Middleman
Professional Amateur
The home market did indeed expand, as well as project and medium size studios, during the 70s because of the availability of low cost 4 & 8 track machines. This expanded the market dramatically but with it came a lot of studios that brought in clients and could never deliver on commercial sound quality due to lack of experience and in some cases lack of gear. I recorded in a lot of these studios and you rarely walked out with something other than a project sounding tape. No one knew how to mix was the problem. However, a lot of people rose out of these type studios and went on to work in pro level studios and over time the pro studios grew and expanded. The middle level studios became a feeder system of sort. All of this has disappeared over time and we are now in the age of pro home studios, the number of large stand alone studios has vastly been reduced.
There were a lot of home studios and recording going on prior to Springsteen's Nebraska, those compact 4 tracks, came much later. Tascam, Teac, Otari, all had 4 and 8 track affordable reel to reel systems in the mid 70s. I bought an early made model by Pioneer, RT2044. The compact Fostex and Tascam units came in at the end of the 70s.
The missing element however for a lot of people was the quality of the preamps and mics and compressors/limiters. The early home mixing boards were not that good nor their preamps more than early solid state could provide. Most musicians and home recording types did not have exposure to the gear that was used for making albums and thought the purchase of a little Tascam mixer and tape deck was their ticket to success. Not so much.
Today, up and coming engineers and musicians have access, at a reasonable cost, with technology that, if you study the internet enough, can yield some amazing productions. It's a good time to make your art. The destiny of a person or band is more in their hands and less in the hands of institutions. However, the chances of making consistent money is a bit more challenging given the relegation of music to supporting movies and commercials versus being something people will sit and listen to.
There were a lot of home studios and recording going on prior to Springsteen's Nebraska, those compact 4 tracks, came much later. Tascam, Teac, Otari, all had 4 and 8 track affordable reel to reel systems in the mid 70s. I bought an early made model by Pioneer, RT2044. The compact Fostex and Tascam units came in at the end of the 70s.
The missing element however for a lot of people was the quality of the preamps and mics and compressors/limiters. The early home mixing boards were not that good nor their preamps more than early solid state could provide. Most musicians and home recording types did not have exposure to the gear that was used for making albums and thought the purchase of a little Tascam mixer and tape deck was their ticket to success. Not so much.
Today, up and coming engineers and musicians have access, at a reasonable cost, with technology that, if you study the internet enough, can yield some amazing productions. It's a good time to make your art. The destiny of a person or band is more in their hands and less in the hands of institutions. However, the chances of making consistent money is a bit more challenging given the relegation of music to supporting movies and commercials versus being something people will sit and listen to.