Mastering the Studio Hunt: How to Choose the Perfect Recording Studio Space

If you’ve decided to transcend your home studio setup and need to rent a professional recording space for your music project, you must do some research. It’s important to consider the key questions that need answering before you jump into any commitments and part with any cash. Fear not, Headliner is here to outline everything you need to pass through your brain box before you make that all-important studio booking.

Recording studios vs home studios

It’s a good idea to be crystal clear on what you actually need. Renting a recording studio, in almost all cases, will cost a lot more than using your existing home studio setup, often even more than creating a home studio from scratch. Starting with the obvious, most home studios are created on a budget, whereas a recording studio tends to have a much higher level of gear favoured by audio professionals — although be sure to check the gear list ahead of time. Studios with lower budget pricing will likely have less expensive gear, understandably. That said, if said studios have chosen such gear wisely, they can still help you get brilliant results. Good news for those looking for lower-priced recording studio spaces.

Beyond gear, there are a myriad of advantages recording studios have over home studios. The professionalism goes beyond gear, they (should) have a very precise treatment to minimise and reduce unwanted echoes, reverberations, and other unwanted audio interferences.

Another, perhaps underrated, reason in getting away from your home setup is simply the heightened focus you will get by being away from the distractions of your home. The fact that you are paying to be there could be a great motivating factor to get results in a selected timeframe. Some recording studios are in great locations that become a source of creative inspiration themselves, as can a highly professional and beautiful-looking studio.

The key factors

Location, location, location

Sometimes the most obvious things should be at the forefront of your mind. If you’re going to struggle to get to the place, you’re running into problems before you’ve hit record. This becomes an even greater consideration if you are in a band or bringing in other musicians to the rental recording studio.

This issue will be subjective for different people; are you after a studio that’s conveniently close to home, or do you specifically want a location that gets you away from home during this creative period? With other musicians or bandmates to consider, you will want a place that’s something of a halfway point for each member to avoid tensions. For example, if your drummer is spending double the time you are on trains or buses, they might end up holding it against you. On that note, look up your potential journey on Google Maps or Citymapper to make sure it’s doable before making any bookings.

If you or others will be driving to the rental recording studio, be sure to look into the parking situation. The last thing you want is to be parked several streets away and then lugging a load of heavy gear or doing multiple journeys — this can really eat into both your booking time and your creative energy.

Residential studios

You’ll have undoubtedly heard of residential studios via stories of established bands getting away from it all and going to stay at a studio, often in specifically remote locations to get away from the distractions of their city or town. Artists or bands often like a residential option, particularly when working on an intensive project such as an album, and when a lot of time and focus is required.

So the question for you is, is this necessary for your music project? Staying in lodgings provided by the rental recording studio is very likely to push the price up significantly, but can be a huge boost in results. Many studios do not offer the residential option, so do your research diligently.

Studio reputation

This part of the article could also have been called ‘ask around’ or ‘read those reviews’. The reason Abbey Road is one of the world’s most sought-after recording studios is because The Beatles loved it so much that they named an album after it. Go for studios that your musician friends speak highly of, or ask around for recommendations. The next best thing would be online reviews of studios, which is a slightly more subjective world than the word of your trusted circle, but these will still help you get an idea.

The gear on offer

As touched on earlier, you can learn a lot about a studio just from its list of gear and instruments, which is usually listed on the recording studio’s website. A professional studio usually offers high-end equipment that is likely to be more out of reach to most artists at home; items such as vintage microphones, some of the best preamps, and instruments that fall into the niche category such as vintage keyboards and synthesizers. Having access to all this can be a game-changer for your song, EP, or album, unlocking sounds that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to get your hands on.

Another example — if your charming but completely out-of-tune and clunky-sounding upright piano at home isn’t going to fit the bill (unless you are going for a very lo-fi, indie sound), recording studios often boast a professionally-tuned and looked-after grand piano or a high-quality upright piano. For guitarists, you may find yourself playing on amplifiers that you’ve always dreamed of playing on.

And of course, there’s the signature recording studio item, the mixing desk. Almost never found in a home studio setup, but often the most recognisable bit of gear in a professional studio. That said, this is changing as so many studio owners and engineers work more ‘in the box’, e.g. using mixing software. Again, do your due diligence and make sure the studio you are enquiring about renting has all the tech you need.

