Building a Studio

Most recording occurs in a studio, and the design of that facility has a major effect on the quality of the recordings made there.

In this episode, I discuss some of the things that I think are most important for a successful studio. I don’t get into room design, soundproofing and sound conditioning, or even much of the infrastructure of studios and control rooms. I’ve covered a lot of that in previous episodes. Instead, I focus on the real-world, practical, aspects of what it takes – and what it costs – to make a professional studio.

I also talk about the viability of a studio as a commercial venture, and offer some thoughts on what it takes to run and studio that makes money and stays in business.

If you are happy with the results you get from recording at home, much of this will not apply to you. However, I believe everyone who records always wants an expanded and improved facility. These thoughts might inspire you to strive for something better.

Of course, building a studio is expensive – much more expensive than residential or standard commercial construction. Even renovating an existing building is expensive. I hope anyone with aspirations for building a truly professional-sounding studio will find insights here.

email: dwfearn@dwfearn.com
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Transcript

Episode 103        Building a Studio                                              March 28, 2025

 I’m Doug Fearn and this is My Take on Music Recording

 Most recording is done in a studio. If do not have a studio, or want to refurbish one, or build a new one, here are some tips that I have gathered over the past 56 years since I built my first studio. Since then, I have built two others for myself, and designed dozens more for people who needed help.

Building a studio is a major investment in time and money. You want the result to match your needs, perhaps with room for future expansion, but also within the budget you have.

You might want to build a studio for your own personal use. Or you might need a facility to record artists you are producing. Or maybe you want to offer a full-scale recording facility available to anyone who can pay your studio rate.

Three different scenarios. Three different requirements. But there will always be some things that are necessary in any facility.

Your studio may need to cover more than one of those three scenarios.

After you define your goals, the next step is to figure out what you need to make it work. Let’s start with the actual studio space.

If it’s just you and your instrument, you won’t need a big room. But getting a small room to sound good is going to be challenging. Unless you are doing strictly electronic or sampled music, you are going to have to record some live mics. And that’s where the room design and construction become an important part of the ultimate sound you can achieve.

If you don’t think the room is important because you close-mic everything, I suggest you listen to recordings done in an average-sounding room. Even with close mics, the sound of the room will be audible. It becomes part of the recorded sound, for better or worse. And in small rooms, that is inevitably for the worse.

I suggest that your studio should be as large as you can afford to make it. That will make the sound of your recordings better right away. Of course, careful acoustical design is necessary. But that’s beyond the scope of this episode. You can find out more about that in previous episodes I have done.

Another thing I would urge you to do is to have a separate, well-isolated control room. Unless it’s just you, or a few players, and you can afford the time to experiment and listen back after you have recorded, you will never know what you are getting unless you have a separate control room. That implies an engineer to run the equipment, which is not always the case in personal-use studios.

For most recording, a well-designed control room with good acoustics is just as important as the sound of the studio space.

For an example, let’s describe a wonderful studio with these requirements:

It is big enough to comfortably accommodate the expected maximum number of musicians. We will say for this example that that number is 24. That’s more than most recordings will need, but even if you never have 24 musicians playing at once, a space that large will sound pretty good. And you will be ready if you ever have to record a string session, or a choir, or a chamber orchestra. Any of those might be on a pop record.

The reverberation time of the studio should be one to two seconds, as a general rule. The reverb should be relatively flat across the audio range. That requires some careful design, and probably some experimentation and alteration after the studio is built.

A minimum size would be around 1200 square feet. That’s a guideline for planning, and not a definitive size.

Ideally, the ceiling height should be at least 15 feet. Higher is always better.

The studio should be dead quiet. There should be no noise from the outside world, and no noise from the HVAC system or other building mechanicals. I have talked about that in previous episodes.

The isolation from the studio to the control room should be at least 65dB. More than that is challenging to achieve with simple construction techniques. But if it is possible, more isolation is better.

Imagine a Marshall stack playing at 120dB SPL. That would still be 55dB SPL in a control room with 65dB isolation. That’s about as loud as a quiet conversation. It’s loud enough that the leakage into the control room will be clearly audible, and it will likely affect your perception of the sound you are getting. Most the leakage will be low frequencies.

Perhaps the music you record will never be that loud. You could get away with 65dB of isolation. But you never know what you might record in the future.

