 20 years, is among the worlds most accomplished studio architects and acousticians. Since building his first studio (nothing less than New Yorks Electric Lady Studios, commissioned by Jimi Hendrix in 1969) Storyk and his firm, Walters Storyk Design Group, have been responsible for designing some of the worlds premier recording complexes and performance spaces-including Berklees own studios at 160 Massachusetts Avenue. But over the years he has also designed personal project studios for artists such as Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, and Jay-Z, applying his top-tier professional insights to smaller-scale spaces. So we asked Storyk for his best advice on how musicians can build out their own studios:
Orient Your Room CorrectlyDont position the listener in the center of the room, and try to place your speakers in the room symmetrically with respect to boundaries. Both of these steps help ensure the listener gets an accurate picture of the mix.
Use Quality EquipmentMake sure you have one or two really good mics . . . a quiet interface . . . [and] one or two good preamps, which may or may not be included in the interface.
Make the Room QuietThis could involve setting up a smaller, separate booth for recording-or, if youre recording in the same room where youre mixing, youve got to figure out how to make the room quiet. This might involve housing equipment in a sound isolation rack, using an air conditioning system thats designed to be quiet, or simply turning off the AC while youre recording. The solutions will scale with your budget and your ambition.
Introduce Some Targeted Acoustic TreatmentFocus on the first reflection position-the first position where your speaker is going to send sound off a close boundary. . . . That could be your console, it could be a close wall, it could be a ceiling. For absorbing high and mid frequencies, Storyk says there are a number of effective products on the market. They all say theyre better than the next, but thats just marketing.
Manage Your Low-Frequency ResponseThis is much more difficult in a personal studio without access to, say, the twisted propeller ceiling covered in air-entrained plaster that Electric Ladys Studio A has. Low frequencies arent effectively absorbed by standard home acoustic treatments. However, Storyk says, Do the best you can. Focus on the rooms corners, since they have the most surface area and low frequency is always going to build up on surfaces. . . . So even if you were to just put anything in the corner-maybe some foam, or tube traps, or anything, youre going to be helping yourself.
Ask for HelpIts always an option to seek some consulting on personal studio design. Its funny, Storyk says, people have no problem spending thousands of dollars on plug-ins, but they wont get $500 worth of advice to get in the right position in your room.
Make It Fun Yet FunctionalEvery studio has to have some kind of signature. . . . Youre supposed to have fun in these studios. Theyre supposed to have your personality. On the other hand, Ive always thought that there has to be a kind of neutrality in the studio.
More Lessons from Electric Lady Studios
Architect John Storyk talks to Berklee Today about designing Jimi Hendrixs iconic studio, and offers advice on how to make the most of your recording space.
Finding the Right Home Recording GearIn Berklees independent recording and production program, students learn to make professional caliber music outsi
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Building a Home Studio? Start Here. Berklee professors and alumni break down the basics of setting up your home music studio, and share tips on how to get the most out of your home recording projects.
