Why do you record at home?

[squibble94]

Hey Guys

I'm not sure where to put this topic, so feel free to move it somewhere if need be.

Anyway, I was sick for a while. During that period I had a lot of time to think. I was lying in bed with a pounding headache, and I took a look at my computer (the one I record with.) I thought, "Man, recording is REALLY expensive. I still need all this software and equipment to complete my bedroom-studio. I'm not even considering room treatment!! Why do I blow all of my money on this stuff when I could just record in a real studio for 50 bucks an hour."

I live about 30 minutes away from a great studio, but something about it turns me off.

I think I record at home because it feels like I actually accomplished something. It's not just me playing songs. It's me setting up the "studio", writing, recording, editing, mixing, and mastering my songs.

So why do you guys spend over a thousand dollars on a home studio when you have access to a real studio? (you might not... if you don't, then it's kind of obvious why you have a home studio. Feel free to post something though!) But even if you did have a nearby studio, would you use it?


~Squibble94

 

[JayNine07]

Because I've spent about 1000 dollars total (without the computer) on my studio in the last few months and now can record and mix songs just as good at the local studios. To date with all my different bands, cds, demos, promos etc. I've spent about $4000.... and now I can record whenever I want.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Hey Guys

I'm not sure where to put this topic, so feel free to move it somewhere if need be.

Anyway, I was sick for a while. During that period I had a lot of time to think. I was lying in bed with a pounding headache, and I took a look at my computer (the one I record with.) I thought, "Man, recording is REALLY expensive. I still need all this software and equipment to complete my bedroom-studio. I'm not even considering room treatment!! Why do I blow all of my money on this stuff when I could just record in a real studio for 50 bucks an hour."

I live about 30 minutes away from a great studio, but something about it turns me off.

I think I record at home because it feels like I actually accomplished something. It's not just me playing songs. It's me setting up the "studio", writing, recording, editing, mixing, and mastering my songs.

So why do you guys spend over a thousand dollars on a home studio when you have access to a real studio? (you might not... if you don't, then it's kind of obvious why you have a home studio. Feel free to post something though!) But even if you did have a nearby studio, would you use it?


~Squibble94

It's funny that you start this thread now, Squibble, because just over the past 48 hours or so I've been considering starting a very similar thread. My question had just a slightly different focus, but is so related to and plays such a part (I think?) in the answers to be given to your question, I hope you don't mind if I add it here. My question was only two words shorter than yours:

Why do you record?

And to be fair, here's my answer to both of those questions, though I'd rather hear the answers of others. I personally don't record much at home, though many of my clients do. If I am to record someone, I'd much prefer to do it at a studio far better designed and equipped than I can afford or fit into my home. It's so much cheaper and higher quality that it just make sense to me.

For mixing the recorded tracks though (assuming a mostly digital path), I see no advantage to renting a Pro Tools or Nuendo post room at a studio when I can so the same thing in Cubase or Audition or my Sony suite in my home at any time I want; my monitors and room are good enough - and I know them well enough - to get a good mix out of them without having to go to a "pro" post room.

As to why I record/engineer at all, because the "studio" is my musical instrument. For several lifestyle and life choice reasons, I have always had a good ear for music, but never really became proficient at playing any instrument. I can noodle some very basic stuff on guitar and can blow some basic blues harp, but certainly nothing worth forcing others to listen to. But I did find I took pretty naturally to the mixing board, and later digital software, and had a pretty good analytical ear to go with the musical ear. So I "play" the mix studio as my instrument of choice.

But just like most violinists who would much prefer to play a Stradivarius than an electric fiddle, I'd much rather work in a class-A studio when given the choice (and it's a lot cheaper), but when the choice is not there it's better to make music on the fiddle on the front porch than it is to not make music at all.

G.

 

[tlennon1]

More than anything else, it's because I love to play, record, and mix/master whenever I want and in the comfort of my own environment. No time constraints, no limitations whatsoever less than how much I want to spend in time and money for equipment. I don't too many commercial studios that are less than $150/hour. If I add up all the countless hours that I done in my own studio, I've already would have spent 10s of thousands in someone else's studio and would have to continue spending to keep recording. If I were only interested in creating a few songs however, I would have gone the commercial studio route. Happy new year people.