Achieving better than 65dB of isolation becomes expensive. Each additional dB will require more in construction costs. Most studios have to compromise on that isolation. I have been in some legendary studios where the isolation was not great. You can get away with that, but it adds another layer of uncertainty while you are recording.

A good studio and control room are just the start for a usable recording facility. You will also need to have additional space for peripheral needs. You should probably consider an isolation booth or two. I prefer to use isolation booths only for things that must be isolated during tracking, but ideally the parts recorded in the booths will be replaced by a better version recorded in the main studio. There are times when that is impractical, so any booths need to have careful acoustic design. Otherwise, it will sound like that part was recorded in a small room. That’s not the best sound for almost any recording.

You will need additional rooms for the mechanical infrastructure of the facility. That would be for HVAC air handlers, plumbing, and electrical.

Your studio should have at least three separate HVAC systems: one for the studio, another for the control room, and a third for all the other spaces.

You will need at least one bathroom. You should have space for people to move in equipment, hang up their coats, and congregate where they won’t bother recording in progress.

You probably want a lounge area, for those involved in the session but not needed during some of the session. Those waiting times could be hours, so the space should be comfortable, with enough useful distractions to keep people relaxed.

You might want to include a room where musicians can warm up, work on their parts, and come up with new ideas. This room can be simple, but it should be comfortable. It would be useful to Include a piano, probably an upright.

Your studio should have a space where people can relax and eat. Sessions can be very long, and taking a break to relax and eat can be important. A minimal kitchen would be nice to include. It could be as fancy as you think necessary.

You’re also going to need storage space. Exactly what you will need to store is highly variable, but it could be for equipment that is rarely used, or for client’s instruments during a long recording project.

You will need a safe, secure, and convenient place to store your microphones.

It’s also nice to have all the recording equipment that does not need regular attention in a separate room adjacent to the control room. That could be for computers, networking gear, physical reverb units, power amplifiers, electrical conditioners, and maybe tape machines if that is part of your plan. Be sure the HVAC is capable of handling the heat load of all the electronics. A separate room helps keep the control room quieter, without the noise of gear with cooling fans or motors.

Some studios include rooms where performers can stay during a long recording project. Make sure they are comfortable and isolated from the main recording area. A separate building might be necessary.

Be sure there is adequate parking for the number of people expected at a session. If you are in a city, that is likely impractical. But you can make sure that there is secure parking just a short walk away. Also, make sure there is easy access for load-in and load-out of instruments and equipment.

You may want your to be visible to the public. Or maybe you would prefer to be as inobtrusive as possible.

Soon after opening my first studio, which was in a commercial building in a mostly residential area, we started getting the police knocking on our door every week or so, from a noise complaint. Most of the time, the studio wasn’t even in operation. In any event, no sound could be detected outside the studio building, but that did not stop people from complaining. In a case like that, a low profile might be a good idea.

Regardless, you want to be a good neighbor. Before I opened both of my commercial studios, I made it a point to talk the neighbors. Get to know them. Tell them what you are doing and how there should be no sound audible at their homes or businesses. Some of those neighbors became life-long friends. And none of them ever complained.

Your facility should look professional, and the outside should always be well-maintained. Be sure your budget includes whatever landscaping and signage you might need.

What is the studio going to look like inside? It might make sense to consult with an interior designer with experience in creating artistic spaces. More likely, you already have ideas about what you want the space to look like.

What about the equipment you are going to install?

Maybe it will be the gear you already have. But it is a fact of life that any upgrade you make to your studio is going to require additional changes. Those are going to cost money, so be sure you budget for those additions that you may not foresee during the design stage.

If you are building a new facility from scratch, the choice of equipment will be driven by the type of work you expect to be doing. Or maybe you are simply moving your existing equipment to a new building. Every studio is going to be different, but here are a few general guidelines that I think are useful to consider.

Probably the most important decision for a modern studio is whether to install a recording console or not. In the days of tape, a console was the only way that worked. But in today’s digital environment, I don’t think a gigantic console makes sense for the majority of studios.

Why? Well, you have all the facilities you need in the DAW you are using. There is a reason why most DAWs emulate a big console on a computer screen.

Adding a console increases the budget dramatically. And it is largely superfluous in today’s workflow.

