John Turner

This winter, my main indoor project has been to build out my home studio. I can’t go hog wild crazy with making it for recording and music only, as it also doubles as my primary work space (shhh…don’t tell the IRS Just kidding. No, seriously….) Anyway, I’ve been reading as much as I can about studio design, acoustic room treatment, etc. I don’t really get all the math, but I don’t really have to, as there’s lots of people out there that can do the heavy lifting and distill it down to plain language for the rest of us.

Room treatment is probably the best thing you can do when building a home studio or home theater…after all, what good does it do you to buy expensive hardware and software for music and sound if your room lies to your ears? Room treatment can make entry-level pro or audiophile gear sound a lot better, and for a lot cheaper. So it only makes sense to treat your room to get the most bang for your buck from the gear you’ve worked so hard to get.

Today, I decided to experiment with a 3D program, to see if it would help me visualize what I wanted to do to my studio. I downloaded Google’s Sketchup…it isn’t the easiest program to learn, but I got the basics down in about 30 minutes. It was pretty cool finding 3D models for IKEA’s Jerker desk, Dell’s 24″ monitor, and even my studio monitors (speakers) in Google’s 3D Warehouse. I even uploaded a quickie 2′x4′x4″ bass trap model, complete with texture. Neat! I’m planning to make my own bass traps…probably out of some sort of thin, lightweight metal (aluminum?) and 2″ or 4″ mineral fiber panels. There are companies that sell bass traps, but they’re freaking expensive. A DIY master like myself would be crazy to spend that kind of money on something he can whip up in the garage. Granted, they may not be as acoustically perfect as the expensive store-bought traps, but if I wanted perfect acoustics, I’d book time in a studio.