 

[Richard Monroe]

Yo Squibble! This is *my* answer-

If I go to a professional recording studio to track, the wizard will stick the magic wand in front of me and tell me to play. If the wizard is good, in the end, I will have a piece of plastic in my hand that I can send to the nice mixing and mastering wizards. After post-production, packaging and duplication, I will have lots of pieces of plastic. I will own *nothing* and I will learn *nothing*. The wizard isn't going to teach me, because it takes up time that he wants to use to track, and it'll just make me uppity, questioning his professional decisions. I might even learn so much that I don't need him, or his magic wand.

I am working on a whole different business model, which I call the professional project studio. According to my model, the recording artist is a participant in a collaborative process, where he or she learns what choices I have to make, and why, *and* has input into those decisions. We'll start by sitting him down at the board and building a headphone mix, and I'll get his fingers on that board right from the get-go. Hopefully, he will leave my studio with a much greater understanding of the process. He'll be charged for the project, not by the hour, so that he will never feel time pressure. We'll work until the project is done to our mutual satisfaction. The more he knows, the less it will cost him, because *our* work will go faster.

In the end, I started recording at home because I wanted to really understand the process, and I was sick of being used as a tool by the wizards. Sometime ask me about my experiences recording the "Me and my RC" cola commercial! I wanted to own the toys when it was over. Would my first album have been better if I paid the wizards? In some ways, yes, and in some ways, no. It is rougher than the pros would have done it, but it better represents my artistic vision. And most importantly, it is simply more fun, and more satisfying to know I did it myself.-Richie

 

[dodgeaspen]

I enjoy the recording scene. I love to see the reel's turning and to be able to catch that certain sound I'm looking for with my band. Yes, I do have a lot invested, but I can also make some money and help people out in the long run by not charging an arm and a leg.

 

[rickb]

Because
I'm an introvert
Don't have a lot of confidence in my songs/musicianship/capabilities (or lack thereof)
I don't have the songs worked out to know wehre they are going after the first track
Don't have the money to go into a studio
Would be intimidated anyway
Like to experiment
Enjoy the hobby
If it sucks, only I know

 

[miroslav]

Why do I record...?
Because it is one of the more rewarding creative experiences, IMO (if you like music, that is.)
Playing live is fine, but the studio is more about just you and the music...and not about entertainment.

Why do I record in my private studio?
Because I am a musician and songwriter primarily, and having a studio at my disposal whenever I choose to use it and in any way I choose to use it is actually MUCH less expensive than trying to pull that off in a commercial setting.
Granted...if all you are focused on is "capturing" an already perfected performance, you might want to just go to a commercial studio to do it...but if you use the studio as your pre-production and composition environment, a private studio is the only way to go unless you have VERY deep pockets!!!
Also...if you do a lot of the writing and playing by yourself, it's just a lot easier IMO, and cheaper to do it in your private setting.

For the initial startup, the time, effort and cost of a decent, private studio is a major undertaking. I have a large amount of all three invested in mine. But once it's setup...then the cost drops off dramatically compared to you constantly going to a commercial facility whenever you wanted to work some.

Finally...for me, my studio is more than just a place to record music. It's very much my sanctuary space...a place to unwind and let the imagination go wild…or just kick back and jam.
It's not easy to feel that way about a commercial space...e$pecially when the clock i$ ticking...

 

[Chili]

Why do I record? I like taking a small spark of inspiration and build it into a complete song that I can listen to.

Why do I do it at home? Because, the song isn't fully written until it's fully mixed and there's no pressure to get it done because of an hourly rate. Because I like to work at night after the family has gone to bed. I surely don't want to be loading up the car and driving to a studio in town at 9pm. Because I'd rather spend my money on hardware and software that will continue to yield results for years to come rather than spend it on a block of time at a studio. Because I'm a control freak and I would just as well mess it myself than to have someone else mess it up for me.

 

[Dani Pace]

I've always been involved in music in some way since my early teen years(began around 1966.) In my late 40s I decided I was tried of lugging gear from place to place and barely making enough to cover expenses. Around this time I began to consider another aspect of the music world, the recording side. About this same time we moved and I had the space to set up a home studio. I started with very limited gear and less understanding of what I was doing. It has been a challenge but it has also been a lot of fun. I've never been concerned about making money with my studio, it has been a place for myself and a few friends to learn the recording part of making music. Much of what I gained was through experimentation and old fashioned trial and error. I've also gotten some pretty good advice on these forums. I'm still learning and that is what keeps it fun for me. Music is a passion to me and recording is another way to express that passion.

