Is it necessary to soundproof a home recording studio

One of the first questions you may ask is whether or not it is necessary to sound proof a home recording studio. Here’s an answer to this question.

First, the square corners, hard walls and floor surfaces in our homes cause sound to ricochet and bounce all over the place. This impairs our ability to accurately listen to, judge, and ultimately mix our recordings.

Our goal thereore is to dampen and absorb sound and randomize the shape and surroundings of the recording home studio environment.

How to soundproof the walls of your home recording studio

Foam tile-type or interlocking exercise mats are cheap and easily insulate sound. These foam, two foot squares, each fit together like jigsaw puzzle pieces. This enables you to put them together in any shape or size needed.

To soundproof walls in your studio, drive very small brass nails through the mat to attach them to the wall. Avoid using glue in order to be able to re-position the foam tiles as needed.

How to soundproof the microphone stand

Place a single foam tile under the microphone stand to insulate resonance from the floor and prevent that sound from traveling up the mic stand.

Effective household materials for soundproofing the floors of your home recording studio
You should also soundproof the floors of your home recording studio with either of these materials:

Wall to wall carpet (often ugly, but effective)

Multiple shapes and sizes of area rugs. You can use inexpensive fake oriental area rugs or modern designer knock-offs that create a nice vibe and do the job of dampening and absorbing sound reflection off the floor.

Foam exercise tiles as described above. You could potentially tile your whole home studio floor with these snap together foam tiles.

Where to purchase the foam exercise mats or tiles

These interlocking exercise mats can be bought in the home gym section of your sports store. However, the identical product is available even cheaper in the tool section of the hardware store, but they are marketed as mechanics mats.