March 03, 2007
Welcome!

When I first decided to reenter the world of music on a more permanent basis (I had banged the ivories on and off since I was 6 years old) I stumbled upon this marvelous website and have been stuck here ever since!

I've often toyed with the idea of writing a little column about the typical home studio newbie and now seemed like a good time to subject you to the musings of my mind (deluded as they may be). While there are a good many helpful souls (even CSI) on this forum, most have a lot more discretionary funds to use in their habit...I mean, hobby than I do. As is evidenced by the myriads of mind-numbingly repetitive forum posts (my own included) it seems like a reasonable idea to create a forum thread specifically addressing the various questions that perpetually perplex newbies, hobbyists and well, people like me!

I invite comments from one and all, expert and beginner alike. I do ask that you avoid flaming, personal attacks, trolling, etc. The main purpose of this thread is to be informative and, hopefully, interesting. I thank everyone in advance for reading this thread and all those who choose to participate.

Thread Structure

A little comment on thread structure should help keep this potentially long thread organized. Periodically I will make longer "article" type posts that include a date and the post topic. These will be in bold so they can be easily seen while scrolling through the thread. Subtopics, such as this one, will be subtitled in italics. Hopefully, these features will make it easy to read and digest the wonderful nuggets of audio nirvana (sorry, got carried away there...) contained in this thread.

Another request to those gracious enough to post in this thread, please keep a close rein on using the "quote" feature in replying. I realize the usefulness of this tool. However, nested quotes can make rereading sections of a thread difficult. Additionally, large quoting of main "article" based posts will make it more difficult to locate each one in the future. A modest amount of preemptive housekeeping will keep this thread in tip top shape. Again, your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated.

Your (Not So) Humble Author

At this point, if you're still reading, you have quite a penchant for boring drivel! As a reward I present to you a second course of MORE boring drivel with the bonus of being all about me.

I was born and raised in the United States which tells you about as much information as saying I was born and raised in Europe. So, clarifying a wee bit more...I was born and raised in the state of Ohio which is one of the states in the Great Lakes region of North America. I currently reside in the central portion of the state and live reasonably close to the state capital of Columbus. This means diddly squat as well. Moving on.

I've always been interested in music and apparently there are a few genetic reasons for this (my father's inability to carry a tune not withstanding). My grandmother on my father's side is a good singer and performed a time or two before getting married. Both of her daughter's (my aunts) play the piano, one teaches piano and the other still performs in musical theater along with her husband. On my mother's' side, her father played the cornet in various marching bands and my mother played the cornet, trumpet, recorder and electric organ in high school and college though she doesn't have much interest in music these days.

So, I've been exposed to music my entire life and I took an interest in the piano at a young age. I never had any formal lessons so I hardly would be considered even a remotely skilled player though I have managed to learn to read and play simpler arrangements from score. I do feel that I have a good sense of rhythm, timing and a good "ear" for lack of a better term.

My recent musical renaissance is actually the result of marriage. How's that for a switch! My wife's sister's husband (i.e. my brother-in-law) and his two brothers have a little band. He plays guitar and sings back-up vocal. His older brother is lead singer and plays guitar as well and his younger brother is the drummer. At one point they had a bassist but he has since moved away.

They don't have any commercial aspirations but they like writing and playing music. They've been to one studio session where they produced their "first" CD. The tracking seemed well done (as much as I can tell) but the mix seems pretty lousy compared to the quality of the tracks. For all I know they didn't pay for much mix time so I can only go by what I've been told.

This train of events coincides with my return to an interest in music and music production. The short version (yes, this IS the short version) is that he, my brother-in-law, would like to collaborate with me and my meager home studio to record and produce any of their future work. This, combined with my own desire and decision that I am competent enough to write and record some of my own songs leads us to my 750+ posts on this forum and now this column.

For better or for worse, you've decided to come along for the ride.

The Current Situation

Another motivation for this thread is that I will be moving in 3-4 weeks and will be able to setup a (mostly) dedicated sound room for recording and producing. The room is fairly large as its not really a room at all. Its really a very large landing at the top of the stairs. The master bedroom is off of one end and a small guest room (sorry, too small for a control room and its been commandeered for the previous purpose by my wife) and bathroom are off of the other wall.

So, I'm at a nice beginning of this column for detailing the setup of my work environment, compromises due to my sound area being a shared area, etcetera. So, I hope this will be an educational and informative journey. By all accounts it should be fun.

