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DIY Audio Control Booth

Most large recording studios have several different rooms dedicated to recording, such as a vocal booth and a drum room, as well as a control room specifically for the sound engineer. In a home studio setting, however, it is not always feasible to build additional rooms. There are other things you can do to create a DIY audio control booth without spending a lot of money, such as using two separate rooms or putting up curtains and soundproof blankets.

Things You'll Need

  • Power drill
  • Screwdriver
  • Stud finder
  • Tape measure
  • Pencil
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Instructions

  1. Using Separate Rooms

    • 1

      Run wires and cables between two rooms that are closely connected, if possible, making one room the control room and the other a tracking (recording) room.

    • 2

      Set up microphones and instruments in the tracking room and mic the instrument amplifiers and drums accordingly.

    • 3

      Run the microphone cables under the door or plug them into a multi-channel "snake" and run the single cable under the door.

    • 4

      Drill a hole in the wall with a power drill if necessary to facilitate running cables from one room to the other more easily. Be careful of electrical wiring or plumbing inside the wall.

    • 5

      Use headphones during recording to create even better separation from the sound source and to get a more true representation of the recorded sound.

    Using a Single Room

    • 6

      Discover where the wooden slats are located above the ceiling. Use a stud finder or simply go into the attic and look, then measure the distance from the nearest wall to the slat or stud.

    • 7

      Decide where the best place will be to hang your curtain tracks, using the distance measured from the attic.

    • 8

      Drill holes into the studs and mount the curtain tracks on the studs.

    • 9

      Hang the heaviest curtains your tracks will support to get the most separation for your sound, once the tracks are mounted where you want them. Use headphones for even better separation.

    • 10

      Cover any windows with soundproof blankets or heavy curtains when recording to cut down on sound interference from outside sources.

Recording Music

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