Home studio problems...

Electronic Music Production // Dark Arts
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disparate
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Home studio problems...

Post by disparate »

Anyone else frustrated with the realities of doing your thing in a home studio?

My DJ and production gear are in my living room, which is a combined kitchen/lounge.

I can't have it too loud because the bass goes straight to the floorboards and the neighbour downstairs isn't into that, and it's headphones only or bass all the way down after 10pm.
Neighbours next door share a landing with me, so I get a bit self conscious about playing a kick drum or synth chord over and over, or messing with synths, knowing they can probably hear it all.
When the window is open (I live on a busy road) the traffic noise is significant, but when it's closed it's not much better and it's too hot.
Acoustics really aren't ideal, but it's a living room so I don't really want to go mental with foam.
And let's not even get into what it's like when I need to put the washing machine on...
Not really much space in my bedroom, especially if I were to put my decks and records there too.

Suggestions? Thinking of renting a space but they don't seem cheap or easy to find around here. Save up/sell up for a more appropriate property? Get used to headphones?

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rktic
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Re: Home studio problems...

Post by rktic »

I've been struggling with the same shit for over 15 years and got used to produce with headphones. I can gladly say it didn't harm my ears too bad eventhough i always cranked up the volume a lot. I'd say it works, if you've got solid ones. And for fucks sake don't go for buying any of those reference ones - you're a techno guy and need to hear and feel bass appropriate. It takes some time to get used to it like with any other monitors.

On the other -very honest- hand: it sucked. If there's any chance try finding a space or a new flat somewhere else. You could also build an accoustically decoupled booth inside a room (friend of mine did that, looked kinda funky - room inception).

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ARiFF
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Re: Home studio problems...

Post by ARiFF »

On the other -very honest- hand: it sucked. If there's any chance try finding a space or a new flat somewhere else. You could also build an accoustically decoupled booth inside a room (friend of mine did that, looked kinda funky - room inception).
i've seen another quite smart solution for this, same principle though : room in a room, decoupled as much as possible from walls and floors. Since the guy didnt have the budget to build a room himself, he went to the nearest DIY store, bought him one of those garden house chalet thingys which are prefab wooden constructions. The people from the DIY store had to phone the manufacturer if they could offer him the same warranty because they couldnt understand that a guy walks in to buy a garden house, puts it up in a spare room of his home and than fills it up with accoustic isolation. In the end he got warranty, but not for water leaks and such... Was lmao when he told me the story, but it worked perfectly, and he's been using it for many years, actually : he build him a new studio with the money he earned from making tracks in his little chalet...

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Mslwte
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Re: Home studio problems...

Post by Mslwte »

Room in a room sounds like a great idea. Someone once showed me one of those isolation rooms on the net, it looked pretty cool but it was a few grand lol.

In my previous house I did a little loft conversion when my first child came along. I completely boarded it out and had electric installed. Also bought some "special" insulation that was stapled to the roof so it made it useable on the hottest and coldest of days. Because I was in the roof it was out of the house so to speak and the neighbours didnt hear a thing ;) I used to belt it out ha ha. You could kind of hear music when you walked up the street though :P
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Críoch
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Re: Home studio problems...

Post by Críoch »

Dye your hair orange, call yourself "The Joker" - and puncture all your neighbours eardrums with a knitting needle.

That'll sort it.

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I've got a room - but I dont get the chance to belt it out very often. Son is in Bed by 2000 / 2100 every night. By the time you speak to the wife for a bit & do "life stuff" - the window of opportunity fades.

Saying that - I've adapted. I like sitting on the couch with the laptop & headphones. If it sounds decent in headphones, its normally cool in the speakers also. I find that when I'm on the speakers now, I'll still have the headphones around my neck anyway & keep checking.

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Wiu
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Re: Home studio problems...

Post by Wiu »

I have this exact same problem. I live in a studio flat (Basically 1 room and a bathroom) and with the crazy property prices where I live, I'm not going to be able to move up the ladder any time soon. I just try to make the best of a not ideal situation.