Thanks again to all who will contribute to this thread and I will post the first "real" article soon.

Always remember, if you aren't having fun, you aren't making music!

Next time, Laying Out a Home Studio

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My Home Studio Build Thread

That's a long post.

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My Jukebocks

I do have a terminal case of long-windedness

Jim

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My Home Studio Build Thread

March 08, 2007
Basic Room Layout Decisions

Our move is going according to plan and I now have a small grove's worth of boxes in our living room! The duplex needs a little bit of paint on two of the lower rooms so we are planning to spend some time there this weekend to finish it up and to do a little bit of pre-move cleaning. Of course, this also provides the perfect opportunity to take some measurements of my new studio area and begin planning the basic layout.

Symmetry, Shymmetry

One of the first compromises is on the issue of symmetry as regards to monitor placement. When a monitor is sending out its sound waves, these sound waves bounce off of everything: the walls, the ceiling, your desk, your console, your vintage Elvis bobblehead, you name it. That's a problem in and of itself (more on that later) but it gets REALLY fun when your set-up is not symmetrical in your room. Now, all of those reflections are arriving at different times and, well, you guessed it, your sound isn't very good.

Of course, unless you are building and/or have a dedicted control room, having perfect symmetry is very difficult to obtain. My studio space is no different. The most symmetrical location is centered on one of the long walls with the monitors firing in the short direction. Now, this is a problem for two reasons. One, the shorter the distance, the more trouble with room modes you could have. Generally, longer is better. Two, this setup really doesn't work for sharing the room as this would put everything right in the middle of the direct path to the master bedroom. This second issue is pretty much non-negotiable so we can move on.

That leaves either of the two shorter wallls. Now, my memory is a bit sketchy but I believe the wall with the door to the master bedroom will be the best bet. One, it has the most ammount of wall space between the bedroom door and one of the walls. This will make the setup as centered in this wall (and therefore symmetrical) as possible. Second, this keeps the sound set-up away from the general foot traffic between the top of the stairs and the guest room and bathroom. These are all at the opposite end of the room then the proposed setup location.

Monitor Placement

There are always plenty of forum posts about monitor placement. While each monitor is different, there are some general guidelines that can be used when placing monitors. A few are:

1. Place the monitors so that the tweeters are at ear level or above (pointed down at the ears).

2. Place the monitors vertically (not horizontally) unless these are specifically designed to be placed that way.

3. Place the monitors at an angle so that the tweeters are again pointed directly at the ears.

Of course, these are all in reference to your typical mix position location. Now, these are general guidelines and you therefore should test and adjust your setup until you have a good, accurate stereo field.

For additional information on monitor placement check out these links:

http://www.genelec-ht.com/support/frstand.php

http://gonzoft.tripod.com/articles/a6/a6.htm

One thing you'll note from these links is that it is recommended that you place the monitors and your mix position at the three points of an equilateral triangle. This can become a bit tricky if you have to place your monitors farther apart as you then have to scoot your mix position further and further back (and further and further away from your controls!).

This will be an interesting decision for me. I don't have enough room data to make a decision yet. However, part of the issue will be integrating a 48" x 24" plastic table that isn't quite stable nough (in my opinion) to mount monitors on. This means my monitors may be 48"+ apart which puts me back quite a few feet for a proper mix position. We will revisit this issue after this weekend.

What Do I Need?

That's a pretty loaded question isn't it? Usually, we see this question associated with an A/B type comparison? "If I have a Presonus Firebox do I need a standalone preamp?" That's certainly a what do I need question, but not what I had in mind.

Speaking from my own personal experience, I did not fully understand what I needed when I began purchasing pro audio equipment. I had read all of the information I could find including perusing a large quantity of SoS articles (enough to be guilted into buying a subscription!). So, I certainly wasn't "uneducated" from a theoretical sense. But, I had no practical experience. I had barely recorded anything at all and therefore did not have a real good sense of what I personally needed to do what I personally wanted to do.

At this point, if a newbie is reading this thread (thank you!) the best advice I can give is this. Determine the bare minimum you need to get started and then START! Once you begin recording, you will quickly discern through all of the fog of opinions what it is that you yourself particularly need.

Ok, now that I'm off of my soapbox, what do I need? I need a place to:

1. Record myself. This includes vocals as well as electronic keyboard and synthed sounds controlled by my electronic keyboard. Some simple acoustic guitar is possible too.

