Professional Recording Studio, would be a space that is acoustically treated to Record, Produce, Mix and Master audio. In addition, it has the necessary gear and audio equipment. It may have space separately: small to record a single instrument or a large space for a full orchestra. When setting up a Professional Studio, it is a good idea to work with an acoustics-professional who has the knowledge and experience. Additionally, an architect who expert in music studios would be an asset. Studio Construction is a highly specialized field and materials used can be expensive. However, it’s a good idea to look at local materials that are easily available to bring down costs. What are the main factors to consider when building a Professional Recording studio? 1. Purpose 2. Space and Location 3. Acoustic Treatment 4. Gear and Equipment placement STEPS TO BUILDING A PROFESSIONAL RECORDING STUDIO 1) Purpose: A Professional Recording studio is a commercial space, where people can record, produce, mix and master their tracks. Recording studios are often rented out to multiple users or artist. Some private studios are owned by record labels and used by their own artists. Whatever the case, it is a good practice to have one’s own engineers and technicians, man the studio equipment. This avoids unnecessary wear and tear or misuse. Large Commercial recording studios have pre-approved lists of engineering, some even on retainer for such purposes. 2) Space and Location: A Recording Studio has multiple acoustically treated rooms laid out so that sound from one space does not leak into another. The best are constructed from the ground up. They achieve soundproofing within its space from internal and external sounds. Studios incorporate High Ceiling, Suspended floors and no Parallel walls. A Recording Studio should have a control room and a separate recording booth (at the minimum). Some have more extensive and specialized spaces including defined recording spaces like a vocal booth, drum room, instrument recording rooms and may even go as far as having a separate mix and master studio, foley rooms, dubbing suites, and Audio Visual editing studio’s, based on the kind of work undertaken. Often, walls are not shared and have air-gaps or corridors to reduce the transfer of sound from one room to another. Common additions like any commercial or office space today include reception and administrative or back-office spaces, a pantry and breakout spaces for artists and engineers. Isolate Audio Spaces from these common areas 3) Acoustic Treatment: Depending on the location, consider building-in a fair amount of acoustic treatment to get your studio sounding right. Extensive treatment is required for a Professional Recording Studio to avoid leaks and great sound. There are two major part we have to consider to design a Studio acoustic treatment such as, A) Control the Sound Transmission B) Reverberation Control 3.1) What is Sound Transmission?
Every object in motion makes noise, transmitting its sound or noise or vibrations in the form of pressure or negative pressure waves, to the surrounding air. The first step to controlling sound transmission in buildings is assessing the situation. What kind of noise is it? Noise in buildings is usually assigned to one of three classes. Airborne sound: Inside a property this might result from conversations, media, movement, appliances and so on. noise can be transferred through the air (air-borne) Structure-borne sound: Sound that is generated when some object in contact with the structure vibrates and so generates noise. Examples: elevators, washing machine, plumbing noise. Impact sound: Sound that is generated when some object strikes the structure of the building. Examples: door slamming, a hammer blow, footsteps. 3.2) What is Reverberation?
Reverberation is the collection of reflected sounds from the enclosed surfaces. Eg: We create the sound waves (from the source like speaker or instrument) with in the enclosed surface/room it will repeatedly bounce off surfaces such as floor, walls, ceiling, windows or tables when these reflections mix, known as reverberation. 3.1.1) Control the Sound Transmission (Sound Proofing or Isolation Treatment) Wall Isolation Treatment:
The external walls of the studio are normally concrete, the structure is solid and drowns out any external sound. In general, studio walls are highly dense avoiding any possible vibrations from leaking in. But internal walls or isolation walls (To control the sound transmission one room to rest of the buildings) to be build with a frame structure of wood or GI or aluminum by using anti vibration clips, stuffed with acoustic infills and multiple layers of high density materials. It will increasing the wall density. Isolation wall treatment is a bit more expensive but makes a great sound barrier.
Ceiling Isolation Treatment:
Isolation ceiling to be build with a suspended ceiling frame structure of wood or GI or aluminum with the help of anti vibration ceiling hangers. They can either be attached directly to the true ceiling or suspended from the true ceiling and stuffed with acoustic infills.