 

[dintymoore]

The only thing I'm missing from a "big studio" is high ceilings.

 

[mshilarious]

Actually I have pretty much lost interest in recording. As I get older, I think music should be ephemeral and thus never recorded. I am playing instruments more and I didn't record anything last year, which was a first in ten years. I'm forming a band this year so I'll think I'll focus on that, and building/repairing/modifying instruments, and I hope I don't record anything this year either.

Ironic, eh?

 

[miroslav]

The only thing I'm missing from a "big studio" is high ceilings.

I have options to expand my space...but then, unless I was to turn my private studio into an open, commercial space...I don't see the point of it.
Yeah...if the room was a pinch larger with higher ceiling it would be perfect...but as it is now, it's quite comfortable for me.
When I have someone over...we work with the space fairly well...even when I had drums, guitar and bass all playing at the same time in the same room.

OK...maybe a couple more high-end mics and a couple more high-end pres (just for flavor choices) ...but then, who couldn't ever use that!!!

Actually I have pretty much lost interest in recording.

I've had a couple of periods of lost interest...but I got over them.
Sometimes it's hard getting started with new stuff...but once I do, then I get pretty juiced about it.
Right now I'm in a brief lull having just completed an album...but I hope to be recording again in the next few weeks. I already spoke to my drummer about it, so we'll pick a day soon to lay down some drum tracks and that will be it...the initial spark I need.

 

[darrin_h2000]

Why do I blow all of my money on this stuff when I could just record in a real studio for 50 bucks an hour."

Its easy to burn 60 hours in a studio on a project...which would buy you some pretty good home grade stuff...and room treatments.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

OK...maybe a couple more high-end mics and a couple more high-end pres (just for flavor choices) ...but then, who couldn't ever use that!!!

Its easy to burn 60 hours in a studio on a project...which would buy you some pretty good home grade stuff...and room treatments.

A couple of high end mics and a couple of high end preamps together can easily cost $10,000. At even $100/hr, one could get 100 hours of studio time that would include not only those mics and preamps, but a great-sounding analog board and either analog tape or digital Radar system. Enough to get a good ten albums worth of premium-sounding tracks if you go into the studio actually prepared to record.

Of course that analysis is probably not so appropriate for those who use their home studio as part of their music composition procedure, or who do this more as a personal hobby than a serious musical project, or for those just looking to plant their own flag on meSpace, and frankly that's what a lot of home recordists are all about, and that's cool too.

G.

 

[cavedog101]

I really like tracking at my place and since I'm still mostly analog, I look to a bigger room with a great control room and great outboard and Protools to mix in. I love the automation and memory of digital, but love the source sounds captured by mostly analog gear. But I only mix outside of my room if the project is moving to anything past a demo level. I get the most out of my environment and its comfortable and personal for anyone who wants to track here. I've had a recording studio of some sort since the mid seventies and have always learned something from every session I have worked. As for recording myself, over the years, I've become more of a producer and an arranger as well as a co-songwriter. So having a home facility enhances my abilities to work with someone else in a non-clock watching atmosphere and to have a schedule that fits whatever it takes to move a project on to its completion.

If I had a large basket full of money I would build a studio from the ground up and equip it at a much more complete version than what I currently have, but i doubt that my emphasis or my direction would change much. Except that I would have more freedom to produce more unknown songwriters/artists and perhaps give them an opportunity they could not have afforded elsewise.

Its my way of giving back to the powers that have given me certain talents in the musical end of things.

 

[miroslav]

A couple of high end mics and a couple of high end preamps together can easily cost $10,000. At even $100/hr, one could get 100 hours of studio time that would include not only those mics and preamps, but a great-sounding analog board and either analog tape or digital Radar system. Enough to get a good ten albums worth of premium-sounding tracks if you go into the studio actually prepared to record.

But in the end, the money will be spent...
...hopefully you will have the product you want.

At this point in my studio evolution...I would rather have those high-end mics and pres to add to my existing gear rather than pay someone else to use theirs.