2. Record my brother-in-laws band. This would be done primarily by tracking parts one at a time. Instruments to record include acoustic and electric guitar, electric bass, guitar and bass amps, vocals, other ecclectic instruments such as mandolin, banjo, xylophone and lastly drums and other percussion.

3. Mix recordings of myself and my brother-in-laws band.

4. "Master" and produce CD's of myself and my brother-in-laws band.

These are very basic descriptions, but they help me to focus on what will truly be important to my music production. It also will help me to decide a little bit of priority on the purchase and upgrade of certain gear or items. For this article, it helps me identify the space that I will require and how it should be arranged (generally).

So, what do I need?

I will need to determine a reasonable acoustic setup for recording vocals. Some kind of temporary vocal "booth" arrangement could be possible.

I will need to determine a reasonable setup for mixing and "mastering" recorded tracks.

I will need a suitable space for recording acoustic guitar. This could be similar to the vocal space.

I will most likely NOT be recording drums in our duplex. Therefore, no space requirements.

I believe that covers my space needs. Its very general, but it will help to guide me in this process.

That about does it for this installment. I'm looking forward to taking some measurements and fleshing out some of the brainstorming ideas I already have kicking around inside my head. Stay tuned!

Next Time: The Floorplan

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My Home Studio Build Thread

I just want to make sure everyone knows. Comments are certainly welcome. Discussion about the pros and cons of studio layout, workflow, monitor placement and other ingeneious ideas are more than welcome.

I realize the first couple are a bit dry and light on specifics but I just thought I'd make sure everyone knew that this is supposed to be more than me rambling on all day!

Jim

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My Home Studio Build Thread

Headed over to the new place this afternoon. Is there anything I should bring along or think about besides bringing along my tape measure?

Jim

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My Home Studio Build Thread

Hey Jim,

Being in a similar position I am watching this thread closely. I plan to start building out soon based on the release of the new Mac Pro boxes. Good luck to you.

Ken
Camarillo, CA, USA

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Ken

Glad to have you Ken!

I spent most of the time painting this weekend (didn't finish until 1:30a.m on Sunday). I did take some quick measurements of the room, but I have to go back to get the windows and door locations accurately. Its a bit smaller than I remember. It's 13.5' x 9.5'

Another thing, its plaster and lathe work as the main construction materials. How does that affect the general acoustic properties of the room? Would it be a bit more reflective than your typical room?

I'm really thinking about using the shorter dimension now (despite its limitations). It definitely would be the best ergonomics and traffic flow for the room. I'll have to do some research. Is 9.5' long enough?

Jim

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My Home Studio Build Thread

Hope someone chimes in. I am not up to speed on acoustics to pitch in yet.

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Ken

A quick update. Here's a brief sketch of the room. I'm going to get more accurate dimensions next time, but this sketch should suffice for now.

Option #1 is pretty much out because of the diffraction of the corner and the reflection possibilities off of the near wall.

Option #2 could work but isn't very symmetrical.

Option #3 is the most symmetrical but is dealing with the short dimension.



Jim

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My Home Studio Build Thread

Wow, I think you can hear the crickets chirp in this thread

I think I'll go stir the pot in the acoustics forum...hehe....

Jim

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My Home Studio Build Thread

Yeah, no kidding on the silence. I saw a tumbleweed.

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Ken

March 19, 2007
The Floorplan

Today we’ll just have a shorter article. I took accurate dimensions of the sound room and I’ve created a simple floor plan. It is attached below.



The dashed outlines are the dimensions of your typical plastic table that I have to use for the time being. It is a four by two foot table. It should give you a rough idea of spacing and size. After reading through a few different threads on studio layout, I have pretty much decided that placing the main mix position by the stairwell is the best option.

The Lesser of Three Evils

The main reason for this location is that the other potential locations are too close to the corners and walls of the room. This would lead to two major problems. One, asymmetrical reflections would contribute to a distorted and “smeared” stereo image due to phasing issues. Two, an uneven bass response due to the location of a mix position too close to walls and corners where the bass frequencies tend to accumulate.

Of course, the downside is that now the monitors will be firing into the shortest dimension. A rough calculation using the speed of sound at sea level of 1116.4 feet per second yields first and second order axial room mode frequencies of roughly 58Hz and 116Hz. For reference, the -3dB level of my monitors (Event TR5’s) at the low end is 57Hz. As I said, I don’t have the floor to ceiling measurement so I cannot determine a more accurate modal response estimate.