Floors Isolation Treatment:
A well-constructed Recording studio has a suspended or floating floor, building on the idea of a room within a room. The idea is to isolate the surface of the studio or recording room from external sounds and vibrations. Use resilient channels or u-boats to achieve this. Fill pockets or gaps, with insulation materials to dampen and absorb sounds generated in the room. Floor finishing include wood, carpet or floor mats. Add Acoustic vinyl and carpet or foam under-liners for better floor isolation. 3.2.1) Reverberation Control (Absorption Treatment) Absorption Treatment is the process of making a room sound better for recording or mixing by absorbing unwanted ambience and frequencies within the room. Depending on the location, consider building-in a fair amount of acoustic treatment to get your room sounding right. Extensive treatment is required for a Professional Recording Studio to avoid leaks and great sound. Wall & Ceiling Absorption treatment: To treat your room for recording or mixing you’ll need to use the following types of wall acoustic treatment: A) Bass traps—for low frequencies B) Acoustic panels—for broadband absorption C) Diffusers—for late reflections. A) What are bass traps?
Bass traps are acoustic absorbers built to prevent problematic reflections from low frequencies. Controlling your room’s bass properly is crucial. Low end energy can be extra problematic for recording and mixing environments—especially in small spaces. This type of acoustic treatment requires extra mass and absorptive properties to deal with low frequencies effectively. B) What are acoustic panels?
Acoustic panels are absorbing panels that work for a broad frequency range of sound energy. We can place the acoustic panels in walls (Fabric Wrapped Acoustic Panel, Stretch Fabric Acoustic Panels & Foam Panels etc.,) and Hang in the ceiling (Ceiling Clouds, Ceiling Baffles & Ceiling Tiles etc.,) Bass traps handle the lowest frequencies and acoustic panels take care of the rest. C) What are Diffusers?
Acoustic diffusers are a form of acoustic treatment that scatter reflections rather than absorbing them. They’re an important part of comprehensive acoustic treatment. If you only use absorption, you’ll end up with a space that sounds unnaturally “dead.” Diffusion allows you to control room reflections without eliminating them completely.There are different diffusor styles that that each use a different strategy to reduce the negative effects of acoustic reflections. Diffusion works best for tackling late reflections at points further back from the main listening position, but it’s still a key part of a complete acoustic treatment strategy. 4) Gear and Equipment: A Computer to process sound with digital audio work station A powerful Computer with adequate processing power and internal storage. Ensure the OS supports the DAW plugins and other software you plan to use. For Powerful DAW dedicated for recording like Pro-tools consider an assembled PC. While Apple Logic Pro is Mac-based and should have the latest Apple tech available. Audio Interface Absolutely essential in Computer-based audio productions, an Audio Interface is the connect from analogue to digital for audio. It converts analogue signals from a microphone or input device to data that a computer can understand and converts back digital to analogue to be heard through the studio monitors. The ideal interface is one which can boost the right amount of signal and improve the audio quality. The High-end interface will give accurate control and possibly allow level enhancements to signals as well, improving clarity. Microphones A Microphone is an acoustic-to-electrical transducer. It converts sound in air into an electrical signal. Essential for a recording studio, the microphone come in various types based on the purpose of its use, i.e the subject being recording. Having different polar patterns for recording, when paired with the right instrument the recording can often sound better than the original. The 3 Main Types of Microphones are:Dynamic, Condenser,Ribbon. Monitor and Stands Studio monitors are (speakers) designed for professional audio production applications. They come in different sizes. Consider them based on the size of the room as well as the purpose of use. It is important to choose a speaker with great clarity so that you can hear the intricacies of your composition and the quality of your mix – good or bad. Most studios have at least 2 sets of monitors for referencing: near field & mid-field studio monitors. However, if you are mixing for video and need 5.1 surround mixes; Far-field-monitoring is required. Far-field monitors require a considerable amount of space. The point of origin of the sound, i.e the monitor needs to be at least 10 feet away from the listener. Near-Field Monitors are small speakers with small cones. They range from 3 inches up to 8 inches and comprise of mainly a tweeter and a mid speaker. Anything Larger would be a Mid Field, though Mid-field usually has two cones apart from the tweeter. While Far-field has multiple speaker cones to split lows, mid’s and high frequencies. Studio Monitors can be placed on the Work desks directly using isolation pads. They sound better, placed on height-adjustable stands separate from the word desk. This avoids unnecessary vibrations from being picked up by the mixer or other devices on the studio desk.Position Speakers to enable the right sweet-spot by forming an equilateral triangle between the two speakers and the listener. The Business of Commercial studio’s The Commercial Recording Studio is meant to be a professional environment that is used to record, produce, mix or master in an acoustically correct environment. It costs a lot to set up and operate. Therefore, it must be managed like a business in itself. No environment is 100% acoustically sound. Even if it is technically absolute, it may not necessarily sound right to every individual. Ensure, each space is built keeping in mind the purpose and what it is best suited for. Operating a commercial studio requires management of resources and time, and needs professionals to ensure utilization and equipment is taken care of. The better built and better equipped, the more one can earn or charge from it. Charges are per hour for use of the space with additional charges for engineers.
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