A console does have the advantage of physical faders and controls. I would always prefer those controls to moving things with a mouse. But is that enough to justify the cost? Sure, it is easier to pull down handfuls of faders instead of one at a time on the screen, but is that enough of an advantage?

Consoles generate a lot of heat. And they require constant maintenance to keep them functioning properly. Mechanical things wear out, and most of a console consists of mechanical faders, pots, and switches. Do you have the technical expertise available to fix things when they break?

A console is a single-point of failure in many ways. If the console develops a problem, say with a power supply, can you afford to wait days or weeks to get it back up running?

Consoles take up significant space in your control room. You need to design the control room around the console you plan to install.

That large, flat surface can seriously impact the sound of your monitor speakers.

And they are expensive. The money spent on a full-size console will buy an awful lot of microphones and outboard gear.

It’s true that consoles look impressive. They can be a work of art, beautiful to look at. They impress people. They state “serious recording studio.” Is that enough to justify it? That’s a decision you have to make, but my advice is to consider that decision carefully.

What’s the alternative? A very simple and clean control room just needs a small table or desk to hold your computer keyboard and pointing device. Large monitor screens can be built into the control room wall, perhaps in between the speakers in simple set ups. You can put a large number of screens in the space a console takes up, and, if done properly, they will have minimal effect on the sound of the room.

You are going to need outboard gear, whether you have a console or not. If you forego the console, you are going to need as many channels of outboard mic pre’s as you anticipate the number of mics you will need on a large session. Console mic preamps rarely approach the quality of a good outboard mic preamp. That applies to the preamps in converters, too.

You can install multiple racks of various heights and widths to hold all your outboard gear. Keep the things that require adjustment closer to the mix position. Other gear can be farther away.

Patching is another consideration, whether you have a console or not. You might get away with hard-wiring all your studio mic lines to all the mic inputs on your converter or console, but flexibility is enhanced by patching those as needed.

You might permanently connect some of your outboard gear to dedicated converter inputs and outputs, but patching is more flexible.

As you probably know from previous episodes of this podcast, I do not like TRS patching. It is often the source of distortion and noise in the audio path, due to the poor connections between the patch plugs and jacks.

This is especially true for low-level microphone signals.

I would recommend that all mic patching be done with an XLR patch bay. Sure, it takes up more space, but the connections are solid and secure and very unlikely to generate noise and distortion. And your ribbon mics will be better protected from 48-volt phantom power.

If you can afford the space, consider using XLR patching for all interconnections.

There are other options, such as remotely-controlled switching matrices that allow you to interconnect equipment on a computer screen. If you go that route, find a system that uses quality, sealed relays instead of “electronic” switches. The latter can introduce their own distortion.

A studio and control room require a lot of wiring. I can’t go into detail here, but one piece of advice that I have always found to be good is to determine the maximum number of audio lines between your studio and control room – and then double it. You will eventually be glad you did. It’s easy to run the extra cables during construction, rather than try to pull more lines through conduits later. This applies to all the wiring runs, like to isolation booths, equipment racks, other places in the building. And include all kinds of interconnects, like ethernet cables and headphone and speaker feeds.

Does your studio plan include offering the ability to do immersive mixes, like Dolby Atmos? If so, the control room is going to need to be bigger, to accommodate the additional speakers. This increases the complexity considerably, when you consider all the additional cables required. Atmos requires a DAW capable of handling the many extra audio channels, and the extra computers needed to make it work.

If Atmos is part of your plan, consider what your control room will need to make it work properly. It will also significantly increase the equipment cost.

In almost any session, there will be people who will want to hear what is happening in the control room. Be sure to include seating space for those people.

Most control rooms have space behind the engineer for seating. There might be an “island” of outboard gear in between. Make it comfortable for people to listen to what is going on. And make sure the sound they hear is reasonably close to what the engineer and producer are hearing.

In the second studio I built, I had the “guest” seating in front of the console. Most of the control room floor was elevated about two feet above the studio floor. The seating area in front was at normal floor level. There was a separate door to access that space.

The sound there was not perfect, but it was OK. And the people seated there had the large window into the studio right in front of them, so they could see what was happening out there.

And speaking of windows, my experience is that glass is not your friend when it comes to room acoustics. The window into the studio should be no larger than necessary. That will help the room acoustics on both sides of the glass. And it will save construction costs. Large, heavy glass for soundproof windows is expensive.

