Opening Word
Chasing your passion and making your dream a reality is something everyone wants to eventually be able to do. It is not enough just to work for a living. A far more important thing is to enjoy what you do and for it not to feel like a daily obligation or a chore. This is exactly what the famous saying implies when it says that doing what you love means not having to work a day in your life. However, before one can do all of this, there needs to enough planning and education in place. You cannot really pick yourself up one day and change everything. That can only happen when you have things in place to allow you to do it.
Getting in Front of the Competition
When a career in something as saturated and popular as music is concerned, there is another thing to worry about, competition. Before you decide to go along with your plans you have to think what can separate yourself apart from the already established professionals who have been in the game longer than you. Being involved in the music industry almost always means having access to top of the line hardware that is generally used for recording, production, and everything in between. This is why you cannot possibly start anything without having a professional recording studio. And making one is anything but easy and straightforward.
A Place Where Dreams Come True
Worry not though as in this article we will give you all the information you require. More importantly, we are going to talk about the things worth having in mind when building your own professional recording studio. If you manage to do all of the following and have a dedicated space where your creativity can come alive, there is no reason to think you will not succeed as a music producer. Keep reading to learn more, and be sure to check out Music producer Raz Klinghoffer if you wish to find out more about what it means to be a successful individual in this business, as well as to collaborate with them or rent their services.
1. Location is Key
As a music producer, recorder, or a mix engineer, you need to be accessible to a wide variety of clients from the industry. There are many different customers for you to tend to, from artists who need samples and beats to companies that need jingles for their commercials. As long as they need something sound related, you are there. However, in order for them to come through your doors and rent your services, they need to be able to find you. Location is one of the most important things for every recording studio. Being at the very center of a community is how you ensure success. If you plan to open in a big city, think about what is close and whether it makes sense to have a studio there. In case yours is going to be the first one in town, it would be best to set it up as close to the main street or the main square as possible. It must also be somewhere where there is no unnecessary sound. Keep away from train stations, bus stations, and airports. You should also not be close to a busy road with constant traffic. Being in residential areas is another no no because of late night sessions and the loud music that will be a regular occurrence in your place of operation.
2. Get the Right Gear
This is the bread and butter of building a professional music studio. As a producer, you are nothing without your gear. It is implied that you have all of the right gadgets whenever you plan to close out a deal. The clients will not waste time asking you if you have this and that. It should go without saying because it usually does with serious studios. And you want to be a serious music studio. The gear will also make up the bulk of your budget. You will need a powerful computer that will be the backbone of your entire set. It needs to be fast, with enough storage, and capable of easy processing. Next up is a digital audio workstation (DAW) and an audio interface. No studio can function without these two. Both are used daily for the purposes of recording. Microphones (as well as pop filters and mic stands) and headphones go without saying, and they should be professional grade all the way through. Speakers are not the same as studio monitors. You will need studio monitors and not just any old speakers. Most of these things will go onto your desk/workstation. Studio chairs are necessary, not just any computer/office chairs.
3. Get Really Professional
All of the aforementioned gear is basically the stuff everyone needs regardless of the type of music they make. To take things to the next level and be a real pro, you will need what the real professionals consider the tight equipment. It starts and ends with all the good (and expensive) stuff. Make sure to get studio rack mounts power conditioners, microphone preamps, headphone amps, monitor management, virtual instruments, MIDI controllers, electronic drum kits, control surfaces, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS), digital converters, master clocks, and analog hardware. All in all, you are looking at anywhere between $50,000 for an entry level pro studio to as much as $1 million for a top-tier, industry leading place. Most studios these days start with a budget of between $100,000 and $250,000 so you can use this as a reference.
4. Acoustics Galore
No studio is complete without proper acoustics to keep the wanted sounds in and the unwanted ones out. Acoustics are achieved with a variety of different elements, all of which you will definitely need. You start by getting bass traps and acoustic panels all over the walls, ceilings, and floors. The frequencies need to be absorbed in order for the end product to be of a high quality. Acoustic panels absorb low-mid to high range frequencies, while bass traps offer broadband absorption across the whole spectrum. You finish things off with diffusers that create natural ambience and scatter sound energy in the room, allowing frequencies to better disperse in random patterns. Reflection filters come in as an alternative in case the other three solutions cannot work for some reason. They are for a workable environment first and foremost, but they can elevate the already acoustic setting further.
