When you are recording in your home studio, it is very important that you have privacy. It can be extremely frustrating when you're cutting the track of your life and someone barges in and says "Phone!"

I have made it clear to everyone in my house that when I'm in the studio, no yelling, no knocking on the door, and most of all, no phone calls. My friends even get the picture when they call, they'll say "Are you in the basement?" I do like to spend time in the studio, but not every waking second...there's blogging to do.

Another reason privacy is so import is because it can be a bit embarrasing when you're recording vocals through headphones. Anyone in the room would only hear your voice...a capella. Kinda scary. Also, if you're working on a melody or some new lyrics, it's best done when you're confident no one is listening.

Do what you have to do to keep people away and make your studio as soundproof as possible...inside and out. You don't want sound getting in, and you don't want sound getting out. Put an "in session" light above the door if you have to. Songwriting and recording are a delicate craft, best left to the guy sitting alone in a quiet room somewhere.

Another trick is to do all of your direct signals when people are home and wait for some quieter times to do vocals or acoustic guitars and anything else that has a low signal to noise ratio. Obviously, you could record distorted guitar at 11 or a drum set when people are home, because these are loud enough to drown out almost anything.

When you are confident no one is going to bother you, you'll do your best work. Tell all friends and family that your home studio is off limits. Set aside times to record if you have to.

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