What Is a Recording Studio?

recording studio

A recording studio is a place where musical recordings are made. Traditionally, the studio has been seen as an acoustically isolated complex consisting of a live room (where musicians play), a vocal room designed for recording singers and a control room where the recordings are edited and mixed. The idea of a professional studio reached its heyday in the late 60s when stereo went mainstream.

In addition to the main rooms, a professional studio will usually have a machine room where the noisier equipment is kept such as power amps. Ideally, this room will be acoustically treated as well to help in the overall recording process.

It is important that a professional studio has all the necessary equipment for the particular style of music it records. For example, if it mainly records heavy metal, the studio will have a range of large guitar amp heads and speaker stacks while one that specialises in 1970s-style funk will probably have a selection of smaller Fender “tweed” combo amplifiers.

It is also very important that the studio has a good producer or engineer who can guide the artist and get the best performance out of them. This is especially true if the artist is new to recording in a studio. It is a good idea to ask a producer or engineer some practical questions about timings, their own equipment and how they propose the session should be run before booking time in the studio.