Music Recording Gear

In the 70’s (some of you weren’t even alive then), how did a band record an album? Or even a demo? They had to go to a professional studio with tons of expensive equipment could produce decent recordings. The problem was, a band had to either have a record deal or deep pockets to take advantage of them.  Home studios sometimes produced demos that were good enough to peddle your band to the record labels, but usually the home studio produced crap. The big studios monopolized the music industry. Bands that could get into the studios were heard. A band that had no money, no label representation, and no fan base were screwed.

If you weren’t around in the ‘old days’, today’s recording industry seems normal to you. But trust me - this isn’t the way it’s always been. Things are changing for recording studios and for the music business. I’m not talking about Napster and the file-sharing crisis of a few years back. Actually, I’m referring to home recording studios, which are having a huge impact on the big time studios in your town.

Home recording studios began to spring up more and more through the 1990s. And with advances in computer technology, anybody and everybody can own a nice little studio. The price tag today? A couple hundred bucks. And the quality of your recordings will not be too shabby. With a little practice, your home studio can churn out competitive tracks. And the music business doesn’t like that fact. You are armed with a studio that can compete. And more bands are starting to hop onto the home studio trend.

To Be Continued…

Check out this video about starting your own profitable recording studio:
Studio Profits

A lot of unnecessary expense on your studio can be avoided if you realize
two basic facts:

1) You need equipment of basic professional quality, not exotic
playthings.

2) If you have equipment of basic professional quality, the standard
of your recordings is totally up to you.

This article is written from years of experience, and during that time it
has been seen again and again that many home recording enthusiasts live under
the delusion that what they need to bring professional quality to their
recordings is that elusive “next” piece of equipment or software.
And once purchased, perhaps at considerable expense, there will be another
new ‘next’ item that is essential to get professional results.

It’s amazing how so many people can be so wrong, but thankfully they
keep the manufacturers in business and keep prices down for the rest of
us. As I said, all you really need to achieve professional recordings,
is equipment of basic professional quality. Experienced and skilled engineers
don’t need anything more. They do love exotic and expensive audio toys,
but they don’t need them. And neither do you.

One of the other ways people waste money is by continually upgrading their
recording system. The problem with that is that you are always trying to
hit a moving target.  Just like computers, there will always be another upgrade
available and every time you change one piece of equipment for another,
you have to learn it, familiarize yourself with it, and then become an expert
in using it. By the time you have done that, yet another upgrade will be the
big story in the recording magazines.

Even well known artists and bands can fall prey to ‘upgrade-itis’.
They struggle for years, putting their music together on whatever equipment
they can get hold of. They finally land a deal with a label, and the first thing
the band does is spend their advance money on a state-of-the-art recording facility.
But unfortunately the magic is lost and they never have another hit. Often it’s
because they didn’t show enough respect for the equipment that actually did
bring them success!

So, the point to this is that you should buy wisely, and aim to keep every
item you buy for a long time. Some equipment will last for decades with
minimal care and attention.

A prime example of this is the microphone. If you buy a decent microphone today,
you should EXPECT it to be still working perfectly in twenty years. What you should
do then, is buy a microphone with a really good sound quality that you like.
If you buy a microphone just to get you by until you can afford a better one,
in twenty years time it will just be a reminder of your unwise decision.

However, some equipment and software does have to be upgraded. One prime
example is your computer and the software it runs. Sooner or later you always
have to upgrade that, don’t you?

We’ll get into that next time. Meanwhile, keep on making music!

As a recording engineer who started out in very primitive studio environments, I know what it’s like to “patch” all kinds of equpment together. You can really struggle plugging and unplugging equipment from different manufacturers, different signal levels, etc. And then, you have to figure out how to get all the “noise” out of the system. Finally, you get around to recording, all the while holding your breath and biting your tongue. Ha!

If you’re starting from scratch, or starting over, I’m going to offer ideas and suggestions to help you get a quality studio set up that produces quality sound. We’ll build from the BASICS - NOT the “latest & greatest”.

 The very first item to consider is the audio software.  There are several packages that all work very well. The most common are

 Sonar from Cakewalk
 Logic Pro from Apple (for Macintosh only)
 Cubase from Steinberg
 Pro Tools LE for Digidesign
 Digital Performer from MOTU (for Macintosh only)

By far, Pro Tools is the most popular - especially among professional engineers. Therefore, if you’re going to take your recordings to studios, you want to have recordings that are compatible with their software. That’s one of the main reasons I recommend Pro Tools. However, it depends on your particular goals, preferences, and demands. If you don’t already have a preference, you’ll want to check into each, and see for yourself which one meets your needs the best.

I’d like to mention also that Pro Tools has teamed up with M-Audio to put together several home studio “packages”. These are great because everything is designed to work together. No “patchwork” involved!

One of my favorite companies to buy equipment from, is Zzounds. Zzounds is great because they offer a huge selection of name-brand equipment at guaranteed lowest prices. Since their website is online 24/7, you can even buy things at 2:00 in the morning!

Check it out!

If you haven’t signed a recording deal with a record company yet (or don’t ever plan to), you’re probably dreaming of having a recording studio in your home. Fortunately, these days you can buy equipment that produces high quality results for extremely reasonable prices.

To help you produce the best results possible, we’re going to be explaining the basic necessities, and guiding you along the way toward building a “complete” studio.  By “complete”, we mean ending up with everything you NEED to get great recordings. we are not going to push a lot of extra “goodies” that may be nice “down the road”, but are NOT necessary to get excellent basic recordings.

We want to help you get your studio up and working in as quickly as possible so that you can get busy making music! 

This blog will grow & grow! I’m testing right now.

Run over here to learn more about promoting your music:

MusicBizSecretsBlog

Be sure to keep checking back.