Tips for Saving Money When Building a Home Studio

Making a complete home studio is the dream of every musician and producer.

However, the budget required to make one is quite big. And many times, there are ways to reduce this monetary expense.

In this article, we will give some tips for saving money when building a home studio.

Essential Tips for Saving Money When Building a Home Studio

Make your own acoustic panels

Creating your own acoustic panels is an excellent idea if you want to save money and, at the same time, make a pro home studio.

Acoustic panels are really expensive, and actually.. they can be built manually without many skills.

On the other hand, acoustic foam can be cheap, but it only cuts the high frequencies. Instead, acoustic panels act in a more extended range of frequencies.

So making your own acoustic panels is an idea that sounds good.

To make them, you simply need to make a frame with wooden planks, place the rockwool inside, and finally, cover them with fabric.

On Youtube, you can find many tutorials similar to this one:

Consider a free (or inexpensive) DAW

If you are just starting to make your own home studio, then you don’t have a DAW yet.

The DAW is one of the most important pieces of the home studio. We spend most of our time with the DAW.

But when you’re just starting out, it’s one more expense.

And if you didn’t know, there are several free DAWs like Cakewalk or GarageBand that you can consider. They are not options that you will use forever.. but for the moment, they are a viable option.

There are also inexpensive options like the Reaper ($ 60), which is a highly well-rounded DAW. All it needs is plugins, but you can get these for free (advance to the next point).

Another way to save with the DAW is with audio equipment. Many audio interfaces, studio monitors, and more come with DAWs included. For example, the Ableton Live Lite is included in many audio interfaces and MIDI keyboards (and other types of equipment too).

And also free plugins

And of course, you should also consider many free plugins.

But in this area, there are many more free options (than DAWs).

Were you considering a $ 400 plugin? Take it easy.

There is a bunch of VST / AU plugins, both virtual instruments and effects. And this helps improve your productions without spending money.

The good news is that many of them are not just freebies. Instead, they are plugins that offer a lot of value.

Here at ZAK Sound, we have many free plugins (check out the Raizes series).

Review your list of essential equipment

If you have already made the list of essential equipment for the home studio, you should recheck it.

In the sense that, think precisely what is essential and what is not.

For example, suppose you produce mainly with plugins. In that case, you can put off buying the pair of condenser microphones you had in mind for later.

Or, you have a digital piano or keyboard at home, then it can work as MIDI. No need to buy an additional MIDI keyboard.

And all those kinds of things that you actually know you can avoid, but you’re ignoring it because you want the new gear. We all have been there.

Focus on what is really key to the performance of your home studio.

Final Recommendations

We all want the ideal home studio. But when we are short of budget, it’s necessary to review our list and check what is really essential.

All of these tips for saving money when building a home studio can be very helpful in the first place.

Over time, you will need to increase the cost little by little and improve the DAW, plugins, and equipment. Of course.

But to start smoothly go bankrupt, these tips can help you.