When size does matter

There truly is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to renting a recording studio; some are charmingly tiny, and some of the most expensive studios are veritable spaceships. If you are in a band or are looking to bring in friends and other musicians to work on the project, you’ll want to be certain everyone will be able to fit in the space on the day. Be sure to notify the owners if you are bringing gear and how much space it’s going to take up – as you may be spending a lot of time in the studio, you’ll want enough space to feel comfortable and not be all crammed in together.

Soundproofing and acoustics

This is another one of the areas in which a home studio and a professional rental recording studio are very different. The owners of any professional space worth its salt will have meticulously acoustically-treated the room with soundproofing materials — this is vital to ensure high-quality recordings. Expect the walls and ceilings to have special materials for this purpose, drum kits to be housed in a special drum room, a vocal booth, and much more. If the studio you’re looking into isn’t properly soundproofed, consider that a red flag.

Studio personnel

And to round out this section, don’t forget to ponder who needs to be in the space besides people playing instruments. Do you or one of your bandmates have all the necessary skills and knowledge to carry out the recording, engineering and producing during the rental time period? Or will you need the rental studio’s in-house engineer (if they have one), or will you be wishing to bring in your own trusted studio hand/engineer? Studios can all be very different in this regard, so don’t leave this conversation too late.

Studio etiquette

You’ve made a booking for the perfect rental recording studio for your needs? Happy days! Let’s quickly discuss the all-important subject of studio etiquette, or leave a space as you found it. Because, and no offence is intended here, you are not Mötley Crüe. The time when it was romanticised for a band to get inebriated and trash a studio or hotel room is very much behind us. That will just get you cancelled these days, and it’s also not a nice way to behave.

Go out of your way to be respectful and polite to any engineers or staff who work onsite. Clean up after yourself when eating and drinking in the building. Don’t leave cables in a mess. You get the drift! If you enjoy the studio and feel you might want to come back for another project, suggestions such as the above will go a long way towards the owners being open to having you back, perhaps even prioritising your bookings, or – who knows? – you might even talk yourself into discounted bookings!

Tardiness is another factor. Don’t keep engineers and staff waiting by being late. Not to mention the fact you are wasting your own money by doing so.

In the words of Scar, ‘Be prepared’

If there is any prep you need to do before the studio booking, you’ll want to get it done to make sure you’re not wasting your time, your fellow musician’s time and the studio’s time. Protracted sessions due to lack of prep can get expensive too! Whether it be practising a part at home so you’re able to nail it quicker when the record button is hit, bringing in the strongest possible demo, or a band meeting ahead of time to discuss what you want to achieve in each session — all these things can make a huge difference.

The Headliner article 9 Tips For Successful and Productive Band Rehearsals - Make Them Count contains a full read on how to prepare ahead of time for sessions. It’s more geared towards rehearsals, but all the same principles apply.

Building relationships

Once you’ve behaved yourself across your rental studio sessions, it would be remiss to not bear future bookings in mind if you’ve had a positive experience and might like to use the same studio again. Beyond what’s been said about generally respecting the studio and its staff, form a relationship! Firstly, because friendship is nice and will make you feel fuzzy inside.

Secondly, not in a machiavellian way, because if the in-house engineers or studio owners enjoy your company and appreciate the vibes you bring to their space, they can become friends with studio benefits, such as being given priority for booking slots, maybe even preferential rates – especially if you become a regular user of the studio.

Networking

Speaking of which, if you frequent a shared studio building, you may find yourself meeting other musicians who are using other studio rooms in the building complex. Perhaps there’s a shared kitchen space and you get chatting while waiting for your cup of tea to brew. Next thing you know, there’s a collaboration on the cards! There’s one story of L.A.’s typically star-studded EastWest studios hosting the Foo Fighters, Lady Gaga, Wolf Alice, Rufus Wainwright, and Deep Purple all at the same time. Dave Grohl is said to have hosted barbecues for everyone. You never know who you might end up rubbing shoulders with.

Creativity boost

Lastly, one huge advantage a rental recording studio can offer for many musicians is a huge creative boost. It’s similar to people who work well in offices or coffee shops, but find themselves constantly distracted when working from home. Artists finding themselves in a recording studio have often touted a creative transformation. And you don’t necessarily need to go somewhere as lauded as Abbey Road to experience this — there’s just something to be said about going to a studio that exists for music, where the entire layout and decor were created for the creation of music. It’s a magical thing.

Hopefully, the mental cobwebs around renting a recording studio have now been cleared for you, and you can bound ahead into the joy of making music in one. Your songs will thank you!