My journey to create the perfect singing studio
Moving into your own singing studio is a very exciting step; a new space to call a musical home. But what happens when that studio isn’t quite helping those creative juices flow? This is the story of how I turned my singing studio from a creative buzzkill to an absolute dream.
Getting started
As a vocal coach I moved into my singing studio in July 2020 - mid pandemic and in the height of a heatwave. After years of vocal coaching from home I’d decided to take the jump and rent my own space, but without any actual clue where to find one! I put some feelers out with other vocal coaches, asking for recommendations, and through the BAST training community I found this one pretty quickly and was very excited to move in.
Over the next 7 months this is everything I’ve adapted (with the help of friends) to create the perfect singing space.
The walls
Armed with my IKEA furniture and a dream of my own creative hub when I first opened the door I was greeted by a lot of green, red, blue - in fact a lot of everything. It was an eyesore and one of the main things about the room that I felt killed my creativity. I found the colours distracting as I was coaching and practicing, and it made the room feel smaller.
This was my main priority to fix, as I knew a nice bright colour on the walls would open everything up and make the space feel calmer and more comfortable. Therefore I popped over to EQ Acoustics and bought white Camira Cara Acoustic Fabric, ensuring it was acoustically transparent and didn’t absorb the sound. After all I didn’t want to change any of the acoustics in the space, I just wanted a decorative lift.
The lighting
With one singular bright white light in the centre the room felt pretty dark which contributed to it feeling small. Due to this I was determined to make the room feel more cosy and lighting felt like a great way to do this in a cost efficient way.
I started by purchasing what can only be described as a ridiculous amount of fairy lights, along with some Govee strip lights for the top of the room. These were applied with a hairdryer and come with an app, so I can choose from multiple pre-set colours or even choose my own colour. It even comes with its own themes such as ‘Candlelight’ and ‘Lively’ and responds to sound - if you’re feeling fancy!
With these little details in place it all came together quickly. Finishing it off with a Neewer ring light for online vocal coaching sessions and social media videos it started very quickly to feel like a creative home.
The decoration
This is by far an ongoing process, but one of the main things I was keen on was for the room to feel like me. Therefore I was on the lookout for some fun art to put on the wall. Cue What Mabel Did! Mabel creates some incredible illustrative art so I picked up a few pieces from Etsy - some for the studio itself and some for the room outside - all based around female musicians I admire (Blondie, Stevie Nicks, Kate Bush). I also purchased some cross-stitch from The Innocent Bones which will making an appearance very soon!
For the floor I bought this Vintage Classic Blue Persian Fade Distressed Rugs Mat from SuperRugStore on Etsy, covering what was a pretty thin carpet with something that felt more homely and comfortable on your feet.
Finally the singing studio needed some plants, but with temperatures changing all the time and no natural light I had to opt for the fake kind. Not the greatest and certainly not my first choice but the green really brings a sense of calm to the space so now I wouldn’t go without.
With all things said the singing studio is far from finished and it’s definitely something I will continue to pour love into to keep the space feeling fresh and reflecting me creatively. However with the small changes above it definitely feels more like my musical home and I can’t wait to see what comes out of it!
