c/backyard-studios

Vent: That $200 soundproofing foam roll was a total scam

I bought a 48-pack of those wedge foam panels off Amazon thinking it would kill the echo in my 10x12 backyard studio. All it did was make the place look like a dark cave and did almost nothing for the low end rumble from my AC unit. Anyone else wasted money on foam before realizing you need bass traps and real mass to actually fix acoustics?

Heard a neighbor say my studio looked like a garden shed and it actually made me think

I was out back last Saturday and overheard this guy walking his dog tell his friend my studio just looked like a nice shed with windows. At first I was annoyed but then I realized he's kind of right. I spent so long making it functional I forgot to make it actually look like a music studio from the outside. Has anyone else had to balance how their studio looks versus how it works?

Spent 3 hours chasing a ground loop hum in my backyard studio before realizing it was my laptop charger sitting 2 inches from the audio interface cable

Moved the charger to the other side of the desk and the hum vanished instantly, has anyone else dealt with a stupid simple fix like that taking forever to find?

Finally stopped fighting my sloped concrete floor and built a floating platform

For two years I tried everything to level my studio floor in the backyard. I did self-leveling compound three times and it still looked like a skate ramp. Then my buddy Dave who builds recording booths for a living came over and said 'just build a wooden subfloor that's level and float your gear on it.' Spent about $200 on plywood, joists, and a can of beer for Dave. That platform took me a weekend to build and now my desk doesn't wobble and my mic stand stays put. Has anyone else just given up on fixing the concrete and gone with a floating floor instead?

Took me 6 months but I finally see why everyone raves about soundproofing with mass loaded vinyl after I hung some in my shed studio and heard the difference in a recording from last Tuesday.

Before I put it up, my vocals had this weird boxy echo that I just thought was my mic, but now that I can actually hear the raw track without that ringing, has anyone else had that moment where you realize your room was the problem all along?

Just realized I spent 400 hours on soundproofing alone in my backyard studio

I hit 400 hours of labor just on the soundproofing for my 10x12 shed conversion, and now I'm wondering if it was really worth it. On one hand, I can crank my monitors at midnight without complaints from the neighbors, but on the other hand, I could have bought better gear with that time and effort. Has anyone else tracked their hours and regretted how many went into one specific part of the build?

My buddy the sound engineer told me to stop obsessing over gear and focus on room treatment first

He said I spent $600 on a new mic but my vocal booth is just a closet with blankets. Anyone else get caught up buying fancy stuff before getting the basics right?

Wasted $300 on acoustic foam from Amazon

Thought I was smart buying cheap foam panels for my backyard studio. Big mistake. The stuff turned yellow after 2 months and didn't do anything for low end. Anyone else get burned by those budget foam packs?

Saw a guy in Nashville build a whole vocal booth out of moving blankets and PVC pipe

Was visiting a buddy's backyard studio near Berry Hill and he swore by this setup. Said it cost him $40 and absorbed more echo than my $200 foam panels. Has anyone else tested the blanket method against real acoustic treatment?

I finally got my backyard studio soundproofed after 6 months of trial and error

Last spring I built a 10x12 shed in my backyard in Portland thinking I could just throw up some foam panels and call it done. Boy was I wrong. After three different attempts with mass loaded vinyl and green glue, I finally figured out the real trick was decoupling the walls from the floor with those rubber isolation pads. The difference before and after is insane - my neighbor used to bang on the fence every time I plugged in my amp, and now I can crank it at midnight without a peep. Cost me about $400 in materials but totally worth it for the peace of mind. Has anyone else here wrestled with soundproofing a small space like this? I'm curious what methods worked for you guys.

My neighbor's leaf blower ruined three takes last Sunday and I'm about to lose it

So I finally got my backyard studio mostly soundproofed last month after three years of piecing it together. I used Rockwool in the walls, double layered drywall, the works. But last Sunday I'm recording a voiceover for a local commercial in Spokane and my neighbor fires up his gas leaf blower right on the other side of my fence. I had to scrap three good takes because you can hear that thing buzzing in the background. I tried re-recording later that evening but the damage was done, I lost almost two hours of time. Has anyone else dealt with unexpected outdoor noise killing your sessions? I'm thinking about building a second outer wall but that's probably another six months of savings away.

Why does nobody talk about the noise floor in small studios?

I keep seeing people post these backyard studio builds where they cram in a bunch of gear but ignore the ambient noise. Last month my neighbor started mowing his lawn and I picked up a whole conversation through my mic even with the door shut. I checked with a decibel meter app and my room was at 45 dB constant from a fridge in the garage. If you don't treat the room for background noise first, you are just polishing a turd. Has anyone else had to redo their setup after realizing how much the hum level matters?

