On Tuesday, November 18th, IAR hosted another popular Do It Yourself event. The seminar featured IAR faculty member Mario Salvati who discussed the topic ‘Building a Home Studio.’ Many IAR students were interested in building their own studios for personal and commercial use and took advantage of the opportunity to learn from a professional. IAR asked Mario to cover some of the basics for those who were not able to attend:

IAR: What are some common misconceptions when building your own studio?
Mario: There are three. First is the cost. Many people attempting to build a studio don’t realize that isolating your space alone will take up 60-70% of the budget. Isolation is separating your work space from the rest of the world and involves room construction. 2nd, everything must be perfect so you have to pay attention to details. Finally, foam egg cartons are a myth. They are a waste of money and actually make the room sound worse.

IAR: How do you build an acoustically correct mix environment?
Mario: You want a neutral acoustic room; not too live, not too dead. It should also be comfortable. If the room is not exactly right per isolation and acoustics, but it’s comfortable for the engineer and artist to work in, then it’s a good room.

IAR: How does volume and room size affect the studio?
Mario: Loudness and size will totally affect tuning and treating the space. If you want to get loud but the space is in an apartment building, you are going to spend more money on isolation. If it is really small or really big, you will spend a lot of money to make it work.

IAR: Does it matter what genre of music you’ll work with?
Mario: A good room works for any genre, sound is sound.

IAR: Any important resources?
Mario: Aurelex.com, Rane.com, and Electro-voice.com. Google the word ‘Acoustic Treatment’ and read the Master Handbook of Acoustics.