I’m a senior in High School and I produce electronic music. Over the last couple years I have put a lot of money into making a better setup for producing. Things like my computer, interface Monitors (basically big speakers), midi controllers, microphones, hard drives, etc, are all dear to me and critical to production. While I am still a year away from attending college, I am only now starting to think about the consequences of living in a small, probably shared, dorm. I intend on going to a smaller (less than 6000 undergrads) close college (within a 2 hour drive of home) and while I dont intend on bringing a big 49 key keyboard, would smaller ones be reasonable?
I am going to try over this year to shrink my whole setup down into more movable, modular and simpler parts, but at this point I feel like its generally just a bad idea to try and bring a lot to college (based on what I’ve already read online). I really want to keep on producing, but I dont want to be a bad roommate. What should I do?
Dorms tend to be small and you also have to be aware of security for the items you bring. Also, consider the time you will have to devote to this activity. If it is important to you, do what you need to do to make it happen. Take at look at the dorms and if there would be room for your set up, maybe with the bed lofted. You can wear headphones to not disturb others. If there is a music floor in the dorm, you might be in good company there.
IF you feel you HAVE to do this while on campus:
- single or double (max) room: you will not have room in a triple or quad (bunk beds with either a person or desks underneath), plus the potential to inconvenience more than 1 roommate.
- headphones (GOOD ones): again, you may think your sound is cool, but your roommate/floormates/RA may not.
- dorm insurance: to cover all of this equipment and any of your other stuff. Anyone who knows what you've got and has sticky fingers will be working on how to relieve you of it. Insurance is cheap, the deductible can be low, and it will give you some peace of mind.
Getting a single room would be best, if you have that option.
Consider getting a set of custom in-ear monitors instead of bringing beefy speakers, for your roommate’s comfort; also, you can produce pretty good ideas with a cheap mic, a small preamp, an 18 key keyboard, and a powerful laptop. Your school may also have good recording and production equipment that you can use if you belong to their music production or recording club. Then you can take that all home on a hard drive and refine it all over your breaks.
Also, don’t bring your nice stuff to school unless you feel it’s totally indispensable. It’s very likely to get damaged and then you’ll be unhappy, even if it can technically be replaced.
@GoatGirl19 Thanks for the advice. I have some over ear monitors but they are open back so they still leak but its not even comparable to the loudness of some real monitors. I also guess getting a good laptop might be the best idea too because it will be the most portable and I wont have to worry about transferring files back and forth. Only problem is it would cost a lot more money 
@Undercrackers I will definitely look into dorm insurance as I haven’t actually heard of it before now. Thanks!
You also have to consider your roommate’s comfort with both the increased noise and the monopolization of shared space.
It is too early to decide but in general you are correct – you don’t want to bring a lot of extra stuff to college. IMO unless you see your room in advance I would not bring all that stuff up on day one unless you know with certainty that you have a large enough room. Everything you bring will have to fit on your side of a room (assuming you have a roommate) and you need to leave space for shared items such as a mini-refrigerator etc. If you happen to be assigned a triple then things get infinitely more cramped. I also agree with concerns stated above about security and disturbing others (good suggestions about headphones).
Why not look into a school that has facilities you can use?