The Scientific Method

While using mathematical calculations for estimating modal issues is certainly useful, the exact acoustical properties of a room can only be identified by using test tones and test software. Once we have moved in and the sound room is in a more static state I will conduct some acoustic tests. A future article will discuss my choice of testing methodology and the accompanying results.

In the mean time, the next few articles will attempt to discuss the various acoustic properties that affect your typical acoustical space. These will include the aforementioned room modes, RT60 times, fundamental frequencies and other useful (really!) acoustic data.

As always, if you aren’t having fun, you aren’t making music!

Next Time: Room Modes
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Discuss: Is there a better place for my mix position?

Edited by PrinceXizor (19/03/07 06:00 PM)

I take it then that no one has any comments on my proposed main mix location?

Jim

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My Home Studio Build Thread

I suppose placing it in front of the window is not an option?

Seems that having the sound reflecting off that glass could be a problem. Not sure if it would be better or worse having that glass in front of you vs. behind your listening position.

Anyway, if you did, it would be a symmetrical location, though still dealing with the short dimension. As I said, I am not up to speed on the acoustic treatment issue.

What are you going to do with that corner down in the lower right area of your drawing? Looks like a good spot to make a little booth!

Couple of comments for what they're worth

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Ken

The question is whether or not I can convince my wife that the space is better served as a booth than a makeshift closet for my clothes! There is one tiny closet for the entire "master" bedroom.

As for the window question...

As far as I have read, a window is virtually transparent to low frequencies. So, while a window may reflect some high frequencies, it would be like having no space at all there.

Since the biggest con to firing into a shorter dimension is the higher frequency of the room modes (I don't know if I'm explaining that quite right), having the window behind the mix position should produce less bass problems than having the monitors fire into the stairwell wall.

I plan on placing a temporary thin absorber panel over the window to tame unwanted mid and high frequency reflections while mixing.

Well, that's how this newbie sees it anyway!

That's why I would like some discussion if any of our experienced readers would like to comment.

Jim

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My Home Studio Build Thread

How's the build comin on Jim?

ben

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The early bird may catch the worm, but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese!

This week is officially crazy week, the week of the move. We've taken over about three car loads of boxes and fragile stuff (moved most of the "studio" equipment yesterday).

Right now its just piled on certain walls in preparation for moving our furniture over on Friday.

We've cleaned the upstairs completely (walls, carpets, windows, etc.) and have the downstairs to finish. The downstairs had two rooms that were textured and painted and so we spent some time there yesterday cleaning up the resultant residues.

I'm still hoping to get some comments on acoustics. However, some of the resident experts got themselves banned for a month (sometimes they act like little kids ).

It seems I may have to post threads in the relevant other sections when I'm doing research in order to solicit responses and then incorporate those into the appropriate "article" post.

Hopefully, I'll have more information to share soon!

Thanks all for reading!

Jim

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My Home Studio Build Thread

I know its not Sound On Sound, but this is a great place for studio design/construction/acoustics help:

John L Sayers

and here too:

Studiotips

Good luck

Gareth

I frequent other sites (though I like SoS the best). I was hoping to have more info on acoustics, but I haven't had the time to do very much research yet. It'll probably end up being in conjunction with buying a test mic and choosing a test software as the capabilities of each depend on what acoustic properties you are trying to capture.

Thanks for the links!

I'm still looking for any comments on the proposed main mix location.

Jim

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My Home Studio Build Thread

We finished all of the cleaning yesterday! I know, I know...really exciting home studio information

The big move is tomorrow.

Cheers!

Jim

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My Home Studio Build Thread

A brief drop by to say I'm alive

The move went about as smoothly as moves can, if you know what I mean. Everything made it into the new places unscathed (that I know of!). We're still settling in. We've unpacked most everything, but are still organizing things. I've a studio related question but no time to discuss it at lenght so I'll just drop it in here for the moment before turning it into a little artcile...

When you place the rack computer on my table (48" x 24" table) and place my CRT monitor on top (if you suggest an LCD I'll also assume you are willing to wire my account the funds to purchase one ) and try to shoehorn my MG12/4 mixer somewhere on there...there is little/no room for my monitors. So, I've been thinking of turning the table so that the 48" stick out from the wall and the computer/monitor stack goes at the back, the mixer goes at the front and my monitors can go on stands to the left and right.

Comments most welcome.

