Pro Lighting Hacks to Transform Your Home Studio’s Vibe

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I’ve been exploring topics beyond soundproofing and room acoustics lately, and this week I’m diving into lighting designs for your home studio. Below, I’ll share a few ways to light your studio like the pros, helping you achieve that dream studio look.

1. A Little Background on Lighting Theory

I’m a big fan of the Pretty Good Home model of home building, and if you haven’t already, I highly recommend checking out their book Pretty Good House: A Guide to Creating Better Homes (affiliate link). It’s been a great resource for my own designs, offering clean, renewable, and efficient strategies that apply to home studios as well.

One key aspect of the Pretty Good House method is following a few specific lighting rules:

• Rule 1: Light What You Want to See

  You could install lots of downlights to brighten the entire room, but that’s not ideal. In a home recording studio, you want to focus on the essentials—your desk, instruments, and gear. Plan your lighting to effectively illuminate the areas you use the most.

• Rule 2: Avoid Glare

  This rule is all about ensuring you don’t see the light bulbs directly. Using shades, narrow beam angles, and focusing the light helps guide it away from your eyes. While it can be tricky in practice, it’s a worthy goal to pursue.

• Rule 3: Make Change Easier

  Flexibility is key. Having just one switch to control all your lights isn’t ideal. In a home studio, you’ll want work lighting and mood lighting. The goal is to create layers of lighting options that give you control over the room’s ambiance.

2. Which Type of Light Should You Use?

This one’s easy: LED lights. They’re the best choice today, especially if you value energy efficiency. You can opt for other lighting, but nothing beats LEDs in terms of longevity and control.

My personal favorite is the Philips Hue LED system, which I use in all my designs. Yes, they’re more expensive, but you get what you pay for. I’ve tried cheaper color-changing lights in my studio, and they flickered and died within a year.

Philips Hue also comes with a sleek smartphone app that lets you control multiple lighting setups from your phone. Plus, these lights dim at the bulb level rather than through a switch, which helps reduce interference in your studio—a properly wired studio helps too, but that’s a lesson for another day.

3. Studio Lighting Techniques

• A) Use Philips Hue Slim Downlights in Your Acoustic Clouds

  These are perfect for easy installation in an acoustic panel hanging from the ceiling. I like to use them in clouds to avoid cutting large holes in the ceiling. Instead, I run a small wire down to the acoustic panel, leaving only a tiny hole for the wire.

• B) Use Philips Hue Light Strips for Backlighting

  Philips Hue light strips are great for adding backlighting to the edges of your acoustic clouds, desks, computer monitors, or acoustic wall treatments. The possibilities are endless, and it’s a fantastic way to enhance the vibe and ambiance of your studio.

• C) Opt for Track Lighting Over Downlighting

  Track lighting helps with Rule 1: Light What You Want to See. Two carefully placed track lights can focus light exactly where it’s needed, illuminating key areas of your studio.

• D) Keep Each Set of Lights on Its Own Switch

  While dimmers aren’t ideal, having separate switches for different lighting systems is a must. I usually place downlights on one switch, strip lights on another, and track lighting on a third. This way, you can easily control each type of lighting and fine-tune everything through your smartphone app.

Conclusion

The biggest takeaway for studio lighting is to stay creative and trust your artistic instincts to set the vibe and mood for your workspace. Don’t skimp on lighting—stick to LED systems and embrace color-changing lights. While I’m partial to Philips Hue, there are other great high-end brands out there as well.

Works Cited:
Kolbert, Dan, et al. Pretty Good House: A Guide to Creating Better Homes. Newtown, CT, The Taunton Press, 2022.