Week 4 Thoughts on Moving
Welcome back to this lovely blog! I had standard goals this week: VO practice homework and reading Sound Advice: Voiceover from an Audio Engineer’s Perspective by Dan Friedman. This book is a wealth of knowledge from the sound perspective. Beyond that, though, I want to write a bit about life.
Currently, I live in a condo. A condo with thin walls allowing the excessively loud AC units outside to be constantly heard and heavy-footed folks above me. The place has been good to me -- I have made many an upgrade (entire kitchen, new HVAC, washer/dryer, windows…) -- but after 6 years I think it is time for me to move on to something that will accommodate my dreams a little better. I need a place where I can have a space dedicated to recording without the loud general hum from the HVAC units or occasional stomping messing with the audio quality of my takes. So, during the next few months I will be locating a new home for the long term that will satisfy these needs. I’m likely going to be crossing state borders for this venture due to budgeting constraints, so holding off on forming a DBA until I’m settled and know which state to file in is important.
This brings me back to the book I’m reading. Armed with the knowledge of what will make a good home studio room, I can add those specs into my preference list for my real estate agent. I also plan to budget the sale of my condo to new home downpayment conversion in such a way that I can take out a good chunk of it to set up a proper studio space. Whether that means buying a prefabricated booth from a company like WhisperRoom, studiobricks, or doing a full room custom build I’ve yet to decide. Since I am also a musician I lean towards a mix where I have the booth for recording on mic to help with a bit of soundproofing but also have some basic sound dampening in the full room. That means I’m looking at a good $15,000 investment at the minimum. It is a lot if I were just meddling around, but I’m in it for the long haul so am willing to do this the expensive way. It does mean my quick and dirty pvc-moving blanket setup I have in my current home will become obsolete rather quickly, though. It is what it is. At least I already have all other equipment from years of messing with music production (quality microphones, audio interfaces, DAW) so that saves me quite a bit on the overall startup costs.
The Room Specs
This may seem like a silly place to start but, if possible, I am going to try and find a home that has a spare room that follows the rule that the dimensions of the room aren’t divisible by one another. The easy way to go about that is to make sure that at least one of the height x width x length of the room is an odd number. Why such an odd specification? Because of physics in relation to sound waves. I’m not going to get into that here as I only have the minimal understanding.
Other factors are easier to look for:
- Not by a major road (reduce noise)
- Not right next to a playground (again…reduce potential noise)
- Capable for excellent internet broadband
Of course, the biggest thing is going to be: Can I see myself living there for many years to come? I don’t like moving a lot, hence why I bought a condo the first chance I had to stop renting. Wherever I go, I need to like it.
The Book
Of course, the book covers more than just ideal acoustics and ensuring readers understand there is a difference between soundproofing and acoustic treatment. There are tips on how to have a good relationship with the engineers working on a guided session with you, discussions on choosing the best microphone for your voice, and much more. If you are trying to level up your output quality, this book will certainly help get some of the base information needed. With a little side research, you can seriously up your game.
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