Home Studio Fundamentals

I'm not an engineer, but I did represent Manhattan in a NY Energy Fair once, where my (miniature) solar-powered car ranked top 20 from hundreds of NY state district science projects... and I got a scholarship to study Electrical Engineering at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. Even though I turned down a nice production deal with Def Jam (J.M.J. Rest In Peace) to pursue the New England college degree, I wish I'd figured out a way to do both at the same time.

Going to college for engineering enabled me to move out momma's crib in the projects and raise more money for recording in my own home. But my rap skills enabled me to pass science class and graduate from the most competitive high school in NY (Stuyvesant Science & Mathematics). If you're wondering how... I recorded raps about the ozone layer or whatever we were studying and submitted those instead of final papers.

So studying science has helped me survive as a rapper. And being an MC has helped me survive as a student of science. But I'm not an engineer. Yet, here I find myself - once again - having to know a little bit of science to be a better MC. In particular, I'm converting a regular room at my crib to a better recording space.



One thing I've learned is that successful (productive, happy) people don't waste time reinventing the wheel. Instead, they learn from those who've already succeeded, and if possible they befriend them. I'm fortunate to have 2 such professionals as 2 of my best friends, and in this post, I'll let you eavesdrop on what I learned from them. One is Zaquan, who does a spoken word piece on the title track of my new album "Manhattan Night", and produced one of the bonus tracks as well (can you guess which one?). The other is Mez, who is my partner on rhyme featured on every track of the "Manhattan Night" album (now on sale for limited time here).

Mez barely sleeps since he records, mixes, and masters very big records almost every day, in a top notch professional studio basically around the clock. He's been extremely influential in the career of one of the hottest MCs out right now - J. Cole (Jay Z's lyrical number one draft pick). Zaquan also works around the clock, but he built his own studio into his apartment. He focuses on recording the best underground lyricists in New York City. Since the underground cats don't have a large recording budget, Zaquan has to get the best sound from them in the least amount of time.



Here's a little bit of what I learned from them in a couple very short conversations. Just keep in mind - these points are a streamlined version of MY OWN UNDERSTANDING of the answers they gave me, to the questions I PERSONALLY ASKED them, so this isn't a representation of THEIR EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE by any means.

1. Soundproofing a room isn't just about making it quiet for your neighbors and roomates, it also creates a balanced sound in the room.

Due to the shape of a room, the same exact sounds heard in different parts of a room will sound different. When music hits these different parts it will bounce back into your recording device (like your mic), or from your listening device (like your speakers) at different speeds which makes the final recording sound different in your room than it would in another room (or in another studio).

2. Sound bouncing back and forth across the room is the main way that the music becomes unbalanced, "unflat", and full of reverb (reverberation).

In other words it doesn't really matter that your sound hits an unpadded wall, what really matters is that it continues hitting that wall because it's bouncing off the opposite wall and coming back repeatedly. This is why the corners of a room are the priority in sound proofing. The middle of the wall is furthest from every other wall, but the corners are where the walls connect, so the sound bounces between walls alot faster there.

3. Due to the above, the priorities in a room are to soundproof the corners, have lots of space for the sound to travel through before hitting a surface, and avoid reflective surfaces in between.

Soundproofing the walls in between the corners, and soundproofing small rooms would be secondary. For example, padding the walls of a small closet would not be as effective as cushioning the corners of a big room, in terms of soundproofing.

4. Bass traps are more effective than the thin absorption sheets and styrofoam.

Bass traps are thick cusioning materials that absorb sound (converting sound energy into trace amounts of heat energy). The thickness and composition of the materials in bass traps, such as mineral wool or owens corning fiberglass are able to absorb extremely low frequency sound waves (bass), as well as the higher frequencies, while thin soundproofing sheets only absorb high frequency sounds.



That's all for now. I hope this helps you save some money and time. Just remember I'm not an engineer - I'm an MC - independent, and every CD sale helps me support my family (not to mention pay off the college loans). My CD is on sale for a limited time here!