Music recording, podcasting, and video recording all require spaces that have wiring and lighting needs different from homes, professional offices, retail spaces, and workshops. Recording studio electrical services meet those particular industry needs for ample, “clean” power. That is easy to understand in the abstract. But why do these workspaces call for music studio electrical services instead of general, even DIY, electricians to do the work?
What Makes the Recording Industry Unique?
A professional recording studio is about as different from a home theater as a home theater is different from a machine shop. Many consumer electronic devices are not much affected by tiny spikes and dips in electrical power. Fluorescent overhead lighting may leave a similar imprint on a recording. The fluctuating power will cause noticeable hissing and cracking. This is not a worry in most commercial spaces.
Professional instruments and recording equipment will be affected. The fluctuating power will cause clicking and buzzing in the background of a recording. That electrical noise will certainly turn up in a recording. Motors in refrigerators, microwave ovens, coffee makers, and toasters can even cause slight fluctuations that affect audio equipment. Add up all those minor problems, and the quality of a recording, might fall, well, short of what the sound should be. A specialist who understands music studio electrical services will be able minimize or prevent that “noise” problem.
What a Professional Music Studio Needs
As a specialized workplace that needs smooth and reliable power more so than, say, a machine shop or a store, a professional music studio has some unique electrical needs. Those needs may be summarized as follows:
- Isolated circuit for audio, with nothing using a motor or LED lights drawing power.
- Lighting that is not fluorescent and is on another circuit.
- A surge protector.
- A power balancing appliance.
- An uninterruptible power supply.
- An isolation transformer to protect people and equipment from electrical noise and potential electrical shocks. In a studio application, they help eliminate some of the popping or buzzing sound that might exist otherwise.
- Grounded AC current with a 100a or 400a breaker box.
- Heavy duty power lines, amplifiers, fuses, and cables.
The surge protector is vital for obvious reasons and fluorescent lighting causes a couple of problems. Because a recording studio draws lots of power, relative to spaces that are similar in size, you must spend extra money on lines, amplifiers, fuses, and cables.
Your requirements may be similar in other studio settings where audio quality is of the highest importance. Many of the services are too complicated for the average DIY electrician and the needs are different from home electrical work, so skills there may not transfer.
Upgrading Your Studio
Upgrading an old studio space brings up some of the same electrical concerns. Inadequate lighting and insufficient circuits are two reasons to upgrade a studio’s electrical system. Lack of enough circuits might be the biggest issue for an old studio space. Maybe it was wired for an amateur band’s recording work, and they were on a tight budget. Maybe the wiring, outlets, and switches are just old. You want to add another circuit, so you can have one for lighting and one for audio equipment.
Lighting is another potential challenge to good recording. Lights introduce “noise” in two ways, either by buzzing or by creating dips and spikes in power. Fluorescent bulbs are a big issue in the first case. Turning lights on and off during recording can also cause dips or spikes in power. Lastly, the quality of lighting might just be poor. Dim lighting is not good and unstable, flickering lights aren’t any better. You can make the space easier to use by upgrading to modern LED or compact LED lighting and creating a new circuit just for the lights.
Small appliances, like coffee makers and microwaves are common causes of rough electrical power. These devices should be on the same circuit as lighting, or on a third circuit of their own versus sharing with your audio equipment. This is to avoid another source of electrical noise.
You may also need or want to incorporate a backup power supply. There are a couple of options here. Some vendors sell commercial-grade uninterruptible power supplies that would serve the purpose in a professional music studio. This will be larger and more expensive than the models made from a home office, because of the studio’s power demands. A battery or fuel-cell backup might be another option.
Hire Experts for Recording Studio Electrical Services
Music recording studios have their own set of electrical needs driven by their high electricity use and by the need to get clean recordings. That is hard to do if you run lights, the microwave, and the audio equipment on one circuit. Specialty music studio electrical services are the answer here. If you need to expand or upgrade a recording studio or film studio, or gut and renovate one, let the industrial and commercial electric pros at Schaffhouser Electric provide recording studio electrical services. Contact us to get an estimate on your studio job.
