Do you sometimes sit down in your home recording studio to create something new, only to find that you’re unable to get anything done because you’re completely devoid of ideas? If you’ve found yourself a bit short on creativity recently, it’s worthwhile to take a look around your studio and consider whether it’s really an appropriate environment for creation. When you enter the studio and sit down, do you find it easy to clear your head and get to work – or do you give up after a little while and start wasting time online?
A home studio is just like any other work environment. It should be clean, free of clutter and appropriate for work if you expect to get anything done there. If you’re serious about doing great work, you owe it to yourself to make your home studio an environment where you can free your mind and create great things.
Here’s the good news: Sprucing up your home studio might seem like a daunting task if you’ve been negligent about maintenance for a while, but it’s really not such a big deal. It also doesn’t require a lot of money, which is a major plus if your work isn’t exactly making you rich.
Let’s get your home studio in tip-top shape. Here’s how to do it in a few easy steps.
Stop Smoking in Your Studio
We get it – smoking and music sometimes go hand in hand. Smoking in your home studio is the last thing you should do, though, if you want to record something great. Smoking kills your voice, for one thing – but that’s just the beginning. The smoke also leaves a horrible layer of filth on all of your equipment. It gets inside your guitar pickups. It invades your microphones. If you use any turntables or tape-based equipment in your studio, the smoke will permeate those items as well. There’s just no getting around the fact that smoking will destroy both you and your studio, so you’ve got to commit to not smoking when you’re at work. Grab a vaping device and some vape juice and get your nicotine that way instead.
Clean Your Studio Environment
If you want to spruce up your home studio, you’ve got to start by taking care of the environment. To do the job right, it’s a good idea to move all of the equipment out of the room temporarily. Start at the top of the room and work your way down. Use an extendable duster to clean the ceiling. Wipe down the walls with a soft cloth and a solution of warm water and mild detergent. If you’ve ever smoked in your studio, add distilled white vinegar to your cleaning solution to break up the stuck-on residue and get rid of the smoke smell. If the studio has a carpeted floor, vacuum it thoroughly and consider renting a carpet cleaning machine. If the studio has a hard floor, you can clean it with the same solution that you used for the walls.
Clean Your Equipment
If you think that choking on dust every time you enter your home studio makes it difficult for you to get anything done, just imagine what it must be doing to your creativity if you can’t even find a clean spot to put your hands when you pick up an instrument. Once you’ve taken care of your studio’s walls and floor, it’s time to give your equipment some TLC. Here are some quick tips for cleaning some of the items that might be in your home studio.
- Dust any flat surfaces with a soft cloth. The flat surfaces in your studio might include equipment cabinets, your computer and monitor, rackmount modules and any keyboards or synthesizers with dust covers.
- Clean a guitar’s body by dusting it and applying some polish. If the guitar has a rosewood fretboard, you can remove grime with a thin and lightly abrasive cleaning pad. Apply a thin coat of lemon oil or mineral oil to the fretboard after cleaning it. If the guitar has a sealed maple fretboard, you can clean it with a soft cloth. Dampen the cloth slightly to remove stubborn grime. If the pickups are dirty, wipe them with a soft cloth and use compressed air to remove dust from the cracks.
- Clean a keyboard by wiping it down with a soft cloth. If the keys are extremely dirty, you can dampen the cloth slightly. Wring most of the water out, though, so moisture doesn’t get between the keys. If you need to remove dust from between the keys, use compressed air.
- If you use any tape-based recording equipment, clean the recording and playback heads with cotton swabs dipped in pure isopropyl alcohol. For rubber rollers, you can use cotton swabs dipped in distilled water. Make sure that the equipment is completely dry before using it again. If you have a tape recorder with rollers that are cracked or show other signs of severe aging, you’ll need to replace the rollers.
How to Maintain Your Home Studio Environment
After you’ve finished giving your home studio a deep cleaning, all that’s left is to maintain it and ensure that it’s always a good environment for fostering your creativity. One way to do that is by keeping the studio clean, and that means taking a few moments to dust and vacuum every week or so. If you stay on top of these tasks, you’ll never have to worry about it becoming a major project again.
It’s also worthwhile to always remain mindful of the air quality in your studio. Since it’s necessary to control the noise level in a studio environment, home studios are often fairly cramped – and it’s hard to keep your head clear in a space that smells musty. Consider placing bags of activated charcoal in strategic locations around the room to absorb unwanted odors without adding noise. If you’ve using an outdated computer that increases the room’s temperature, you should strongly consider switching to a newer fanless computer that can handle the computation duties without heating the room up.
