dude who cares. I tracked and mixed one of my albums on broken polk speakers on a desk made out of an old door, and one of the most respected mastering engineers in experimental music said it was one of the best sounding releases to come in. then the CD sold out and I got years of gigs based on the cred. don’t ever let some BS music bro online stop you from making music or feeling productive.

Everyone knows you need to have cool blue lighting to make great sounding music.

90 percent of the pictures that 'viewers' has 'sent' to you is literally the first hits coming up on a google search when you type 'home studio setup'.

And here I am nodding in agreement but knowing full well my cheap little 2i2, MacBook, and headphone setup in the corner of a room is the complete opposite of his recommendations.

Hey Streaky, since you mentioned here at one point... what is your opinion on having side panels, or even front and back, as a standing panels few feet away from the wall and closer to mixing position, opposed to having them mounted on a wall?

Familiar good advice, but room acoustics often take a back seat to buying the most basic gear, like a good mic. Even though room acoustics can be easily fixed with a limited budget. I sympathize with a lot of home studio owners that are just stuck with a less than ideal room - a window in the wrong place - not enough space in a cramped bedroom - insufficient speaker suspension - these are the realities for most of us.

Funny , nobody ever plays the music they produce in their facilities ... chances are they guy with less panels and a small room might sound much better than the rest of them

Streaky, what do you think about heavy moving blankets for budget studios, and foam risers for monitor speakers on the desk? Obviously a stand would be better for the monitors, but I don't currently have the money for stands.

im also in a corner. i cant move my setup anywhere else the way the room is layed out. its really not that bad. i think that studio in the corner you showed was very cozy. kinda more about vibe than “proper” speaker placement.

I’d like some basic advice, ima do who mixes at home to produce content, I’m moving house and will have my self up with small powered monitors on stands. Should I invest in some foam sound deadening tiles on the opposite wall?

@streaky hey man, what’s the ideal filling for panels? You say foam is useless, so what would be inside panels? Something like rockwool?

Seems to me that mixing in a properly-treated room requires great attention to detail and a serious commitment in time (if you’re going DIY), money (if you’re not), or likely both.

Love your videos on mastering & mixing. Always cool infos and neat tricks from Streaky. But really comparing pears to apples here! It always depends what the aim is. But I can not see anyone composing, songwriting or writing lyrics etc. on a small desk like yours. Spaces are often limited in Home Studio situations and budget often goes into having good sounding instruments and/or mics. And when I hear mixes by Tchad Blake and see him sitting in a room with brickwalls!? Just asking myself, If knowing your gear and room is much more the key? Although I have myself build 160 mm porous absorbers and a cloud.

Dude that's what I'm missing, acoustically appropriate sand for my room

Videos like these are for people who like gear more than making music

That one looks like the cockpit of a space ship something straight out of star wars or star trek wish I had that studio it's freaking awesome 👌

I come from an engineer lineage - my dad as over 45 years of experience - and the very best tricks for cheap acoustic treatment is 100% curtains! Yes, curtains. Windows in the wrong place? Put a curtain on top. Can't afford bass traps/no space? Put a curtain in the corner, extended between both edges. That way, the sound waves will pass through it twice - once before, once after they hit the wall. I use cheap isolating curtains that double as isolation in the wintertime. Second tip : don't use the same microphones that they use in bigger studios. If you need to turn down a few fans you're never gonna get to it. I use a super-cardioid Beta 87 for all my vocals and, even tho it is a live mic, it makes a lot more sense than a large diaphragm in my space. Finally, locate the studio in a weird room, one where the walls aren't parallels (if you have one). Bonus point for attics with angled ceillings. Honestly that will get you 90% of a dedicated space. Serves nothing renting a fancy place downtown if you hear people walking in and out the industrial stairs all day!

My Hybrid Mixing Setup... I record into the DAW (Studio One Pro 5) essentially using the DAW as my multitrack recorder(I can apply whatever preamps/compressors/EQ on the way in). I apply whatever plug-in effects I want in the DAW and mix... I then make 16 stereo Bus channels in the DAW and route the DAW tracks to them and send the busses out (via Antelope Goliath 32HD interface outputs) to 32 input channels of my Soundcraft Ghost Mixing Console (All of the Ghost channels are set at unity gain and the channel faders are at zero...since the mix levels come from the DAW busses, the console never changes making recall a breeze). On the Ghost, I route the 32 channels coming into the console to the console's 8 group busses as stereo pairs (Drums/Perc - Guitars/Bass - Instruments - Vocals) Each console group has an insert, so I can apply any outboard gear to each bus as I choose... the group busses on the console then feed the console Master Bus (which also has an insert). I route the Master Bus output from the console to my mastering chain (SSL Fusion with Neve MBP on the insert of the Fusion and then send the Fusion Output to a pair of Warm Audio EQP-WA's... After everything is adjusted to my liking I print the output of the mastering chain by sending it all back into the DAW and recording a stereo print track in the DAW. A little complicated but I get all the convenience of the DAW and all the analog goodness of the console and mastering chain without having to worry about recalling hundreds of console settings. This is what works for me,,, Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated!

Honestly, in the end nobody cares about the room a song was mixed in. Music is about creativity and passion, not about gear or perfect room treatment. If a song is good, its a good song. If you know how to mix you can get decent mixes even with cheap headphones. And if not learn how to mix or let someone else mix your music. But most importantly, dont let the lack of 'professional gear' stop you from making music. You have everything you need to let the music in your head become real so everyone can hear it ❤️

Yo bro do more videos like this, really helpful.