why people build studios

  • Thread starter Thread starter dobro
  • Start date Start date

why build a studio?

  • For homerecording excellence. My next album's gonna kick ass all around the block.

    Votes: 344 74.5%

  • For commercial purposes. My studio's gonna draw more custom than Abbey Road.

    Votes: 58 12.6%

  • I just wanna build the best studio in the world. I started off in music, but I got sidetracked. No

    Votes: 60 13.0%
  • Total voters
    462
My Dad and I built a simple "studio", not acoustically sound or anything like that, just two rooms inside of our old utility room, it's just to get everything organized, everything in a position that I won't have to move cables around con stantly (at least in the control room), and I no longer have to get out my Delta 66, a mixer, and many other things just to listen or edit a song in ProTools since it's always ready.


And it does cut down on noise slightly, but the noise doesn't bother me :p


-jeffrey
 
The studio, or whatever else it should be called, grew out of my tendency to accumulate stuff I don't want to toss out, which veered off into the pro audio arena about eight or ten years ago, bit by bit. These days it is a kind of sanctuary for me where I can do a little stuff and make other people's stuff sound better. It's turning into a kind of "personal best" place and a quiet spot all rolled into one.

I haven't even gotten the junk out of the room yet - boxes of old clothes that don't fit anyone but still have wear in them, shoes (why in God's name do we save old shoes?), boxes of 30-year old green edged Corelle ware (I have this urge to break it, but I'd have to use a hammer), bits and pieces of the kids crystal growing set from 1998 that never really got going, all that kind of stuff. I'll slog through it all some day I suppose.

And I need to paint it... :D

And run a dedicated power line... find some way to hook up the UPS from Hell. Its an older Ferrups mainframe power supply with a marine battery backup; 4.5 kVa. capacity. It weighs in at just under 200 pounds. We had all the sound at Jamfest 7 powered off that sucker. I move it about on a piano dolly! That would be sweet; I'd have completely clean power and about an hour or so of backup time.

*sigh*
 
With a steady income and a house, I could think of no better way to spend the rest of my life than building and fine tuning a home studio and laying down the odd track.
 
Fundamentallly I think we build studios because when we're small we built "forts" because they were our sanctuaries where we ruled. Now that we're older we still do the same thing. Mechanics build big garages, musicians build studios. It's somewhere that's yours to do what only you know how to and that's why it's so enjoyable. Not to mention that your fort is now equipped with some pretty cool gear that makes lots of noise and has blinking lights on them. Pretty soon I'm gonna figure out what the hell this stuff does :)
 
Yes I still play that guitar

Well good question, but why didn’t I ask myself that before starting with all this mess. Welcome anyway and thanks for asking. I’ll try to respond as honest as I can. As everybody said we want to be able to record our stuff as good as we can at home and with out having to pay 10K to someone also. I did my first LP when I was 21, (1981) another guy and me where composing original music for years trying to put a progressive rock band together with out any success (Mexico was not ready at the time for our music) we spend the money that originally I was saving for buying a car and the money of the mother of the other guy on that recording, it was at a very fancy recording studio that was charging a lot of money by minute and of course everything sounded incredible. After that LP the problem was to get a distribution company and we lost our money and more, but we got a great reputation for that LP. Few years later nothing happen and all that great music and other that was not recorded was lost for not having more money to record again. I left the band and decide to continue my musical studies; I did very well at school, later got married, play in other bands and music projects, and got my musical degree, have children and... my body became older… :( :p but still I miss the time when that great recording was done and I have still energy ;) to play and write better music and put that on tape :cool: . I have to record again :mad: and there is a lot of talented young people better than me :eek: , but as I, do not have the opportunity of get the attention of the big recording companies, and I want to produce them :) .

I need a good place to record quiet and with out time/money pressure, I think I’m enjoying a lot the construction progress of my small studio and It’ll be a good place to practice with my jazz quartet and teach my students. That’s my goal I really do not ask for more than that for the rest of my life.
Best regards Victor Man
 
Since this thread just flew to the top of the list and Im bored at the moment, I'll give what has probably already been a well-stated opinion on the matter :)

Yes, most of us here are never going to become major commercial artists (tears), but we do enjoy recording our work and puting it out there for the scant few to listen who are actually willing to incorporate new music into their lives beyond what the radio and other media tell them to listen to. For a lot, though, I don't know why they spend so much time and money on it... as for me, it is for the mutually exclusive love of gear that keeps me going.

As much as I love to write and perform music, I also love technology (computer science major, software engineer by day), and getting involved with recording equipment and acoustic space combines my love for the two things. Simple as that.
 