Jim

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My Home Studio Build Thread

*sniff* nobody misses me *sniff*

Well, we're still in settling in mode and I hope to get the room setup more appropriately soon.

Jim

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My Home Studio Build Thread

I only just found this Jim....


the forum area you posted it in is something of a deserted backwater...... I could arrange to have it moved to the Studio design and acoustics area at some point if you want.....


Best regards

Max

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if you don't know who i am, i aint gonna tell you.

TBH PrinceX i havnt read the whole thread, just skimmed to get the gist. I'm just going to whitter on and excuse me if none of this is relevant to your setup or level of expertise.................

How about equipment? I find the thing that I spend most time on in my sessions is the workflow aspect.

There is a lot of power in a computer, but if you plan to record yourself, you need to make sure that the eqpt and layout makes this easy.

Remember the big red record button and the mixing board? How easy was that to make music with eh?

I have found that it's far easier to remove the noise from the room, than to try and isolate your room from noise. If you use a computer then it's a really good idea to get it out of the room. Theres no need for a booth imo, but a treated area where you can swing your arms is good to have.

I think it's more important to have a room that you like the sound of, than one thats perfect. We are talking about a small home studio, so it needs to be fun, and having different corners or areas with a slighly different sound makes things more fun. In these one room setups its tricky cos you need to make the room a bit of an all rounder. So i reckon a pair of mobile baffles, made from some rockwool on wheels are bloody handy for lots of things.

Back to the work-flow. I don't know if you use a computer based DAW or recorder, but if its the DAW then i think some kind of controller is needed. This doesnt have to be a dedicated control surface, it can be a midi keyboard, a qwerty a mulimedia qwerty, could be as simple as a toy midi drum pad [yamaha say], but something that gives you at least basic remote transport for the DAW. Its just so important for tracking. To this end ive started using the Reaper DAW.

DAW selection is tricky if you dont already have one. But if you don't, and you want to get in quick and cheap then Reaper has to be a great choice for a project home studio. Its cheap, good, and from a tracking/workflow POW, its got the most configurable keystroke/remote section ive found. You could just about run it from a toaster! Its cross platfrom and hosts multiple plug-ins. Well worth a look.

Get the best interface you can afford, and have at least two really good clean chains into the recorder, a decent stereo pre and a pair of good mics. You can record pretty much anything then. As a minimum.

This is a great topic, could go on talking all this BS all morning. But, dont forget that when all the gear is setup, and you have mission control all just how you want it. You will want to then make and record some music. Create, write, be inspired! You need to really love the room.

To me the pictures on the walls and the light are just as important as the frequency analysis of the keyhole in the door. So make a room that you really want to be in and feel great in first, then get the gear in, and then make the gear as easy as is humanly possible to track with, from anywhere in the room.

Good luck!

Thanks ow and Max!

Though this place is deserted (maybe a little more than I anticipated) I still don't want to clutter other forums AND I'm trying to avoid the typical I bought a Roland V2000+ and so should you type of posts.

I'd like input from knowledgable people who are willing to stick around for a little bit, but I'm also trying to organize this knowledge into a newbie FYI in the "there's more to a good home recording than buying a bit of gear".

Of course, I'm in the not so interesting (to some) part of the project of studio layout planning. Also, I'm making decisions in the ultra-cheap use anything I've got in place of buying something new mode of purchasing which I daresay affects a good number of folks too.

Anyhow...thank you both for dropping by. Things are starting to settle down a little so I hope to be able to add a bit more to the thread soon. The first step is figuring out a first go at the main mixing location. Presently I'm trying to shoehorn a 4' x 2' table into a semi-useful mixing plan. I have a couple of ideas that I'll pull together into a new article in a bit.

Sorry for the long non-article post but thanks again for tuning in!

Jim

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My Home Studio Build Thread

Quick update...still not dead

The studio area has been sufficiently cleaned and is ready to begin its transformation into a practically useless home studio. I will have some useful info to post hopefully tomorrow along with some pics of said area. A picture is worth a 1000 words and I'm sure y'all don't want to read 100 of my words!

Jim

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My Home Studio Build Thread

Jim. Here's a picture of Max's new studio (as of last weekend), so you can get an idea of where he's placed his acoustic treatment. He'd have liked a bigger room - but that's life!



Since the photo was taken he's also now got a mixing desk and two monitor screens installed, plus other changes.

He's added an additional double glazed unit to the inside of each window space for more soundproofing (existing single glazed window on the exterior) and whilst you mentioned windows being almost transparent to bass, you can hear almost nothing outside the studio with the monitors turned up loud, so that bass is not getting out! Might be worth thinking about.

