The age of the DIY producer

Chater-La

New member
Hi Bob and thanks for doing this....

I have a more general music biz question. It seems like the era of big producers and fancy studios is coming to an end and big name producers are riding the waves of their past successes and get clients who can afford their fees- mostly famous acts.

You find more and more people recording and producing their own music, and not just beginners who can't afford anything else but famous acts as well. Do you think this is a slippery road to take? Does music deserve to be produced under the right conditions and not in basement studios? You think DIY is a good thing or will just compromise quality and provide a dangerous shortcut? Or maybe there is really no choice since revenues in the biz have been so drastically reduced....

I find that DIY is great, this is what we are doing here on this forum, but it is dangerous because you get people working by themselves with a computer and you lose the team aspect and teacher-mentor hands-on experience....
 
You can't underestimate the value of a good team - producer and engineer. The best part about working with pros is that you really learn a lot from them that helps you later. When asked for advice on how to get ahead in the music business I always say, "Don't be a big fish in a little pond." In other words, you don't learn much if there's no one better than you around to learn from. Always try to work with the best people possible.

It's surprising, but there's a resurgence in the music and studio business going on right now that started at the end of last summer. All the major studios have been book solid (even several months in advance), and the budgets are suddenly a bit larger, although still not what they were. The business as we knew it may be dying, but it's not dead yet.
 
It's surprising, but there's a resurgence in the music and studio business going on right now that started at the end of last summer. All the major studios have been book solid (even several months in advance), and the budgets are suddenly a bit larger, although still not what they were. The business as we knew it may be dying, but it's not dead yet.

I wounder if this has anything to do with a lot of the DIY'ers finding out that it takes more than just a computer app and a mic to make a finished product that is truly commercial grade?
Not saying a lot can't be done in the "project/home studio"...but it seems that the majority of that stuff just ends up on My Space or YouTube mixed in with a lot of the sophomoric efforts, and rarely sees the light of day AFA the commercial music biz is concerned.
Maybe that's juts marketing...but I like to think that having all those pros in the studio, working together is what made the final products really pro-quality.
 
Maybe also studio prices have come down to make it more accessible to artists. Artists also think that if they record at a certain studio with this producer it will help them network and break into the business. On the internet you just drown trying to promote yourself.
 
Most big time producers aren't going to add their *special sauce* of their past successes.
They are always looking for something new, fresh and exciting.
Otherwise every new band out of the gate will sound the same and boring after awhile.
 
I don't foresee major studio (or even B or C studios) prices coming down. Adjusted for inflation, they're pretty low as compared to 30 years ago and you can get some sensational deals out there. There's absolutely no money in the studio business these days as the overhead is way high almost everywhere. Still, if you don't have the dough, they're still out of reach. You can't beat the sound of a real studio with a high quality signal path though.

Most producers and engineers that I know that could be considered "A list" put their all into any project, regardless of the the money they're making, because they all love music so much. Anyone that's strictly mercenary has left the business a long time ago.
 
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