You can determine the minimum window size during the design phase. Make sure that the engineer and producer can see as much of the studio as practical. Three-D CAD software is helpful.

Should the engineer face the studio window, or can it be to his left, or right? I have worked in studios that are set up both ways, and, in fact, my current studio has the studio window to my right. Ideally, I would prefer to have the studio in front of me so I did not have to turn my head to see what is going on. But in the real world of recording, most communication is by audio, so the importance of seeing each other is not as important as you might think.

In fact, I work with some performers who would prefer not to be viewed while they are recording. They may want the studio lights off.

On the other hand, sometimes it is helpful to have that visual contact during a performance. You might be able to practically “conduct” the performance, if that makes sense. That visual communication is also helpful when something goes wrong. If the engineer looks up in surprise, that may cue the musicians that something was not right. It will save time.

Building even a small studio is expensive. How much? Well, if you have to construct a new building, and maybe purchase the land, it will be significantly more expensive than renovating an existing space. You might buy property that already has a building unsuitable for your needs. You will have to demolish and remove the old building before constructing the new one. Or maybe you need to expand or extensively modify the old building to make it work. Those things can get expensive.

The cost of commercial construction is rising all the time, and studios are more expensive to build than a house or a typical commercial building.

In 2024, the cost per square foot of typical commercial construction was $200 to $400 per square foot. Studios are more complex and need heavier construction, so the cost will be higher. That cost varies depending on where you are located, but let’s say an average of $500 per square foot. For a typical studio, that is going to cost about one million dollars to build. That includes the building plus the required infrastructure like electrical, plumbing, and HVAC. But not equipment or acoustical treatment.

And construction costs are rising rapidly, so expect to pay more.

You will probably have to finance the construction, and interest can be a significant expense.

Renovating existing space would likely be cheaper, but there are many more considerations, such as noise control and expanded HVAC requirements. What is the rent going to be? Or will you buy the building? Many things to consider.

Now we come to the biggest challenge of all: how are you going to justify the expense of building your dream studio?

It depends on your relationship with the recording process. If you only record yourself or your band, it may not be necessary to justify the expense, especially if you are making enough money to self-finance the project.

Or maybe you have the money from your other endeavors. Perhaps you just want a studio because that’s what you want. It defines who you are. I don’t have any argument against that – as long as the financial burden can be borne without other unacceptable sacrifices for you and your family.

If you are planning a commercial studio that has to make money to support you and your staff, that is a different calculation. I’ve been in business for myself since I was 14. It’s a way of life for me. I have learned a lot about running a successful business, mostly by making mistakes, learning from them, and adjusting to make things work.

I realize that not everyone has that experience. Nor may many people have the inclination to learn how to run a business. But, bottom line, if you’re going to run a business, it has to bring in more money than it pays out.

For most people, that requires the outside guidance of someone who can help you make your dream a reality. Or talk you out of a venture that has little chance of success.

In any case, you’re going to need a business plan. You might spend a lot of time on your plan, but remember that it rarely works out the way you think it will. It might be better; it might be worse. But have a plan that at least keeps you headed in the right direction.

You need to be able to modify your plan as your business develops. But it is important to have a goal in mind. Make it realistic.

Detailing what a plan should include is beyond the scope of this podcast. If you need help with this, find it. Even if it is expensive, a trusted advisor may make the difference between success and failure.

Other resources, such as SCORE, match retired business people with new business owners. They won’t have the special expertise for your field, but they can be very helpful in a general way. And most of those services are low cost or free.

Very few business advisors understand the creative aspect of what you do. You might have to educate them. A speculative venture loaded with unknowns is not going to make an advisor comfortable with what you are doing, so pick one carefully. I find most financial people have difficulty understanding art.

What about staffing your new studio? What positions need to be filled? How do you find the right people?

I think one of the most important people in any small business is a manager. They could go by many titles, but essentially their job is to keep the business organized. They are often the contact with your clients. They might answer the phone or email, write checks as needed, keep the business books, and be a friendly human to greet clients coming in.

They can keep the studio schedule, and make sure clients have their preferred engineer. If rental equipment is needed for a session, they can handle that.

