GUEST COLUMN: DIY Soundproofing Hacks For A Home Recording Studio

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DIY Soundproofing Hacks For A Home Recording Studio

by Jo

You can have a fantastic microphone, produce incredible Italian voice over recordings and make great music, but if your studio doesn’t have very good soundproofing, you have a problem, or rather, lots of problems. Background noise, bad acoustics and external sound disturbances being just a few of them. 

If you’re finding issues with sound in your home studio frustrating, the great news is that you can fix the problem on a budget. There’s no need to splash out lots of money on professional proofing either. Instead, you can apply these handy DIY soundproofing hacks to your home studio for an instant boost in sound recording quality: 

Create An Isolation Box

It is possible to create a mini room within a room so that you can not only get a great sound recording quality, but you can also move your isolation box elsewhere if you need to and repeat the results there. 

There are various ways to create an isolation box, as is shown in this handy Youtube video or in this video, for a different method of build. For something a little bigger, you could create a vocal booth inside your studio which can be built extremely cheaply, as demonstrated by this Youtube video. 

Choose The Right Room

Sometimes you can find there’s an instant improvement in the sound recordings you create just by switching rooms. The best areas have minimal external and internal sound sources, high ceilings, hard flooring, hard walls and either no windows, or windows that can be covered easily. 

Consider Mass-Loaded Vinyl

Mass-loaded vinyl is created for soundproofing and is known to cut out a lot of background noise and external noise. What is great about it, is that it can be hung and laid without having to be ‘installed’ which is ideal if you need to be able to remove it with ease. If you can, though, install it properly to get the best results. 

Use Two Rooms

If you can use two rooms for recording you can make the most of any soundproofing that you have done. In one room you would place all of the recording equipment, so the noise from it and the noise made by you using it is separate from the room where the sounds are being recorded. It’s a really great way to minimize any background noise. 

Egg Cartons? 

It has long been believed that egg cartons are an effective option for soundproofing a home studio. This is because the cartons have the same shape as some types of soundproofing foam, and so, it was once thought that perhaps the shape could mimic that material and produce the same soundproofing effects. 

In reality, they aren’t much of a soundproofing material at all because they are so thin and made of paper and cardboard, which isn’t the best at absorbing sound. 

Would cartons be a better soundproofing material than nothing at all? 

Probably. However, overall it’s better to save up a little and at least opt for some soundproofing foam, or look at some of the options we mentioned above to get the most in return for your time and effort. 

You Can Boost The Sound Quality In Your Home Studio For Minimal Cost

Luckily, there are many different ways to boost the sound quality in your home studio for minimal cost. The best thing to do if you’re on a budget is watch plenty of YouTube videos, speak to others with their own setup, and make the best possible decision for your budget and skills level. You really can have a great, soundproof home studio if you’re smart about your fit out choices.