What Makes a Good Home Studio?

May 26, 2025 / Tomas Villamizar

What Makes a Good Home Studio

A common misconception in voiceover is that you need to drop a fortune on a fancy, prefabricated booth to be successful. Not true. Sure, a StudioBricks or WhisperRoom looks cool and isolates sound like a champ, but it’s a significant investment—and not always necessary. The two things that truly matter in a broadcast‑quality home studio are sound treatment and low noise floor.

1. Sound Treatment (Not Soundproofing)

Sound treatment is about controlling echoes and reverb in your space so your voice sounds tight and focused. If you clap or shout in an untreated room and hear a sharp echo, that same slap‑back will end up in your recordings.

Easy, budget‑friendly treatment ideas:

  • Thick acoustic panels – The skinny foam squares do almost nothing. Go for 2‑inch or denser panels.

  • Moving blankets – My personal favorite. I hang one behind me and another over the top of my booth, then add a few more along the walls. Cheap, effective, and easy to reposition.

  • Bookshelves, mattresses, or heavy curtains – Anything dense and soft that breaks up reflections helps.

When I first started, I honestly couldn’t even hear the echo in my space. My ear has improved over time, and now when I leave the treated booth and speak in an untreated room, the difference is night and day. Sound treatment solved 90 % of my audio issues right out of the gate.

2. Low Noise Floor

The other half of a great studio is a quiet environment. The ideal noise floor for professional VO is around –60 dB or lower. High‑end booths excel here because they provide true sound isolation (that’s “soundproofing”), blocking outside noise from getting in.

But you can still hit –60 dB without a top‑tier booth. Here’s how I tame common noise culprits:

  • Computer fan – My laptop lives outside the booth with a long HDMI cable snaked to a monitor inside.

  • HVAC hum – I adjust the thermostat so the unit cycles off while I’m recording. Not perfect, but it works.

  • Household appliances – I coordinate with roommates so the washer, dryer, or dishwasher isn’t roaring when I have a session.

  • Timing – If traffic or lawn mowers are a problem, I record during quieter times of day.

If you live by a busy street, under a flight path, or next door to an ambitious leaf‑blower hobbyist, you might eventually justify a fully isolated booth. But start by handling the controllable noises first.

Start Small, Upgrade Smart

Everyone’s circumstances are different. Don’t feel pressured to rush into a four‑figure booth if your current setup can get you clean, –60 dB audio with decent treatment. Begin with what you’ve got, fix the biggest issues first, and take incremental steps—blankets today, thicker panels next month, maybe a portable isolation shield down the road.

Yes, a high‑end booth would eliminate most of my remaining sound headaches—but I’m not ready to invest in one yet. My DIY booth gets the job done, my clients are happy, and my audio meets broadcast standards. That’s what matters.

Bottom line: focus on treatment, tame your noise floor, and keep leveling up one smart improvement at a time. Your wallet—and your audio—will thank you.