Acoustics / Studio Design

When Paul Johnson decided he'd like to teach a Music Technology course at the college where he works, there was one small problem: he had to build the studio himself during the summer holidays, on a shoestring budget with help from just two students. Impossible? Let's find out...

You might think that the layout of your studio is determined purely by where your monitors go and where you sit, but as Paul White explains, there are few areas where you have to exercise a bit of care. • Part 1 • Part 3 • Part 4 • Part 5

Want to set up a home studio but don't know where to start? In the first part of a new series, Paul White guides you through the creation and setting up of a basic home recording system.

Paul White reveals a few of his Blue Peter-style secrets, the general aim being to construct something useful in the studio without spending more than a pound!

Love it or loathe it, the analogue cassette looks set to be the primary medium for the distribution of recorded music for the foreseeable future, and we have to make the best of it. Paul White shows you how...

Having addressed your studio mains wiring, you can now turn your attention to the connections between your equipment. Paul White explains the undoubted benefits of a patchbay system.

This month, Derek Johnson investigates the GT Pro MIDI studio workstation stand from Cambridge Innovation Systems.

Budget speaker simulators make it easy to get a good guitar sound directly from your guitar amplifier to tape, but you'll need a dummy speaker load if you want to work with your speaker cab disconnected. Paul White shows you how to build one with the absolute minimum of time and expense.

When setting up a studio, the temptation is to make do with the existing wiring — but this can lead to problems with hum and interference, as Paul White explains.

Few of us are in a position to fit our houses with false walls, suspended ceilings and floating floors — so how can we create a reliable monitoring environment? Paul White explains that it's not as daunting as it seems.

Learning to solder is easy, inexpensive and can save both money and frustration. Paul White makes it as painless as possible — just as long as you pick up the soldering iron by the right end!

Modern tape recorders, both cassette and open-reel, are capable of giving years of service — but they can also deteriorate very quickly if not cared for. Paul White explains the essentials of cleaning and demagnetising.

In this final instalment, we present a practical overview of the 'room‑within‑a‑room' principle which is used in the construction of virtually all major studios.

Having dealt with walls and floors, we move on to the floors and ceilings of the studio, with a view to reducing sound leakage even further.

We turn our attention to uprating studio walls, as well as techniques for building sound‑isolating partitions.

This month, we examine doors and windows, the most vulnerable areas when it comes to sound leakage.

SOS begins an in‑depth series on practical studio design. This month, the emphasis is on measures you can take to soundproof your studio or practice room.