Krakit said:
I would have also accepted:

For the same reason that people spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on home entertainment systems, video games, their cars or home gyms.
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After reading a bit, I found this, and it pretty much sums things up... if you don't invest time and money into anything, then I guess you can look at a typical home recording musician and say "Man - you're crazy to spend all that time and money on something so foolish", but that person would say the same about anyone with a time consuming, expensive hobby.

However, a lot of people have something they will put that much of themselves into, be it a physical addiction (boose, drugs, whatever), or something as simple, as he said, as a home theater or a car or something along those lines.

I live in an apartment sandwiched between two others, filled with kids who all sit online all day and spend their money on online gambling sites. Then they look at my 24 track mixing console, racks of equipment, mics, instruments, etc., and say Im nuts. But then I ask how much they've spent online since starting gambling, and in many cases, its in the 10s of thousands (not sure where these college kids get that kind of money, since none of them have jobs - rich parents?), which for some of them is more than I have spent so far on my stuff, and I still have something to show for it.

Guess its a matter of preference - I just grow tired sometimes of being looked at as the audio nerd when these kids are dumping money into something that you can't really see a result from. They all expect to win big, which they claim is what distinguishes them from me, but as far as statistics goes, I probably have as good a chance of become a platinum selling musician as they do of becoming millionaires from how good they get at playing poker in their lifetimes...

And if one of them knocks on my door someday holding big sacks o' cash and says "Hah! You're still an engineer and I'm a millionaire poker player" (and its actually true - the bags aren't stuff with loose leaf), then okay, I guess that one person was right. But I doubt every last one of them will show up with huge returns on their investment. And hey, you wnna gamble, go right ahead - I'm fine with that - just stop acting like I'm the crazy one :)

Wow, that got off on a rant - perhaps I have some *hidden* anger toward my housemates. Anyway, back to work... just nice to have someplace to rant on occassion :)
 
Ok Here it is for me

I am a producer/engineer that has been working in other studios for a few years that has become relitively popular pretty quick. I figured that it would just be better for me to have my own production facility to work out of so that I could not only make $$$ on acting as producer, but also make more$$$$$ by renting the time in my studio. Now, as far as the "Home" studio aspect of this scenareo goes, I am currently in about 1500 square feet of space. I recently priced a commercial facility at close to the same square footage at $3,200 per month.($3200 per month could buy some pretty nice gear) That being said I opted to spend a little time and a little money to locate the studio in my home. I am one happy RE. :D
 
i wanted to record my music, so i bought a pc, then a mic, then a soundcard, n it just kept going n going,


i do it for myself but i always wanna help other rappers record their music cause i feel kinda like its my duty to give back...
 
It is great that decent recording quality has become accessible to the masses. So much money and politics involved in the industry, as well as censorship. Although this has flooded the internet with some not-so-good attempts, in general I think it allows music to be raw art and the individual's or group's success to be measured by talent and effort, not money and politics. I have heard some great tunes in the Mixing forum that I probably wouldn't have otherwise heard were it not for this home recording trend.
 
I built my studio to get away from the wife and kids. My stuff has been switched off for so long, I forget how to actually record (or if I even ever could record).

I just stare for hours at this big thing that has 2 reels and goes round and round....................
 
Seeker of Rock said:
It is great that decent recording quality has become accessible to the masses. I have heard some great tunes... that I probably wouldn't have otherwise heard were it not for this home recording trend.
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Agreed. Home recording is the new folk music... "folk" as in music of the people, as opposed to the marketing niche.
 
I built my studio to get away from the wife and kids. My stuff has been switched off for so long, I forget how to actually record (or if I even ever could record).
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WTF??? :confused: Wait a minute..aren't you the one that was saying on the Analog forum that.............er...hmmmmm... geeeezus, I can't even trust ole MCI2424. :eek: ;)
 
dobro said:
* an obsession with getting good home recorded sound.

'My album's gonna run rings around all the homers when I'm done putting this studio together. It's worth the sacrifice of months and money in the long run.'
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The first sentence doesn't neccesarily have anything to do with the second and third.

Making something as excellent as you can is it's own reward.
 
For me, like alot of people, it just started as a space and kind of snowballed into something more. Not that my room is crazy but i went from a pc, some software, and a sm57 into a room pruely made for my music.

I'd say i defineatly got more into the actual "studio" mindset after i had all the equimpent i needed. So i got confortable and had nowhere to waste my time and money :D . But i like to build things, work on things so it made sence. I'd say realistically, half my interest in home recording is my actual music and making it, half is building my studio. I almost feel bad admitting that. I find it to be interesting, i enjoy having something to do, and i like my own personal space as well.
 
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