11 Tips For A Better Studio Experience

Running a commercial studio, or even just recording music at home for personal enjoyment, can be an expensive business.

There’s always a new item of hardware to buy, an interesting DAW plug-in to investigate, or some audio software that needs updating, but along with the expense there’s a whole bunch of low-cost, or even no-cost, things that can be done to make “studio” time more productive and enjoyable. So here’s ten suggestions!

1. What are you sitting on, and what are you sitting at?

When was the last time you thought about what you sit on when you’re putting in the long hours at the DAW, or about the ergonomics of your desk and display? Comfort and ergonomics are important, not only in terms of creativity, but also in terms of long term health. So make sure you sit on a chair that’s both comfortable and puts you at the correct position for the desk and display. And ensure the display doesn’t demand that you look up or down, or to one side, the whole time. Your desk should put the keyboard and mouse at the appropriate height, and the display at a sensible distance, too. The are numerous websites the offer advice on desk, keyboard and display ergonomics; like this one from the UK government, for example. Even though the advice it contains is primarily aimed at office work, the principles it describes equally apply to your studio.

2. Keep it tidy

A tidy studio is much more likely to inspire and keep you making good work than a chaotic jumble. But being tidy is not just about psychology, it also about simply being able to find things when you need them: a specific cable, or a particular microphone, or that stomp-box with the great guitar sound. If you can find things when you need them you can capture that special moment when the magic happens. But if you have to spend even just ten minutes looking for something, the moment may pass without you capturing it at all.

3. Where’s the power supply?

This tip is perhaps related to the previous one because it’s about knowing where things are. But the things in this case are power supplies. If you occasionally use any hardware items, guitar pedals for example, that use external plug-in power supplies, keep the power supplies with the hardware. There’s little so deflating than finding the hardware and then having to search through a tangled box of random clutter for the correct power supply.

5. Pesky cables!

Almost all audio cables, especially guitar cables, seem to fail eventually. It’s a fundamental law of the universe (a related fundamental law is that you didn’t keep the receipt so you can’t claim on the, “lifetime guarantee”). So when find a cable that has become intermittent, or doesn’t work at all. Put a mark on it and throw it in a box marked “failed cables”. Don’t just put the possibly failed cable back on your wall-mounted cable rack (you have a wall mounted cable rack, yes? A IKEA coat rack is perfect), because you’ll invariably forget it’s failed and try to use it again. And when the “failed cable” box has a few inhabitants, spend an hour or two checking them again and then either practicing your soldering skills to mend them, or take them to your local recycling centre.

6. Monitor positioning

We’ve published previous blog posts about monitor positioning and, if you don’t have you monitors positioned appropriately, putting that right may well be one of the most significant free upgrades your studio will ever have. So read up on monitor positioning and see if you can improve yours.

7. Listening Levels

Another previous blog post explained the benefits of working at a consistent monitor volume level, and we think it’s such an important point that it’s worth including here. Having a reference listening level will help not only with the consistency of your work and its successful translation to the outside world, it will also help ensure you don’t suffer from listening fatigue, or even worse, hearing damage from listening for too long at too high a volume. You see, hearing damage does not only occur following short exposure to very high sound levels; it can also result from long term exposure to what might seem in the moment to be a reasonable volume. So always try to keep the volume low if you’re working for extended periods.

8. Software and updates

Unless you’re obsessed with vintage analogue recording and production hardware, it’s likely that your entire studio output will depend on software continuing to run. Some of your software will have been purchased on a perpetual licence while some might be on a yearly subscription. In either case it’s good practice to leave the “automatic update” box unticked and keep your ear to the ground regarding updates and issues. So always check for reports of issues before you update critical software. Independent website resources such as Production Expert are good source of information on this kind of thing.

9. Don’t avoid the stock plugins

All of us involved in music production are continually bombarded by advertising for seductive new plugins. But when we installed whichever DAW we use, we would almost certainly have also installed a generous library of “stock” plugins – equalisers, compressors, reverbs, delays, modulators, etc. There’s also big libraries of free plugins available, you just have to look for them (Production Expert is again a great resource). But just because plugins came with the DAW or are free, it doesn’t mean they are not worth using, so don’t be reluctant to use the stock or free plugins. In many cases they will do just as good a job, especially for basic tasks like compression and EQ, as the latest fashionable releases. No song ever failed to reach a million streams because it used some stock plugins.

10. Do avoid plugins unless they’re really needed

Another plugin related tip is to be economic with them. Not only does being economic reduce the load on your computer and make DAW crashes less likely, it means also that you’ll retain a better appreciation of what each plugin is doing. So, for example, selectively adjusting clip volume might well be better than adding another compressor, and rather than use a de-esser plugin to manage vocal sibilance why not just use volume automation to dip the gain at the sibilance point? The rules here are: firstly, only use a plugin if there’s no other option, and secondly, only use a plugin if you genuinely understand what it’s doing.

11. Always be ready to record

Musical ideas tend not to obey a schedule. An idea can come to you at any moment, and perhaps the biggest frustration when a melody, beat, or lyric lands in your head unannounced is forgetting it while you’re setting-up to record. So always be ready. Have a guitar, keyboard, percussion pad or mic always plugged-in and ready to go, with the gain set appropriately on your interface, so all you have to do is open a new DAW session (maybe have a DAW template specifically for new ideas) and press record.

Bonus Tip: Self care [including healthy snacks]

We started with a self-care tip so we’re going to end on one too. Creativity, and the rewarding application of recording and production skills, demands a healthy body as well as an imaginative mind. So just as much as you look after the hardware and software that makes your studio work, you should look after the human-ware too – yourself. This means taking regular breaks (maybe have a timer running), getting exercise (somebody recently described sitting at a screen as, “the new smoking”) and eating properly. And keep drinking water and some healthy snacks (dried fruit and nuts are good – assuming no nut allergies) in the studio. But do try not to eat all the dried fruit and nuts in one go.

Happy recording!