Self Home Recording Vs Paying a Recording Studio

Back in the old days (around 'Nam) recording at homemixer of your PA. You'll need one preamp for every
was a new miracle. You could actually hit record on amicrophone you plan on using at one time. You'll want
device and capture sound in your own home. Yourto have the same number of preamp channels as you
eyes would light up just like Thomas Edison did whendo inputs on your soundcard. There are many
he first invented audio recording. Fast forward to 2005.soundcards that come with preamps. There are many
It's now completely affordable to outfit a fully functionalmany external preamps that CAN improve you sound
recording rig in your home for the price of a highquality just slightly. If all else fails, use the preamps in
quality, American made guitar. While the price ofyour PA mixer. If your mixer uses inserts you can split
getting into home recording is much cheaper than itthe signal right off the preamp by only pushing in the
has ever been before, it's still a lot of money. Is settingcable half way. I'm referring to the cable that goes out
up a small studio worth the price? What are the pitfallsof your preamp and into your soundcard.Next you'll
of trying to record yourself? Would you be better offneed mic stands. There aren't too many cases where
just paying a professional recording studio to do theyou don't need a mic stand. You have to be very very
job for you? Hopefully, I'll answer these questions andcareful with mic stands. If you buy a supercheap mic
more.What It TakesYou are going to need a lot ofstand, you may have problems with the mic changing
knowledge, gear, time, and patience before jumpingit's position in the middle of a session. The results can
into the recording studio world. I was a computer nerdbe absolutely horrible. So buy decent mic stands. $30
half done with a degree in electronics when I jumpedper stand is a reasonable low budget stand. I would
into the recording world. I understood electronic basicsnot recommend that you spend any less on a mic
and had run live sound numerous times. I totallystand.Next is microphones. This is where it gets fun.
understood how to operate a mixer/console. So all IThere are so many to choose from and there are so
had to do was jump into the recording portion, right?many tonal options. You'll want as many mics as you
....Well, it turned out that there was quite a learninghave preamp channels and soundcard channels (or
curve to go from an empty room to the creativeyou went overkill on preamps / soundcards). Choosing
process (which is the fun part) and walk out with amicrophones is beyond the scope of this article. You
finished cd in hand.I had no idea how much time I wouldcan spend $50 on a mic or you can spend $3000 on
spend cursing Windows audio drivers, failed harda mic and you have no way of knowing which will
drives, out of sync audio files, clicks and pops,sound better on a given source. This is a severely big
unwanted distortion, etc. Truth be told, I went from andeal when it comes to recording and it's one major
average computer user to a computer master in thatarea that seperates the men from the boys, so to
couple of monthes it took me to work out all the kinksspeak. Home recording studios usually have terrible mic
in my system. That's right. It took me a few monthesselections to choose from.The most important piece of
before I was ready to record my first band. It was thatgear in your studio is your studio monitors. If you try to
tough. That was in 2001. Maybe things are easier now.use a boombox you will be very dissapointed when
I'm guessing that you'll still have quite a road in front ofyou burn a cd and try to show mom on another
you.After you get your rig fully operational, you are stillstereo system. Of course, you'll probably be
going to have to learn the software. I would HIGHLYdissapointed even if you have a $10,000 set of studio
recommend that you buy a DVD and a book to teachmonitors because your acoustics will be all wrong in
you the software that you intend to use. I could haveyou room and even still you probably haven't mixed
saved myself hundreds of hours of headaches if Ienough songs to be any good at actually mixing.Okay,
would have just read the stupid manual and had a littleI've outlined what goes into recording your cd. Guess
instruction. I learned a lot by tinkering (which may bewhat, any decent studio has all of this taken care of
your nature too) but there is no point in learning thingsyou. Do you know about audio latency in XP? Do you
the hard way if you don't have to. On my very firstknow anything about room nodes? The studio guy
recording session, I had my manual in my lap. Youprobably does. That's how he makes his living.So when
could only imagine how stressful it can be if you haveyou walk into a professional recording studio ran by a
5 guys staring at you while you desperately pushserious engineer who cares about your music, you can
buttons on something you barely understand. I'd say itexpect to focus on one thing... the recording of your
took me a good 3 monthes of everyday tinkeringmusic. You don't have to wonder about the specs of
before I felt comfortable using the software for basicthe computer, the cables connecting the preamps and
recording. Keep in mind that I wasn't trying anythingthe soundcard. You don't have to worry about wasting
advanced here. No crazy editing, no fancy automation.huge amounts of time while the bass player stares at
In fact, I had very little understanding of audio when ita mess of cables. You don't have to buy the mess of
came down to early reflections and multi-tap delays.cables. In fact, I've recorded entire albums cheaper
I'm talking about just getting the stupid song onto thethan you would spend on mic stands. In other words,
computer.Okay, so I've kind of prepped you on howI've delayed charging a high price so that I could get
the learning curve required for recording music. Let'stons of practice and become well known in my area.