Overheard my neighbor's kid say 'your studio smells like ambition'

Hot take: those cheap Amazon acoustic panels actually work fine

I was dead set on getting name brand Auralex for my 8x10 shed studio in Austin. Spent like 3 months saving up. Then a buddy said just grab the 12-pack of 2x4 panels for 60 bucks on Prime day. I put them up last Tuesday and did a before and after recording. Honestly my voice sounds way cleaner and the flutter echo is gone. Hard to argue with results like that when I spent 1/4 the price. Has anyone else tried knockoff panels and gotten decent results?

Hit 500 sq ft of shed space and my bass traps stopped working

I built out a 12x14 studio in my backyard last spring, (added 100 sq ft with a lean-to annex thing) and suddenly my corner bass traps felt useless. The room got this weird honky midrange that wasn't there before, even after I moved my monitors around. Anyone else run into room modes changing after adding square footage, or did I just place my absorption panels wrong?

Spent three hours building a vocal booth frame only to realize the door was too narrow for me to get through

I was out in my backyard studio last Saturday afternoon and after putting the whole thing together I tried to step in for a test and my shoulders got stuck in the opening, so I had to take it all apart and add an extra six inches on each side, has anyone else ever measured twice but somehow still messed up the entrance?

Why does everyone insist on putting their backyard studio on a concrete slab?

I keep seeing people post photos of their new studios sitting directly on a concrete pad. That's just asking for moisture problems. I built mine 6 years ago in Austin and put it on a raised timber floor with gravel underneath. After a couple of wet springs, my buddy's slab-based studio developed mold behind his acoustic panels. He had to tear out his whole treated wall section last fall. Do you really want to risk your gear and all that effort just because pouring concrete is easier? Has anyone else dealt with moisture issues from a slab floor?

Switched to pine tongue and groove for my studio ceiling, huge difference in 3 weeks

Had that old drywall ceiling that just soaked up sound in my backyard studio in Denver. Zero liveliness. Swapped it out for pine tongue and groove boards, took a weekend with a buddy. Now the acoustics feel warmer, less dead. Has anyone else ditched drywall for wood and gotten better recording results?

Three weeks to figure out a ground loop issue in my backyard studio

Built a little recording shack last spring. Plugged everything in and got this constant hum. Thought it was cheap cables. Replaced them all. Nope. Turns out I ran my power and audio lines in the same trench. Three weeks of swapping gear and googling before a buddy in Austin told me to separate them by at least 3 feet. Anyone else buried their problems literally?

Shoutout to the hardware store clerk who ruined my soundproofing plan

I was at Lowe's in Akron getting materials for my backyard vocal booth, and the clerk talked me into using rigid foam insulation panels instead of proper acoustic panels. After three weeks of setup, the room sounds like a tin can and my vocals have this awful echo that I can't fix. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from a big box store that set their studio back months?

Had a bird fly into my studio mid-recording session

I was tracking vocals in my backyard studio last Tuesday when a sparrow somehow got through the screen vent and just started circling the mic stand. I froze for a solid 10 seconds while my friend Dave kept playing guitar in the next room yelling "what was that noise?" Ended up catching the little guy with a t-shirt and letting him out, but now I really need to figure out how to bird-proof this place before summer hits. Anyone else deal with unexpected wildlife crashing a session?

Someone pointed out my monitor height was killing my neck after months of back pain

I've been working in my backyard studio for about a year now, and I kept having this nagging pain in my upper back and neck. Thought it was just getting older or sitting too long. Then a buddy who does ergonomics consulting stopped by last weekend and immediately said my monitors were way too low. I had them sitting right on the desk, which I guess is pretty common. He showed me how to stack some old textbooks under them to get the top of the screen at eye level. It feels weird at first but after three days my neck pain is almost gone. Has anyone else dealt with weird aches from their studio setup that turned out to be something simple like this?

My roof leak killed my recording setup over Memorial Day weekend

Had a small leak in my shed roof I kept ignoring. Then that big storm hit on Saturday and water poured right onto my mixer board. That old Behringer Xenyx is toast now, fried the power supply and everything. I spent Sunday pulling carpet up and drying out the place with a shop vac. No idea how much to fix it yet, probably another $200 for a used board. Anyone else deal with water damage in their studio and have a quick fix that worked?

Overheard my neighbor's band through the wall and realized my soundproofing is a joke

I was setting up mics in my shed-turned-studio last Saturday when I heard my neighbor's garage band practicing crystal clear through two layers of drywall and Rockwool. Turns out I forgot to seal a gap around the door frame and it's basically a megaphone for noise. Anyone else find a cheap fix for dodging the low-end bleed-through in a backyard build?

I finally swapped out my old desk fan for a silent PC fan in my recording shed

After 2 years of fighting fan noise on my vocal takes, I spent $15 on a Noctua fan last month and wired it in myself, and now I can actually record without that constant hum in the background, has anyone else tried this mod for their booth?