Ian Shepherd Builds Home Studio

Ian Shepherd is the founder of Production Advice and mastering engineer and owner of Mastering Media Ltd. He specialises in audio mastering and post-production, Blu-ray and DVD authoring. Ian is also the founder of Dynamic Range Day, an annual event raising awareness of the Loudness Wars.

Over the last fifteen years he’s worked on literally thousands of CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays for many major record labels, TV stations and independents, including several number one singles and award-winning albums.

Recently Ian contacted GIK Acoustics to help build out his new home studio. Ian had moved to a new house and was converting the garage into a small studio. He created a series of videos (below) showing the process, the challenges and solutions along the way. The series is brilliant for anyone setting up their own studio.

Ian used 244 Bass Traps on the side walls, two 244 Bass Traps on the ceiling, a pair of Tri-Traps in the front corners, and two Monster Bass Traps with built-in Scatter Plates on the back wall. After installation Ian says, “The GIK Acoustics treatments made a huge impact. I’m hearing a tighter, more controlled sound… vastly improved stereo image, better frequency balance, and a much more pleasing sound overall.” He continues, “As a first step, I’m absolutely delighted with the results that I’ve got and the advice I got from GIK about these screens and putting them in.”

Ian’s advice: “Finally, in whatever space you’re working in, whether it’s a custom built studio or a converted garage like this, PLEASE take the time to invest in whatever acoustic treatment you can…! It is probably the single most significant thing you can do to improve the quality of the results you’re getting. You will not believe what a difference it makes to the quality of your monitoring and the results you’re able to get!”

Part 1 – the space and the plan

Part 2 – starting to build

Part 3 – working with GIK Acoustics on the setup

Part 4 – the end result

Be sure to follow Ian’s other video series on his Production Advice YouTube Channel.