A Guide To Building Your Own Recording Studio with Tigerilla

Despite being in the middle of an east coast run of dates, Adelaide-born, Melbourne-based beatmaker Tigerilla was king enough to give us an insight what it takes to own and run your own home studio. The producer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist recently opened his own venue, Big Window, in his home town of Adelaide, and below the new nightspot is Tigerilla's own recording space. The multi-talented music whizz recently released his massive single, Tulips feat. Gill Bates, so we all know the man knows how to craft a banger - perhaps after reading his guide to sorting out your studio, you will too.

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I decided to open this studio for a few reasons. I was already recording in there and my now business partner approached me with a great opportunity. Adelaide really needs a push in the music department - facilitating like-minded individuals to follow their passion. There are plenty of great musicians and artists, but there are a lack of places for them to express it. Big Window studios is open to any style of music, we can accommodate rappers, electronic artists, full bands or just singers. We also offer a state of the art SSL mixing desk, so the studio is open even just to coordinate great mixes for EP's, Albums or singles. The studio also has a night club above it (Big Window), which extends the music arm even further. Allowing artists to record and follow up with a show in the night, or just to let their hair down and enjoy the vibe.

I am lucky enough to have some really dope equipment in my studio, some mine and some from good friends. Before you get there though, there are some super important pieces of equipment that will get you to the next level:

KEY EQUIPMENT:

A good interface. Something that you can record nice audio through. I use a RME MadiFace XT.

A nice warm pre-amp and microphone. I use an Avalon because it records beautiful audio, from vocals to guitar and even bass. The microphone I am currently using is a NEUMANN TLM102.

Some nice outboard gear is a bonus. I have a Wurlitzer electronic piano, a Roland Jupiter 4 and some nice guitars as well. Most outboard gear gives you a warmer, more organic sound and is more fun to play with. I also like to make sure that if someone is hiring the space, they have plenty to choose from.

Find a great house engineer for bookings. I have teamed up with a guy I know has a lot of experience. When you are booking out your studio, the customer wants to know they are in good hands to get the best product.

Make sure your studio sounds great. This is probably the most important point of all. Get the right acoustic treatment and the right monitors. If this isn't done right, recording and especially mixing can become very difficult when trying to achieve a professional sound.

Ambience. MAJOR KEY. Create a dope vibe, because in my opinion the better the vibe the better the music.

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