You’re also going to need an accountant, who might also be your business advisor in some cases. They need to keep track of what is going on financially, make sure all tax forms and payments go out on time, and prepare your tax return. You should meet with them monthly during the early period. As things become more routine, you can increase the interval. You don’t want to find yourself in a financial or taxation mess when it’s too late to fix the problems easily.

When I started out, the only options for a business were a sole proprietorship or a corporation. I chose the corporation. About twenty years later, I converted the C Corporation to an S corporation, which simplified the tax returns.

The LLC was not an option. But when it was established, I converted my business to an LLC.

An attorney can advise you on the best route to take.

If you have employees, the paperwork becomes more complex. There are many more requirements for employers, including paying the withholding taxes deducted from employee paychecks.

Some of the people you need may qualify as an independent contractor. There are strict rules on that, so make sure you know who qualifies. That simplifies payment since no taxes are withheld. But it does mean issuing 1099 forms at the end of each year.

Are you going to need staff engineers? How many? Will they be full-time or part-time? Could they be independent contractors? These are all questions you will need to figure out.

And maybe the biggest challenge of all is: How are you going to get the paying clients you need to support your studio?

Many of us in the recording world are not good salesmen. If you are not good at explaining why someone should book time at your studio, you might have a serious problem. Clients are not going to magically appear out of nowhere. You have to seek them out and get them to try your studio.

You might need to hire a sales person to do that part of the job. Someone has to do it.

If you are well-connected in the music business, maybe you can line up work from your network of contacts. Work on that from the start. You will still need to give them a compelling reason why they should book time in your studio, so be ready with answers.

Should you have partners in your studio business? My instinctive answer is no. But with the right people, a partnership can be synergistic. You need to fully trust the person, and make sure they share your passion for making a viable business. Inevitably there will disagreements. Make sure you know the person well enough to work through those. You need a lawyer to write up a formal agreement. It might not be necessary at the start, but it could become vital if a partner wants to leave, buy out the others, or if someone becomes incapacitated or dies.

How much will you charge your clients for studio time? That amount could be all over the place, but whatever it is, it has to be enough to support the business.

You may be in an area with multiple studios. Your rate has to be comparable, or you need a strong reason why you plan to charge more than the going rate.

Know your value as an engineer. It is a mistake to undervalue your contribution to a creative product.

Should you discount your studio time? Some businesses have a “rate card” hourly rate that no one pays. It is sort of like list or MAP price. Everyone expects a discount. If you plan to work that way, make sure the discounted rate is enough to cover the cost of running a studio.

You can offer packages of studio time at a discounted rate if you like. Record labels like that. They might book your studio for weeks or months for an album project with one of their artists. It’s guaranteed income – or as close to guaranteed as anything is in the music business.

The rate you charge not only has to pay all the bills, but it also needs an amount set aside for expansion. And you need to make a profit.

Remember that your income has cover all your expenses. That includes salaries, rent or mortgage payment, utilities, and extra for maintenance, equipment replacement, and expansion.

It’s easy to make a spreadsheet of income and expenses and then adjust the number or billable hours per month to make it work. I think that is a bad approach. Start with what you realistically expect your sales will be and see how that works. You may find that you can’t make enough money to meet the costs of your studio.

The options then are to abandon the idea of a studio, charge more, or reduce the cost to build and operate the facility.

That sounds like common sense, but it is remarkable how many dreamers are out there who have totally exaggerated notions of how they are going to make it work.

In my many years in this business, I have seen dozens of studios built and fail in a year or two. I would guess that the majority of studios will not survive for five years. That is in line with the failure rate of all kinds of small businesses, where 50% of startups fail within a few years. I would estimate the failure rate for studios is even higher than that.

I think it is more difficult today than it was when I had a commercial studio, since instead of booking studio time, anyone can buy the equipment for a simple recording studio for a few thousand dollars. Their results are unlikely to be very professional, but in our current age of mediocrity, quality does not seem to count for much.

It’s challenging to build a high-quality recording facility and keep it going. It can be done, but it takes a lot of work, way beyond just building the studios and buying the equipment.

If this is your dream, I want to encourage you to pursue it. But gather all the information you can before you start spending money.

Thanks for listening, subscribing, and commenting. You can reach me at dwfearn@dwfearn.com

This is My Take on Music Recording. I’m Doug Fearn. See you next time.