Adventures in Audio: Building a Recording Studio #IWSG #authorpreneur #recordingstudio

It’s the first Wednesday of the month and time for another posting of the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

After all the research, it’s time to start building.

You can always hide in a closet among your winter coats to record your podcast, audiobook, vlog or whatever it is you want to record, but as a professional doing it regularly, it will get claustrophobic, fast.

There are cool acoustic blankets you can buy to help with room sound, etc. and you can even hang them on a frame to create a recording space – as opposed to huddling beneath one on your bed while recording.

You can buy a pre-built recording booth.

Or you can build your own. (Or get a carpenter to do it for you if you lack the skills.)

I opted to build my own. Okay, so my dad took the lead as he’s really good at these sorts of things and I was mainly an appy handing him stuff, holding stuff, painting, and doing the small things I know how with the drill, etc.

It was an experience. And lots of fun.

Here’s a collage of various stages of building the booth (at least, an abbreviated version).

And by the time we were done, this is what it looked like:

So what do you need?

Well, a space in your house you’re willing to offer up permanently for your recording studio. I made space in my office.

For the frame and walls, we used regular pine timber bought at the local hardware store (it’s a huge place) in the right size to support the structure, and hardboard sheets for lightweight walls. Besides the bolts, hinges and more to secure it to the floor and concrete walls, wood screws and cold glue to secure all the timber together. And a door, of course. (You need to know what you’re doing, so I’m not going to go into detail on how it’s done or the tools you need.)

As for the soundproofing, I could have gone with bought acoustic panels (see below) but I decided to build my own using batting to keep the fiberglass soundproofing insulation fabric inside the wood frames I built and painted, and then covered with a thick fabric of my choice. (It looks just like the bought stuff, but for a fraction of the price.)

There’s a carpet to keep the booth insulated. The exposed wood inside the booth helps with the low sounds (keeping out an echo in recordings) while the panels absorb excess sound, giving a clear recording. (There’s a lot of science behind this, but that’s the short of it.)

That’s how I did mine, at least. There are other ways and other products you can use.

Bought acoustic panels.

Convoluted Acoustic Sound Panels.

There are several different types of panels you can buy in different shapes, sizes and colours. It’s all about budget, functionality and what you really need.

For example, when I took singing lessons as a teenager, the studio and booth walls were covered with a type of cardboard material.

Can’t believe I was ever that young…

Anyhow, everything we learn in life can be used in a good way in our writing careers.

You don’t need to build a booth, of course. You can just pay for studio time at a professional studio. Your choice.

What do you think of having your own recording space in your house? Will you try more audio in your author career? Have you ever tried to build anything? You can find more author-centred posts here.

I have a book out to help authors with various parts of this audio journey:

Adventures in Audio: Audiobooks, Podcasts and More for Authors by Ronel Janse van Vuuren

Remember that you can request all of my books from your local library!

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