Glad to see my phone call got your interest piqued... I enjoyed our brief telephone conversation, and it's good to see you check in.
Thanks, I enjoyed it as well, though I was surprised at first... scratching my head after you left the first VM... Steve... Steve... hmmm... who is Steve? lol
what would you think about trying to run a studio out of your own home, nothing permanent just eager to get started??
I see nothing wrong with it, as I've of the opinion that knowledge and technique is far more important than sound treatments and the level equipment you have.
Sure, you can hire someone to design and build out a $250,000 studio in your home and fill it with protools, but if you don't know how to mic a violin or record a vocalist, it's not going to matter. You'll find that almost all professionals started with the very basics - a microphone, a recorder of some kind, and a heavy moving blanket or equivalent. As they learned how to use the equipment to it's maximum ability, they upgraded.
Good equipment does sound better than poor equipment, but ask anyone here who is a true professional and I'll bet they can remember something that came their way that sounded damn good and was recording on a basic cassette-based portastudio of some kind.
If you think about it for a minute, guys like Eddie Van Halen can play pretty much as good on a $1500 custom guitar or a cheap fender knock-off plywood guitar. To a degree, that also applies to recording.
So yes, you can get started with the basics, hone your craft, and build from there.
It might also give you a feel for the market in your location providing the services are adequate. If you can make a go of it and actually make money, enough to cover an external business it might be worth it just to discover that aspect of running a studio.
There are different markets too.
Certainly, there's the pro market where Martina McBride's producer will call you up and block out two weeks and show up with an entourage and cater everything. That kind of business is very difficult to get.
Then there's the financed demo work, where the record companies are looking to outsource a first album, or maybe a pro-sounding demo to get a better aural feel as to how an artist or group will sound if recorded well. That business is easier to get, but also very difficult.
Recording unsigned artists is more likely, and long time ago I did fairly well recording garage bands, mostly of the rock, hard rock, and metal genres. It was the late 80's, early 90's after all. And to be honest, the output of my studio didn't have to be pure prefection. I strived for it and worked hard to achieve it but recording, mixing and mastering are skills that take time to learn and learn well.
Anyway, I think it's a bit unrealistic to build a studio and expect the career performers and artists backed by sony, BMG, and others to ring your bell constantly. There is nothing wrong with starting at the bottom and working up. That's how most studios grew over the years... the big ones now were
tiny 20-30 years ago, and started off for the most part recording garage bands.
You have strangers in your home, the rest of the family to contend with, the noise in a residential area, but it might be a good trade-off compared to the cost of renting or buying a building only to find out it's a wash.
A fairly easy way to resolve the security concern is to use an area of the house that can be blocked off from the rest of the house. A garage, or garage loft with an added, separate entrance, or a basement with a separate stairwell. If there is an adjoining door between that space and the house, you can install a deadbolt or two if you're paranoid.
That's how my home studio is actually... garage loft with a stairwell in the back that opens to the outside, and between the garage loft and the third bedroom in my home is a bathroom - with doors on each side. Both doors have differently keyed deadbolts. I can easily lock the studio side so visitors who sleep in the 3rd bedroom can access that bathroom but not the studio, or lock the bedroom side of the bathroom making it accessable to the studio.
It would be nice if that bathroom had a taller ceiling and no slant, but tall people learn to duck very quick
Very good reading from the OP. Enjoyed that and made me think a little more about this.
You're welcome
Hey ya opinionated old fart. How the hell are you?
How's parenthood treating you these days? Doin anything in the studio? Haven't seen you around these parts in a long time. At least I ain't the ONLY opinionated old fart around here anymore.
Good to see ya back.
See what I mean...before you know it he'll be askin for the keys to the car and $100 bill to take his girlfriend to McDonalds.
