I’m a singing drummer. It took me a few vocal sessions before I realized that, due to always singing while seated, I hadn’t developed natural diaphragm support. I sit to sing now. It’s not a crime. Sometimes, I’ll even grab a pair of drumsticks and air-drum while I track my vocals. It just feels natural and helps me lock in with the song. The listener has no idea how I did it, and it doesn’t really matter. Do whatever you need to do. Thanks!
Something that I've discovered over the years, especially if you have pets with fur/hair, is keep a thought about a setup that allows for easier cleaning and dusting. The harder it is to clean, dust, and vacuum the less you actually will. For instance, you have to have cables on the ground but may try to hang up as many as possible so you don't have to pick them up with one hand while pushing a vacuum around with another. Clutter on shelves and desks make it hard to dust, so balance vibe and cleanability. The earlier in the studio build one starts think about this the better. I have totally failed at this twice. On my next attempt, I will not.
I'm currently using my office at home as my studio. The office is my workspace for my day-job as well, so it has to be arranged for both. My desk is in the middle of one wall with a 38 monitor. The desk is about 30 inches deep, which gets my head back from the wall to hear the 8 inch KRK studio monitors that are mounted on stands that hold the monitors above my head. I have a small monitor controller on the desk that lets me mute the studio monitors quickly for recording (I currently only do tracking of myself, so I don't currently have a mixer). I have a 49 key MIDI controller on felt feet that can slide to the side when I don't need it, and I can easily bring it in front of the computer monitor for writing and editing songs. I have an 8u rack on a table to my right with my audio interface, TRS and XLR patch bays, a power conditioner, and a channel strip that I'm learning how to use. To my left about five feet away are two microphone stands. The main stand has my vocal microphone and an acoustic shield, with a hook for headphones and water bottle holder. I have bookcases behind the stand which does a good job with diffusing, and I also have a stage lighting stand that I added hooks to and an acoustic blanket that I can hang from it to deaden the space behind (I don't really need that for vocals, but it does make the guitar sound cleaner in the microphone). The other stand has a Rolls PM351 that connects the headphones and microphone back to the rack. The Rolls gives me personal monitoring and I can hear myself in the headphones with no latency. I also have a clamp for an inexpensive, Wi-Fi only tablet. I use the table to control my DAW (Studio One, via the controller app). Overall, it works pretty well for me, since I prefer to stand for recording my voice or use a separate stool for recording guitar. I can start Studio One at my desk and set up my audio track, hit the mute button for the monitors, the go over the mic stand and record whatever I need to. The only challenge I have with the current set up come from fiddling with the channel strip, which calls for a lot of walking back and forth. I figure at some point I'll get the hang of it (or bail and go back to doing it all in the box) and that won't be an issue in the future.
Nice set up Joe!! I spent my fist 20 years in a corner of the living room, about 10 square feet, then the last kid moved out!! Now I have a whole room!
Some really useful ideas here thanks. I'm converting my attic right now and will have 3 times the studio space I currently have. I want to make it as welcoming, practical and useable as possible - this will help 👍🏻
Some good tips Joe. I just watched a video of Richie Kotzen talking about recording his 50 for 50 album, where he recorded 50 songs for his 50th birthday and put it out as a 3 disc cd. It’s probably a little extreme, but Richie was talking about how he left his entire studio on all the time. So if he had an idea he didn’t have waste time booting up a pc, loading software, setting up mics…. all he had to do was go downstairs to his recording studio, grab a guitar, mic, sit down behind the drum set etc. and start recording. (Although I think he also said his electric bill was over $1000 a month) lol. He said he’d have an idea, and by the time he got everything set up to record he’d often forget it, so this way he could just go right down while the idea was fresh in his head and bang it out. And it worked. It’s a great (triple) album.
I'm in Florida and have had the worst time with the dam nats (no see ums) I feel your pain they literally make me want to get a can of gas and a match😂 but I grabbed a couple fly strips hung them up near the lights and bam! Great video ❤
Quick POINT, that it seems, NO ONE ever covers when discussing "home studios", so Joe, my friend, as a VIPer, you can be the FIRST if you choose to! haha....So here it is...No one ever talks about "humidifiers", and all that pertains to them. Especially since I am in Phoenix, and right now, the humidity levels AVG around 15%! I have a 7 Guitar Rack, plus two other Gtr stands, so 9 of my Gtrs are out mostly all of the time. Four of those are Acoustic, plus a Dobro. I also have other guitars in cases in this room's closet. SO you might want to talk about separate humidifiers for the sound holes in acoustic gtrs in cases. FYI --- I have Two Crane "desktop" (actually they sit on two 4-drawer filing cabinets) humidifiers that each hold 1 GAL of water, I don't run both at the same time. I also have a "humidity" thermometer to gauge what humidity is in my studio. I only use Distilled Water that I buy weekly at Walmart. On Avg, the temp runs at about 40%. SO maybe you might want to do one on this topic! Be SAFE!
Very interesting point - does the distilled water help prevent the white dust I get on everything? I've got an ultrasonic humidifier which does a good job at keeping the humidity levels right, but I get the mineral dust everywhere....
@@benberman1926 Ben, YES it does....and for me, well worth the money I have to pay for distilled water from Walmart! Because that white mineral dust gets EVERYWHERE, and found nooks and crannies I didn't even knew existed in my home studio room! BUT IF you are gonna start using DWtr, I'd thoroughly clean out your humidifier.
I'm still working on improving the acoustics of the place where I record. when it seems to me that there is not much missing, the next day I make a small revolution
That's very funny, and very TRUE......Joe moves around more than I change my socks! haha....My wife and I are in the same house that we got when we first moved here to Phoenix, 23 and a half YRS ago, and partly because she's not a mover! Frankly, I woulda downsized when both of us retired, into a smaller house and into a ONE STORY!
Side note Joe, were you referring to Dr Smith at MTSU? I worked at MTSU in the concert hall. Worked with him for many many performances while I was there.
Joe - an off the wall question. Where did you get your chair from? I've been looking all over for a chair with wheels that has arm rests that you can put completely out of the way and so far my search has been fruitless.
