Voicetracker Jason King recently relocated from Shropshire to Jersey which meant packing up his old studio and building a new one. Here, he walks us through his decision process and explores the various kit you could use for your setup.
My radio career started at Beacon Radio in Wolverhampton over 30 years ago, followed by a move to my dream station Fox FM in Oxford, BFBS in Germany, 106 Century FM, Trent FM, Key 103, Real Radio, Coast 103.2 in Dubai, Radio 2 UAE followed.
I’m now on air in St. Helier, Jersey at Channel 103 looking after weekday afternoons from 2pm-6pm. My role also involves supporting the stations management as the station senior presenter, hopefully that’s based on experience not age!
My Home Studio
At the start of 2022 I decided to put a proper home studio into my spare room in my house in Shropshire. I remember thinking after investing into the project, bet I get offered a fulltime job now. So, it proved a few months later after a 2-year unexpected covid break.
Do I regret the build? No way, it gave me a proper creative space that paid for itself in 4 months.
Fast forward to July 2022 I jumped on a plane to Jersey for a new adventure. In my bag I had my first Jersey VT studio, the Rode NT-USB Mini microphone and a pair of headphones. If you have limited space and budget £100 will get you up and running. Rode offer a companion app called connect, this provides a great set of audio processing to give you that radio sound *recording environment excluded*
Relocating to Jersey has meant pulling my Shropshire studio apart.
The first studio! Rode NT-USB Mini £100
Possible Setup Configurations (and various budgets)
Budget
All in One – Rode NT-USB Mini
£100
Mid Range
DBX 286, USB Soundcard, Pro Mic
£400 upwards
High End
Rodecaster Pro II, TC Finalizer, United Studio Technologies UT Twin 87 c.£2000.
↑ Lovely setup, a little over the top, but a great home setup that mirrors what I’m used to working with in a professional radio studio!
If you want a vintage and modern U87 microphones but don’t have £5K, buy a UT Twin 87 it won’t disappoint. I own a modern version of the U87 and I cannot tell the difference, it also beautifully built. I use mine in Vintage mode, the package includes a quality shock mount and cost £650. →
← Backup Microphone Sennheiser MK416 – Great for difficult recording environments.
Invest in your microphone it will repay you.
Room Treatment – Not Sound Proofing – Kill the echo
In Shropshire I used these tiles https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/thefoamfactory awesome result, not realistic in a rental property. If you go this way, line the walls with lining paper and use spray glue to fit to avoid issues removing them at a later date.
In Jersey I’ve used these panels – Brilliant for VT work £100 upwards depending on room size.
https://www.studiospares.com/studiospares-acoustic-treatment-kits
My Studio in Jersey:
USB Soundcard Motu M4 or Rodecaster Pro II
Microphones Sennheiser MK416
United Studio Technologies UT Twin87
DBX 286 channel strip
TC Electronics Finalizer
Feel free to email me with any questions about the setup or studio setup
Microphone Processing
In this video Jason demonstrates his microphone processing, so you can hear the difference it makes to the output.
Jason King is a Voicetracker Hub member, and presents regularly for Force Radio, Soleil Radio, Channel 103 and more.