talk about the gear.These days, it's a waste of time toYou might find a serious recording guy yourself who
use the stand alone recorders you see in the mailmight work cheaper than you think.What an
order company catalogs. While these boxes promiseexperienced recording studio engineer knows that you
to have everything you need to record your demoprobably don't.1)The value of his time - An experienced
(and they usually do) the learning curve requirementsengineer isn't cheap (but could be much cheaper than
are astounding. Yes, I just wrote an entire section ontrying to record yourself) but he knows that his time is
how tough it was to learn computer recording.worth X dollars. How is this an advantage? It's
However, there is a big difference between theamazing how humans rise to meet a challenge. When
learning curve of computer audio and the learningyou go in knowing that you are about to spend $20,
curve of stand alone recorders. When you learn$30, or $50 an hour on recording all of a sudden you
computer knowledge, that knowledge is useful on justtake the time to get your guitar setup beforehand. You
about every computer on the planet. (I've kept myselfmake sure your songs are mega tight and ready to
from starving a number of times with my computergo. You get your butt in gear because you are about
knowledge which I mostly attribute to recording). Also,to spend some money. When your guitar players tell
computer recording software generally uses a mixeryou that he thinks he has the recording device working
that is a fairly close simulation of the real thing. Theright, you don't jump up get busy. You get frustrated
concepts stay the same. When you are using thewhile he tries to figure out the problems on channel 1
stand alone recorders, you end up learning to hold E1 +and 5.2)Advanced knowledge of acoustics - This is
Function + Menu to get to Aux send page. Why doone of those areas that you will entirely put off. At
you need a page for aux send? Anyway, I've hadfirst, you are just trying to figure out how to turn the
several friends who have used these boxes and don'tcomputer on. Have you really put any serious thought
know anything about audio. They spent all their timeinto the comb filtering effects of your room? The odds
learning this foreign language that will be obsolete asare minute. In fact, I bet most bands put no thought into
soon as the record is. In summary, I highly recommendtheir room acoustics. Guess what. Any good studio
that you go with a computer for your digitalhas spent thousands and thousands of dollars
recordings.Okay, so you need a computer. The goodpefecting their acoustics. The only thing more important
news is you don't need a very fast one by today'sthan acoustics in a recording is the song, the musicians,
standards. In fact, I built my recording computer forand the instruments. After that, acoutics is first. Proper
about $300 and it's overkill. I need a faster computeracoustics are more important than microphones. I'd
than most because I do more projects than most. Itgladly record an album with $50 mics in a $2,000,000
makes a difference when I'm rendering down mixesroom before I did the opposite.3)Advanced
that I can do it twice as fast because I have too manymicrophone selection - Having the right mic for the job
songs to mix on a given day. I don't have 3 minutes tois an extremely important part of being a recording
sit around and wait for the computer to think.On top ofengineer. When you know that a guitar is too bright,
the computer, you'll need a soundcard. I recommend ayou put a mic on it that will reduce this brightness.
soundcard with a breakout box. This means that aWhen a vocalist sounds dull, you put a bright mic on
cable will actually come out of the back of yourthem. It goes on and on. This is what really makes the
computer and connect to a box where your audiosound quality part of recording. Recording at home will
connections are made. Setups with breakout boxesmake it hard to justify a $15,000 mic collection (or
are almost always preferred. In fact, I ownly know ofmuch higher). Some studios have $15,000
one professional audio company that doesn't rely on amics.4)Advanced knowledge of mic placement - Even
breakout box for their computer interphases. I do notmore important than the microphone is where you put
recommend Sound Blaster and those sorts. We areit. A seasoned pro will know what has worked on the
not playing games or watching DVDs. We arepast 10 albums he's done. He knows what he likes and
recording music. The demands are certainly not thewhat he doesn't. He doesn't have to wait until after the
same. You will find many Firewire and PCI soundcardsmixing is complete for him to figure out that the snare
in the mail order catalogs that work great. Pay specialsound sucks. You'll be experimenting like crazy, but it
attention to the number of inputs and optional preamps.will take a while before you get it right, more than
This is important. You may only need 2 inputs for yourlikely.When you combine all this knowledge together, it
recording. In fact, most projects I do seldom use morebecomes quite clear that there are serious
than 2 channels 90% of the time. Of course, the otheradvantages to letting the pros handle the work. With
10% of the time we may be using 19 or 20 channels. Ifthat being said, if you really want to learn audio, don't
you are recording electronic music and only plan onmind pumping thousands into a bottomless pit, and are
doing a few overdubs with vocals or the occasionalreally that excited about taking years and years and
instrument, 2 channels will probably work fine. If youyears to learn the craft properly, go for it. I did.Brandon
plan on recording your entire 4 piece rock band liveDrury has written countless home
with rock drums you are going to need at least 10recording tutorials at his website, You can hear a
inputs (maybe more). So plan ahead and figure outportion
how many mics you plan to use at once.Next, youof the over 600 songs he's recorded and mixed at his
need preamps. Preamps boost the signal of arecording
microphone up to line level and are pretty muchstudio website.
required. Preamps are usually the top knob on the