I am quite lucky in that I'm on the ground floor and the flat above me is empty (apart from an hour each lunchtime), also the building is early 80's build so the walls are a decent thickness so I can get away with pumping the volume as long as it's not to late.
Thank you for the laughs, debate, new music found, production tips etc etc over the years. I wish Subsekt and everyone all the best for the future. Wiu.

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Mslwte
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Re: Home studio problems...

Post by Mslwte »

Adapt, modify, overcome! It's not about having the best studio, the best gear, shit loads of vst's etc. it's about making the most of what you have. :D
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Re: Home studio problems...

Post by kuba_rubacha »

im in a garage good 30ft behind the house,no soundproofing apart from a carpet and about 60 5 liter empty water bottles that work a treat when it comes to killing off the bass,ever since ive gotten loadz of em steel garage door doesnt rattle anymore which helps alot,plan is to win the lotto and build a proper studio:-P

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Patriek
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Re: Home studio problems...

Post by Patriek »

Sitting on my attick, no one ever hears me besides my gf and she does not mind the noise. But usually i use my headphones to produce so i can focus on the task at hand. Only for mixdown stuff or a dj-set i will use my speakers.
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ozias_leduc
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Re: Home studio problems...

Post by ozias_leduc »

i just bought a unit with my gf (moved in a month ago), it is a godsend. i have a nice room to use with no shared walls (well, there is a shared ceiling) and made up some broadband absorbers a couple of weekends ago. VERY HAPPY.

the place we rented before that was a bit of a nightmare. we were on a very busy intersection, and the windows were so fucking thin. anything top end was usually masked by traffic. and .. well the acoustic treatment was half arsed at best. was a bad sounding room.

i definitely would agree that you have to adapt.. but also be proactive to get a good studio space as soon as you can!

disparate
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Re: Home studio problems...

Post by disparate »

ozias_leduc wrote: the place we rented before that was a bit of a nightmare. we were on a very busy intersection, and the windows were so fucking thin. anything top end was usually masked by traffic. and .. well the acoustic treatment was half arsed at best. was a bad sounding room.
Haha sounds like mine, only one of the intersecting roads is busy but still... and I can't do much about the windows, it's a listed building so I'm not allowed to get modern windows or double glazing or anything like that.
ARiFF wrote: e went to the nearest DIY store, bought him one of those garden house chalet thingys which are prefab wooden constructions
Hahaha nice, my living room's a decent size so I could probably fit a shed in there ;)

I think I can "adapt and overcome" to some extent, my headphones (HD-25s) are decent overall and I know things sound ok if I compare them to the speakers every so often. They do have their weaknesses (e.g. kick drums on my speakers sound nothing like they do on my headphones) but they're workable.

I don't have a spare room to build a room in (just a kitchen/livingroom and bedroom) and I'm not sure if I'll be living in this place for long enough to make the investment worthwhile, I'm still at the stage in my life where I could end up deciding to move anywhere if I had the right opportunity... maybe I should just go studio-flat style and put a sofa-bed in the livingroom and use my bedroom as a music room, it's crossed my mind before ;)

I think for now I'll just make do and in the meantime keep my ears on the ground for any cheap studio space, and in the meantime try save up some cash for a better property...

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brian
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Re: Home studio problems...

Post by brian »

im lucky i only have housemates next to one wall of my room and they are in work during most days, have no one next to the 3 other walls of my room and no one above me.

recently got a nice pair of KRK8's but still tend to use headphones for the most part when trying to get a track laid out, switch over to the monitors once the track is getting somewhere, but still reference my headphones a lot as dont think the acoustics in my room are great and as i only rent i cant go altering the room to suit, usually swap between seinnheiser hd25's and pioneers, as someone already said i find if something sounds good on a good set of headphones then that transfers to your monitors usually.

also try and listen to what iv done on everything that plays sound in my house, the tv surround sound, the shit radio speakers, in ear headphones, car stereo etc, to see how it comes across on all sorts of systems.


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