Design can be an integral part of a good home studio set up. Whether just trying to figure out how to fit all you gear into a small place, sound proofing or if you are lucky enough to build it from scratch the design of you studio is very important. I am going to speak more on making the most of you home studio since even though I have been in pro studios I have had no experience with there design.
Home Studio Design
First thing you want thing you want to do when setting up your home studio is to take a second to make a list of all your gear…you will be surprised how easy it is to forget a big item. Next look at your space and visualize and maybe even map out what you envision as the best set up. You will most likely move things around but its a great way to start because moving big things around in a small room is never fun. You will want certain things close to your desk, while you will want other things to have space of there own. If you are lucky enough to have two rooms you will want one to be your control room and one for tracking (recording the instruments). But as most of us don’t this luxury I wont speak to much on that. Leave as much room as you can by trying to use the space as well as possible.
Using Space for Studio Design
A good way to optimize space is just to line things up along the walls, even then it can be a good idea to stack anything you can. If you have multiple keyboards put one little higher behind the other one. If you have a desk with multiple levels put your outboard gear under one of the shelves and your monitor on top. I wrote an article about recording vocals in your home studio, you can check that out to see some ideas for vocal booths. In short it is good to put one in a corner and you can build walls with blankets. There are lots of ways to sound proof a room and there lots of myths about egg cartons and other things. Your best bet is really just to do some research and buy something that is actually made for this application. You can do a lot these days in your home studio, but having a good set up will save you a lot of grief later on. So take your time and really think it through.
Home studio design is best left to your creativity but you should really put a lot of thought into it. Most likely you have a lot of things and they can’t all sit on top of each other. And even more importantly you will need room to move and play them. Look up some other peoples set ups for inspiration and get going on your own!
