Want To Make Money As A Musician? 4 Tips For Building A DIY Home Recording Studio

If you’re a musician with some experience in audio recording, owning and operating a home studio can be a good way to make some extra money on the side or even build a full-time business. While the earnings may not be huge at first, it’s entirely possible to make $20 an hour or more for recording, mixing and mastering songs. Here are four tips that will help you put together your home studio so you can start making money from it.
Buy Your Main Gear Secondhand
Setting up a recording studio will involve buying a fair amount of audio gear. To keep costs under control, consider buying your recording interface, your processing computer and the other gear you want on the secondhand market. You can still pick up some great gear this way, and buying used can potentially save you quite a lot of money.
Don’t Skip on the Software
Today, software is the name of the game in recording. At the very least, you’ll need a digital audio workstation (DAW) with some processing plugins on your computer. To facilitate recording for solo musicians, it’s also a good idea to have a drum machine and a MIDI program that will allow you to create additional tracks for songs.
Remember Comfort and Convenience
Your recording studio will be where paying clients come to do business with you, which is why it’s a good idea to make it comfortable as well as functional. Having a nice couch and chairs and a mini fridge with some refreshments can go a long way toward cementing your clients’ positive impressions of you. Keep in mind that you’ll be spending a lot of time in the studio yourself, so you should also take your comfort into account.
Get Your Acoustics in Shape
Because you’ll be recording and mixing in this space, you’ll want it to have the best possible acoustics. The easiest way to improve the sound quality in your room is to add acoustic paneling to the walls. Foam acoustic panels can help to dampen sound and prevent sound waves from bouncing off the walls and showing back up in your recordings.
If you want to make extra money as a musician by starting a home recording studio, these four tips will help you get started. Once you’re set up and ready to go, you can begin recording tracks for your friends or other local musicians. From there, the sky is the limit in terms of how far a recording career can take you.