 

[gecko zzed]

Actually I have pretty much lost interest in recording. As I get older, I think music should be ephemeral and thus never recorded. I am playing instruments more and I didn't record anything last year, which was a first in ten years. I'm forming a band this year so I'll think I'll focus on that, and building/repairing/modifying instruments, and I hope I don't record anything this year either.

Ironic, eh?

Ironically, I am exactly the reverse. I used to play, solo and in bands, for years, and I always thought I would do that until I drop.

However, as I got older, I increasingly lost interest in performing . . . and now the thought of being on stage makes me shudder.

Instead, I have become increasingly attracted to recording music . . . to capture some of those fleeting ephemeral moments . . . and to explore what I can do with sound.

The process of recording is what attracts me. Once something has been recorded, I am not really very interested in it.

 

[rayc]

...because...
it's fun;
it's a creative outlet that, whilst a bottomless pit if I want it to be, doesn't necessarily cost too much;
I'm able to work at my own pace
I'm able to work on my own ideas;
I can collaborate when & if I feel the need (& I almost always end up collaborating as I can't sing nor can I play an instrument well enough to make an instrumental);
I'm not properly prepared to record within a timeframe, budget etc. (even the three bands I've been in studios with - we were always under rehearsed, communicated amongst ourselves poorly, hadn't resolved grudges, disagreed on direction, had musical differences);
I don't expect much more than self satisfaction from it;
it's therapy that keeps the demons of the real world at bay for a time
&
sometimes I do something that I feel is decent enough to share with people on HR.com.
But mostly because it's fun.
I don't have any really expensive or particularly good equipment & whilst I always check out ebay etc I don't actually have a deep urge to spend on the latest gear - more an interest in what the latest is.
I enjoy achieving what I can with what I have - perhaps I know my station or place or something similarly submissive or it gives me an excuse. Who knows?
It's fun & to some degree is my "shed".

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

But in the end, the money will be spent...

Not necessarily. Do you really have 10 albums of worthy material in you at this time? Most of the best artists in the world don't.

And even if you did, it would take years to produce them - i.e. it would take years to spend that $10G on studio time. In the meantime the unspent portion of that money can be sitting in the bank or the market collecting interest or dividends, whereas if you buy the gear, it's gone in 10 seconds while the gear continues to depreciate in value from the minute you buy it.

At this point in my studio evolution...I would rather have those high-end mics and pres to add to my existing gear rather than pay someone else to use theirs.

That's fine if you have ten grand to blow on them. But if all you got is a few hundred bucks - like the vast majority of home artists - and you want to do something more serious than just plant a crappy stream on meSpace, I'll take a few hours in a Muscle Shoals over any other option any day.

There is a third option which I have done in the past, and that's to simply rent the gear. For a couple hundred bucks you could get several thousand dollars of top shelf mics and pres in your home for a week. That's a great option when you have a real project with a real deadline and no budget, or no decent studio available in the area. But for me, if there is real studio time available in the area, getting the room, the console, the outboards and the recording technology all wrapped together is the best bargain of all.

I look at the big picture this way. If one's music is actually any good, eventually they should be able to make enough money to get the gear and the real home studio for themselves. But if one is just starting out, spending thousands of dollars at the outset is starting one's self out in a hole that they may or may not ever climb out of.

Is it more fun to do it all at home in a minimalist way, and taking a few years to learn the whole craft from scratch? Absolutely! Don't get me wrong, I am not against guerrilla home recording. But there is a divide in the HR category, IMHO: is one's main motivation the music or the recording process?

If it's a serious music project, there's little point in spending thousands of dollars on one's own and taking years to figure out how to use that investment just to wind up with a first recording that is likely going to be of only average quality (with the likely option of spending yet more money on a pro mastering engineer just to punch up the mistakes.) OTOH, if you have the music already and are *ready* to record, spending 1/10th of that cost on a few hours in a well-equipped and designed studio, with plenty of money left over to bring a *real* producer/engineer with you, and get that album out to the duplicator in a month or so, is IMHO a far better investment in quality, time and money.

If, OTOH, having fun and taking the time learning is as much or more of a motivation as actually churning out a music project, then there's no substitute for a home studio, IMHO.

G.