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How to make a TV studio?

Hybrid studio/home theater setup -- is it feasible?

  • I am planning on building an "epic" home theater/entertainment system later this year when the room is finished (it will be more or less soundproof), and I plan on using professional-grade equipment. The "brain" of the system will be a Windows-based PC hooked up to a TV. Seeing that I will already have pro-quality amplifiers and speakers, how feasible would it be to add in "studio" functionality such as a mixing board and effects? (It would end up considerably cheaper than a dedicated studio.) This would be used for recording and generally "messing around", seeing that about half the family is into music. No-brainer, right? Not so fast. The issue is that movies generally have surround sound audio information, while the studio side of things will be stereo. How can I hook these things up and not cause problems, i.e. loss of multichannel audio on the TV side or loss of speakers on the studio side? More importantly, how can I seamlessly transition between the two -- ideally with no human involvement, though I'll settle for a single switch. Sorry if this is confusing but seeing that there is a good amount of money involved, I'd rather not make mistakes.

  • Answer:

    John - Robert is on the right track - just set up your home theater as "normal" but make sure you get a receiver that has audio "pre outs" - in other words, RCA line level outputs for the 5.1 channels. This will allow you to use your existing "pro-quality" speakers and amps for HT use. If this equipment is truly pro-quality, it will sound just fine. Then just buy any mixer you want and then just connect the "tape output" of the mixer to any spare input on the receiver. This will allow you to use your HT system as your studio monitors for playback from the mixer. Just keep in mind that if you have mics connected to the mixer in this room, you will get nasty feedback from the HT audio system if you turn it up too much.

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I actually have this set-up in my home already, so I can easily walk you through it. First, you don't need to use pro audio speakers. These speakers are make to play loud, but not accurate. Trying to get good theater sound, and even trying to master recorded music using these speakers would be terrible. You need some nice speakers. For my audio output (2.1 and 5.1) I am using a Harman/Kardon AVR7200. This is an older receiver, from about 2004, but it will work well for what you need because it has direct inputs for your computer. You can still find them on ebay for a few hundred dollars. Once you get a receiver like this, you will connect your green, orange, and black direct inputs from your PC sound card to your receiver. Then set the receiver to direct input and your surrouns sound will play whatever your computer tells it to. You can now toggle from 5.1 to stereo sound using your computer's sound card software. As for speakers, I am using GR Research surround with Mirage M290is mains. I wanted my best speakers as my left and right mains since these will also be used as my stereo studio monitors. These speakers were originally about $1,200 a pair in the mid 90's. Now you can get them in good condition for around $400 if you look hard enough. They make excellent studio monitors. Most new receivers don't have direct inputs, so that's why I recommend using an older modle. Also, new receivers will have HDMI, but since you will connect your PC straight to your monitor, you will not need this. Now for recording: I use an Allen and Heath Zed-10 USB mixer. Of course, you can use any USB mixer like it. They are simple to use. Just connect it to your USB port and record directly to your PC. If you want to connect headphones (which I would suggest), you will simply connect them to your mixer. Bam! Now you have a recording studio with kick *** monitors AND a nice surrouns sound system all-in-one!

Robert

John, what do you mean when you say "pro quality" amplifiers and speakers? Are you referring to "pro audio", meaning that they are PA amps and speakers? If so, I'm with Robert, and I wouldn't recommend using these in a studio. Pro Audio is in fact designed for volume, not sound quality.

Tony Swindol

I have a studio downtown, but I also have a small studio in my house and I do use the home theater speakers with it quite often so yes it is very possible, and if you know what you are doing quite easy as well.

obiwanrockwood

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