There is something distinctly cocoon-like about the music room in Paul Valentini's Toronto home.
The walls are insulated, the double doors are padded and the floating floor is made of a spongy birch: a space made for enveloping sound.
In creating this soundproof room of one's own, the idea was to create a barrier between the outside world and the more private one within.
This is where Mr. Valentini, when not playing his Paco de Lucia CDs at earth-moving levels, nocturnally wails his guitar, as his spouse and teenage son gently sleep two floors above.
“Music has always been a passion, but there was always an issue of privacy whenever I practised at home,” says the former owner of Mammina's Ristorante, who closed the business two years ago to spend more time on music, a long-time hobby.
“I drove my family batty! And if an ambulance screamed by, I'd lose my concentration, the inspiration for a new song completely disappearing because of the noise.”
He is not alone in wanting to release his inner rock star within the sanctuary of his own home.
Home recording studios are the latest residential trend, observes interior designer Sasha Josipowicz, a partner in Studio Pyramid Inc., a renovation and new-home design company.
“They're spas for the mind,” Mr. Josipowicz says, “rooms where people can feed their creativity.”
The success of television show American Idol and video game Guitar Hero have made music a popular hobby again, he says.
“Government cuts in children art and sports education are making parents take an active role by encouraging their children to play instruments at home,” Mr. Josipowicz continues, adding that it was the motivation behind a new music studio he recently created for a client's home in Forest Hill.
“Teens are taking it to a new level with role models such as the cast from High School Musical . On the adult side, music is being used as therapy for stress. I can see home studios being an even bigger trend in the future, with possibilities for yoga and meditation.”
Catering to the demand is Rectech Rooms Inc., the Toronto-based company behind Mr. Valentini's home recording studio. Formed two years ago, it specializes in bringing recording technology into people's homes, often retro-fitting pre-existing rooms for $10,000 to $30,000.
‘There was always an issue of privacy … I drove my family batty!’ — Paul Valentini
Mr. Valentini, who works in construction, is now a partner in the company: “I love what they do so much, I want to share it with the world,” he enthuses.
Clients include John Breau, chief executive officer of Alexus Records, for whom they recently built a barn-sized recording studio for his property north of Toronto.
But while creating home studios for people in the music industry is the ultimate seal of approval, RecTech aims to service more customers like Mr. Valentini, someone for whom music is a love affair, not a vocation.
While 10 years ago he had designed and built his contemporary-style, basement-less Riverdale home himself, featuring an open-concept chef's kitchen and a home office for his media agent wife, creating an on-site music room wasn't immediately apparent as the solution to all his frustrated artist problems.
Until recently, technology for supporting a home music studio was considerably bulkier and heavier than it is today: “I always feared an amp falling through the floor into the kitchen,” Mr. Valentini explains.
“I really didn't think it possible to have my own space for recording, composing, rehearsing and listening to music. It seemed the impossible dream.”
A chance encounter made him think otherwise.
He had been shopping for speakers when the salesman, after listening to Mr. Valentini's lament about not having the ideal place at home in which to mount them, suggested that he contact a musician he knew who had just built a commercial recording studio in Vaughan, Ont.
