I’ve been thinking, which is actually better for being creative? I now have a modest home studio, probably not as good as something I could build in a dedicated space with good sound proofing & acoustics but still enough to make music. When I made the transition from dedicated practise studio to a home studio, I thought that I would make a lot more music, since when I was at home I constantly came up with cool musical ideas and was kind of bummed that I couldn’t make a quick demo for later use immediately. Now I’ve realised however that despite having all my gear available all the time, I still get those ideas but stopping whatever I’m doing, possibly patching & setting up the right synth for the job, powering up everything and setting up a DAW session is often enough work to make me lose interest. I make music more often than before, but I’m not sure I get more actual music done. I just play around with my gear more.
So, maybe having a separate studio where you need to travel a short distance is actually better for creativity, as you kind of forget your daily grind when transitioning from home to studio and get in a more creative headspace? What do you guys think, which do you prefer?
I’ve been through both a lot. I used to have everything set up in my room and loved sometimes being able to stay up til 4am just noodling away. What I didn’t like was it being the space for everything I did, so never feeling like I had a break from it… we used to rehearse a 5 piece band in there, cables everywhere, and everyone would leave and it would remain a mess until I occasionally finally sorted it out.
Now I have a studio and it is amazing having the two spaces. Having a bedroom just being a bedroom is very good and necessary for my mental health… but I do miss being able to lay down ideas any time of day or night.
My happy mid-ground is that once in a while I bring a small amount of gear home, mainly my Rytm, and just focus on that for a couple of days… but then when I go back to the studio I need a couple of hours of plugging everything back in. I always miss having something though, whether it’s the prophet or the full size keyboard or my guitar…. I just got a sub at home and that helps a lot haha.
But yeah, having something at home that I can lay down a basic idea on, and some decent listening situation to hear what I’ve worked on is a must. The pros of having a proper space to work in massively outweigh the cons.
My ideal scenario would be an outhouse studio on my future bit of land, but I think I may be in the wrong career to ever make that happen
I get both sides of the argument but in my case: I have my bigger setup in the (kind of) garage. Just have to open the front door and walk 10 metres. STILL I sometimes opt to stay inside and use whatever single device I have away from my main setup…
This would be the dream. I currently have a separate room for my studio, so I don’t have to work in my bedroom or living room. Still, I think I could concentrate better if it was a separate space from my home, like a garage or an old barn or something. Can’t really make much noise at the moment, mostly have to work with headphones for instance.
Try renting a practice space or a work space for one day (or a few hours, however it works at that spot). Take one or two pieces of gear over with you and do your thing. If there’s anything positive about the experience, try again and maybe bring another piece of gear. If after doing this a couple times, you find it to be worth the hassle of travel and risk of having your stuff somewhere else, my
answer is ‘I still can’t say which is better but maybe the separate studio is worth trying’.
Yeah I have had a practise studio for most of my life at this point, and still have one but it’s about 2,5 hours from where I live. I currently have a home studio because paying rent for 2 practise studios at the same time is a bit too much for me.
See if there’s anything closer and see if that makes a difference. It could also be an issue of timing - like if you plan to be there a full weekend day every other weekend, the 2.5 hours might not be that bad.
No I know there are spaces closer, but my band practises in the one 2,5h from me so it’s used, just have to travel there. I could get a personal studio or join a communal one right now if I wanted to. Hell I did have two practise studios for a year or so, but the rent was kind of too much for me considering how little I had time to go there. I’m good man, dont’ need to try anything out, looking more what other people think than advice for my situation.
I’ve been thinking about this exact situation recently too.
Currently my ‘studio’ is the same room that I work since I’ve been working from home for over a year now. This means that I am either struggling to not be distracted from work and have to try to ignore all the equipment around me, or that when I get to the end of a day of work, I really don’t want to stay in the same room to make music.
I found that taking one or two boxes down to the sofa and trying to work on stuff there can be a nice change, but then I can get distracted by whatever my partner is watching on TV.
For my metal band, we have a dedicated practice space and regular timeslots which obviously works much better in that case as there are multiple people involved.
I think having somewhere separate and scheduling regular times could be good for motivating you to actually do something, but then it could kill spontaneous ideas at other times. The danger would also be if it’s too far away and that then putting you off going as often.
It’s important to find the solution that fits you the best. Choose what’s best for your creativity. I have just moved from a big apartment to a small one. I had my setup in in my big apartment and it did work well. Now I have moved my setup to a separate studio that is acoustically treated and it works great as well. It’s really hard to acoustically treat a home studio and keep the appearance of a home at the same time. So that’s a big plus with a separate studio.
I will have a small studio setup at home as well, with my MacBook Pro, Digitone as a synth and sound card plus a smaller analog synth.
Have both. Had the same initial thought, being more productive if i will travel to separate studio and sit there to make music but in reality hours fly by so fast that it doesn’t work for me. Due to the curfew there where some months that I had to be home before 21:00 so after regular day of work the separate studio wasn’t tempting. Moved a lot of equipment back home and make me realize a studio at home is way more productive. Start on a project, leave everything on while having lunch or taking my kids to school, come back to pick up where i have left. The only benefit from the separate studio is i can play loud even during a nightsession without annoying neighbors. Another benifit is a setting up a PA system to have a good feel how things will translate in a club environment. At home i have the tendency to keep adding elements to a track while in the separate studio i realize less is more in most cases. A good groove doesn’t need all whistles and bells when loud. This does apply dance music more then other genres offcoarse. The separate studio has now become more like a mancave to drink beer and jam with friends. More a place for good memories than recorded tracks allthough there are a lot of raw banging recordings from those sessions.