Correct me if im wrong, because I dont know much about acoustics etc. But if there isnt any bass getting out, and lets face it, the glass isnt "absorbing" the bass, so it must be getting reflected asymmetrically back into the room? Not that there is anything you can do about it without covering the window.

The glass will be absorbing some of the bass, as will the air in between the glass layers. The multiple layers mean that sound will be bounced around between the glass panels as well, each time with a bit more absorption. So yes, you are probably getting more bass bounced back into the room than with a single glazed window.

But remember that the reasons for soundproofing a room is a) to stop external sound getting in and ruining your recording/mix environment and b) to stop sound getting out and annoying the neighbours. Unless you have a purpose built air conditioned studio, windows are going to be a fact of life that you have to live with. Trapping and other acoustic treatment can cure most problems within a studio and to me, the benefits of having soundproof windows outweighs any disadvantages they may cause by keeping some bass energy within the room. As long as you can get an even bass response in the room through treatment, then asymmetric bass reflections are far less of a problem than asymmetric mid- and high-frequency reflections when mixing.

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August 14, 2007
Back From the Dead

Sorry for the long break in posts. Life intrudes (doesn't it always) but I am looking forward to setting up the studio into a working system. Sadly, its never really been fully functional at any point and I'm looking forward to being able to simply use it instead of working on it! The added bonus is that once I put some miles on it I will no doubt have a better appreciation of the gaps in my equipment and/or improvements I need to make in layout, workflow, etc.

I have a few things going on and I will detail them in the following sections. As with any home project studio, I'm trying to balance practicality, reasonableness, quality and cost with a large dash of "just get on with it" thrown in for good measure. So let's tackle each area on its own.

Monitor Stands

I have purchased all of the materials to make some simple DIY monitor stands. You can find the idea behind them on a few different websites. Basically they consist of two pieces of wood separated by a large piece of pipe which can then be filled with some extra material to add density and to reduce and/or lower any resonant frequencies.

I ended up getting a standard 24" x 24" piece of 3/4" plywood cut into two 10" x 12" and two 14" x 12" pieces at the local DIY store. I also picked up a 10' piece of 3" diameter PVC pipe (cut in half at the store) and four closet flanges to mount the pipe to the wood pieces. Somewhere in all of this I have to decide how I'm going to add material to the pipe. Sand, shot and kitty litter are all options that I have seen on the web. One thing I'd like to plan for is the eventual movement of these stands to another location. Filling them each with 20-40 pounds worth of material and THEN moving them is not an idea I relish. Ideally, I'd like to devise a way to add the material in smaller sections that can easily be removed should another move take place (given my history, a likely occurence).

So, that's where they stand. I hope to get those sorted soon as they will give me some more options for my main desk.

Cables

On the cable front, I've had a spool of Gotham Audio Cable, double spiral shield just sitting and collecting dust. I need to create some leads and cables from it, but I also need to buy the connectors and then solder the bits together. I'm trying to find the best source for Neutrik connectors (read cheapest). This is the main thing holding me back from a usable studio. I don't have enough cables to connect from the mixer to the monitors, and from the mixer to the interface/interface to mixer, etc. I've got the typical stick iron from radio shack, not the best, but it should do.

Acoustic Testing

I think I'm at the point where I need to splash out for some useful acoustical test gear both for my personal home studio and for use in setting up the occasional live show. I'm at a loss here as to what is good value, useful, etc. Anyone who has any recommendations is welcome. I'll try to put together a small article on the various recommendations floating around the net along with your suggestions. It seems I would need an SPL meter of some sort, a test microphone, some test software, pink noise, white noise, other? This is for calibrating sound levels, testing acoustical properties, ringing out a sound system, etc. Thanks to all who make suggestions. Remember, this is a project studio, so cheaper is generally better as long as its not junk.

Well, that about sums it up for now. Cheers!
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My Home Studio Build Thread

The rumors of my death are slightly exaggerated!

A couple of pics of my "studio" thus far. I still need to test the acoustics and buy/make some cables. Hopefully I'll have some time for some more posts soon.

Jim





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My Home Studio Build Thread

Perhaps I was mistaken about my death afterall...



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My Home Studio Build Thread

one hopes not.... there are too few cool dudes like your good self in this world.

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if you don't know who i am, i aint gonna tell you.