For any creative artist, your creativity knows no bounds and you might get wired and inspired in the middle of the night!
You need to create a functional studio workplace at home where you can let your artistic side continually develop no matter what time of day it is!
In order to move through your art form, and express yourself technically, you’ll need an at-home studio with tech at your fingertips, solitude inside the walls, and often a way to block the noise of the world out!
As a blogger, vlogger, YouTuber, Influencer, Recipe Creator, and voice-over gal, I’ve been rapidly working on my own personal studio space to perfect my craft, so these tips are part of my overall planning strategy and I hope they help you!
You can DIY an at-home studio which is an extension of your professional capabilities, and your willingness to not only remain creative with an art form but to express that technically.
Who Would DIY An At-Home Studio?
And that’s the shortlist.
For instance, you may be a freelance voice actor with an excellent vocal range, but without the correct microphone setup, audio mixer, and ability to edit and deliver those files, you’ll be unable to satiate the kind of clients you deserve.
No matter if the studio space is within a warehouse you rent, a room of your house, or a separate exterior office on your property, what matters is formatting this correctly for the kind of work you hope to do.
This requires equal parts good DIY, renovative planning, and professional insight.
Studio space is also more than just a few instruments or pieces of equipment in front of a computer.
Depending on your particular art form, it’s essential to consider additional variables, like the sound dampening of the room or its lighting.
- a computer
- a video screen
- a large photography table
- great lighting with lighting rings
- large powerful speakers
- a microphone with clarity
- cameras
- a workspace (desk etc)
With that in mind, let’s consider how to format that studio space in the right way.
Keep Your Cables Under Control In Your At-Home Studio
Cable Management 101
Having so much equipment around, be that for your lighting gear, your music production equipment, your graphics tablets, your instruments and amplifiers – well, things can get quite cable-y.
The last thing you need is to walk into the studio, ready for a day of creativity, only to trip over a thick cable with a coffee in hand, spending all morning on the phone with your insurance provider.
A worthwhile cable management system can help you more easily limit the number of wires laying around the place, and will also help you transport them capably when you need to as well.
With a few adhesive clips you can fit any wall without leaving a mark, a few simple zip-ties you can use to tie like cables together, and some clever routing, you can also remove some of the webbed cablings from around the space.
You may have to implement cables running along your flooring. That’s fine and quite normal.
Cable tape can provide a good way to secure it to the floor, or you might use cable funnels you can easily use to weigh down and provide raised ridges that you won’t trip over, thanks to their inclined sides leading up to the peak.
Create a Functional Studio Workplace And Add In Both Acoustics & Soundproofing
Block out the world, and lock yourself in, so that when you do Take 1 or Take 5, no other sounds are ruining what you are working on!
Your studio space probably won’t contain the kind of acoustics necessary in a million-dollar production space or theatre, but there are some things you can do.
Did you know that egg crate foam on the walls can help limit the echo that transpires around a room, especially a large room, and that can make a big difference in removing natural reverb too?
Heavy dense materials and air-tight sealants can also help to soundproof the space, which can be worthwhile if you don’t wish to hear nearby construction or car sounds, or allow the drums you’re playing to annoy your neighbors.
That said, in a home space, you’re probably not going to get 100% soundproofing without a dedicated construction designed for just this.
You can also implement booths if necessary, like a small recording booth you construct with basic walls while treating the interior appropriately.
This way, you have a smaller, but more manageable space to manage voice recordings in.
At-Home Studio Lighting
Lighting is important for those who spend hours editing on the computer, for sure (less lighting than you need can result in eye strain), but hardly the end of the story for a studio space.
If you take photographs of products, live stream content, or record, it’s important to make sure you have a specific space from which you can light, and don’t forget the ring lights to bolster your images and videos!
Key lights, a soft backlight and fill light can help you position a natural lighting system without harsh shadows or overbearing illumination.
Consider hanging a green screen or use a freestanding green cloth that you iron out and hang from a sturdy pole.
This way you can cultivate a nice little space to take photographs in backlit correctly, so when you come to touch up and color correct the photo or add a chrome key to the background in order to superimpose other images, the lighting will work with you.
Don’t Forget Power Requirements When You Create A Functional Studio Workplace in Your DIY
Remember that lighting of this nature is often hot, and a power draw.
This means you should ensure the room is well ventilated, and fire safety hazards are addressed.
Which is how we arrive at the power requirements you might need in your studio space!
Power Requirements + Your At-Home Studio
Chances are you will be calling an electrician for this part of the studio space DIY!
A good amount of equipment will require a rather large power draw, which is why consulting with an electrician in order to plug your equipment into the correct sockets, without causing an overload or fire risks can be important.
Here you will be able to negotiate the right places for sockets and discuss just how much you’ll be drawing at any one time.
This way, you can accurately predict your energy costs, and by checking the operating voltage of certain equipment, you’ll also be able to try and focus on efficiency, or at least relative efficiency given the extent of your equipment needs.
Security & Safety For Your At-Home Studio
Of course, a studio space will carry a lot of expensive equipment.
You might have thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment in there.
It’s good to secure this then, not only from trespassers but also from your children walking in with a soda and a curious mind.
A lock on the door, blinds on the windows, an alarm on exterior buildings on your property, and even remote smart cameras to check on the space can be worthwhile.
Of course, making certain all of your equipment is itemized and insured will also help you recuperate some of the cost should it be lost, should your house get flooded or suffer from a fire, or if an issue with your home’s construction is found.
Now Go Create A Functional Studio Workplace
With this advice, we hope you can form your studio space in the best possible way, and potentially avoid any difficulties that might otherwise come from poor planning or first-time rookie studio mistakes.
Here you’ll be able to flex your creative muscled on a daily, and we will be light-heartedly jealous about it!
Keep your artform moving, your passion undying and your spirit light, as your studio space is all about you and your craft! ~ Dana XO
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