Podcasting Power Tools

There is a ton of advice out there for building a music recording studio, but precious little dedicated to the design and construction of a designated podcast recording studio.  I aim to  use this blog to document the design and construction of my own podcast recording studio.

First, let’s discuss several similarities in the approach to building a podcast recording studio and a music recording studio.

Similarities:

Both a podcast recording studio and music recording studio aim to limit the sound allowed in and out of the studio.  They are trying to isolate the sounds.  Keep the neighbor’s barking dog out of the recording and at the same time, don’t wake the baby if things get noisy.  A podcast recording studio doesn’t produce loud noises on the scale of a drum set or shrieking  guitar, but it’s nice to be free to speak as loud as necessary for clarity and diction.

Both a podcast recording studio and music recording studio want to control the sound waves in the room.  What they want those sound waves to do will vary, but we will discuss that in a moment.

Both a podcast recording studio and music recording studio will house working human beings.  Sometimes this is easy to forget when you are focusing intently on a specific goal for a room.  Remember that you will be spending time in this room  Leaving out AC may make the room sound better, but will you enjoy spending time in the room.  Think about lights, ergonomics, etc.

Both a podcast recording studio and music recording studio will contain warm, complicated, and often expensive recording equipment.  Plan ahead for cooling, wiring, and security.

Now let’s cover the some of the differences in a podcast recording studio and a music recording studio:

Differences:

In a podcast recording studio you are are recording voice only.  Sound deadening is generally the main goal, not perfect reverb.  A podcast recording studio aiming for something close to a vocal booth.  Sound absorption and deadening is the key

A podcast recording studio is generally smaller than a music recording studio.  Not as much space is needed.  You don’t normally have to fit several musicians and their instruments into the studio.  Most podcast studios are designed for only one or two people and the recording equipment.

Most podcasters use computers for notes, research, and sometimes even recording.  Computers have spinning hard drives and fans that make background noise.  Many times a music recording studio will have the computers in another room for mixing, etc.  Another consideration is the computer noise to produced noise ratio.  A podcaster is generally making a quieter sound to be recorded and the computer noise may seem louder than in a louder studio full of musicians.

What similarities or differences do you see?  What considerations did I miss?