The best place to record audio at home is typically in a living room or other larger space with higher ceilings and existing materials (couches, carpet, furniture, etc.) to help absorb sound reflections.
My name is Donovan, and I love everything about making music. I’ve worked as a recording artist and producer in the music industry and set up numerous home studios over the years. I know through first-hand experience where to record at home.
This post will show you the best place to record audio at home. I’ll provide you with some suggestions for which room to use to record audio and give you some tips to help get solid recordings even if you don’t have a home studio set up.
Let’s get started.
Contents
Key Takeaways
- The best place to record audio at home can vary depending on how a house is built or set up.
- Typically, the living room or another larger room is ideal for recording because it has higher ceilings for natural reverb and is full of soft materials that can help absorb unwanted sound reflections.
- Whatever room is the quietest might be your best option for getting recordings free of unwanted noise.
- You usually want to avoid recording in smaller rooms with many reflective surfaces, such as bathrooms, because you’ll get many sound reflections that can alter the recording.
Initial Thoughts
Since every home is different, there are various ideal locations that can be the best place to record audio. What works as the best option at one home might not be the perfect location in another. Keep that in mind as you assess your home for recording purposes.
A good starting point to remember when looking for the ideal recording location at home is how quiet a room is and how many reflective surfaces it has. There are other factors, but these two will help you better narrow down your choices.
Sometimes the best place to record audio at home is the quietest room in the house. If you live on a busy street or have noisy neighbors, whatever room gets you away from that sound will be the ideal recording location.
You want to avoid completely empty rooms or those with highly reflective surfaces. Bare walls and floors will cause audio wave reflection issues that will alter your recordings for the worse. This is why a bathroom is typically not an ideal recording location.
As you read the section below with my tips on the best place to record at home, keep in mind these two main factors and your house’s unique design or layout. With this information, you should be able to figure out which room is best for you easily.
Also, the advice you’ll find here assumes you don’t already have a home recording studio. If you have a dedicated recording space, that will obviously be the ideal location for recording audio.
Best Places to Record Audio at Home
In this section, I’ll show you some of the best places to record audio at home. I’ll let you know why each room or location is good, alongside what type of recording it can be best for. Again, keep in mind these are guidelines, and your home is unique.
Living Room
The living room of your house can be one of the best locations to record audio at home. This is because the larger space will give you some natural reverb, and there should be furniture and other soft items to help absorb sound reflections.
This advice assumes that your living room is quiet or can at least be turned into a quiet space for recording. A living room also has enough space to spread out multiple microphones without banging into anything.
A living room that is set up normally will work better than an empty one. If the space is empty, you might have more reflections that can alter your recordings compared to a living room full of furniture and other items.
The downside to using a living room is that there is likely to be other traffic from people walking through the house. You also might not be able to quickly get from one area of your home to another if you have a recording session set up.
Bedroom
A bedroom can be another solid location to record audio at home. One of the reasons is that a bedroom might be less noisy than a living room. If you have a bedroom in a quiet corner of your house, it can be a great location for recording.
Like a living room, you want to choose a bedroom with some stuff in it rather than a completely empty one. Beds and other furniture items will help you get good recordings and prevent sound reflections.
If you are recording multiple instruments at once, you might need to rearrange a smaller bedroom to accommodate this. But if you are just recording vocals or a single instrument, you might have enough space without doing much at all.
Basement
A basement is also a good place to record audio at home. Since basements are often built underground or partially underground, they can be naturally soundproof to a degree. This has obvious benefits in a recording situation.
The basement can also be larger than a bedroom, making it a good location for larger recording sessions with multiple musicians or instruments. And a basement is usually more out of the way than a living room, so you can leave things set up for a while.
You’ll want to avoid using completely unfinished basements. These are often made of bare concrete floors and walls, which will pose many problems with noise reflections, as you record. But you can always fill the room up with furniture to help avoid this.
Closet
Not every closet is ideal for recording, but if you have a larger walk-in style one, it can function as an isolation booth. This can be good for recording vocals or a voice-over when you want a control space in one room and the recording space in another.
Again, you don’t want to use an empty closet because you’ll get a lot of reflections. Keep the clothing and anything else in there, and just make sure you have enough room to fit in and get a decent recording.
Closets can get stuffed or cramped in a hurray, so they might not always be the ideal place to record. But if you want a quiet location that can work to help isolate sound as you record, a closet can definitely get the job done.
Best Place to Record Voice Over
If you are doing voice-over recording, the best place for this at home is typically a smaller space, such as a bedroom or closet. There aren’t as many factors at play with voice over recording as there are with multi-track recordings.
A quiet room is ideal for this, and that’s why a bedroom or closet can be a good option. As long as you have enough space to set up your microphone and comfortably position yourself, you should be good to go.
I’ve seen some closets retrofitted into a solid voice over recording space at a friend’s house who does podcasts. They do most of the audio editing at a desk in the bedroom and the actual recording in a larger closet with some audio foam to help prevent reflections.
How to Record Professional Audio at Home
If you are in the process of building or designing a complete home studio, you’ll have more questions and concerns than just the best place to record. But all of the locations I described above can be converted into a proper home studio with excellent results.
To get professional recordings at home, you need to invest the time and resources to have a quality studio. You’ll want plenty of good recording equipment, including a laptop, an audio interface, and a quality microphone collection.
You should also keep soundproofing and audio treatment in mind while setting up the recording space. You won’t be able to get professional results unless you approach your studio design in a somewhat professional capacity.
You can check out some more tips and tricks to building a home studio here to get you pointed in the right direction.
FAQs
Here are a few short answers to some of the most frequently asked questions related to where to record audio at home.
How can I record quality audio at home?
The key to recording quality audio at home comes down to what type of equipment you are using and the recording space. Using higher-quality equipment will give you better sounding recordings, and choosing a room with good audio characteristics will also help.
What is the best environment to record audio?
A quiet environment is the best option for recording audio. You want to avoid excess noise coming in from another room or location, as this can alter the recording. Using a soundproof room or one away from outside noise is critical during the recording process.
What is the best room for a home recording studio?
The best room for a home recording studio is typically a bedroom, basement, or garage. A bedroom might be the most convenient, and a basement or garage will allow you to have a larger space where you can build the studio to your liking.
Is a bathroom good for recording?
Bathrooms are typically not good for recording because they have many reflective surfaces that can lead to audio issues. The tile in a bathroom can cause unwanted sound wave reflections that can distort recordings.
Where can I get a voice recorder?
If you just want to make a basic voice recording at home, you can use your cell phone or computer. Most smartphones have a sound recording app, or you can download one of these for free and make a decent recording basically anywhere.
Final Thoughts
The best places to record audio at home are typically a living room, bedroom, or basement. These locations will give a quiet recording space with fewer sound reflections to help you capture high-quality audio.
Every house is different, so there are unique considerations you should keep in mind when trying to figure out which place is best to record. You can always change rooms if needed to get better-sounding recordings.
What room do you like to record in and why? Let me know in the comments below.
