Heh, heh…I’ll bet at least a few studio owners and engineers clicked on this blog, fists clenched, ready to take me down a few pegs! But not to worry, I’m not going to demean the benefits of recording with top notch studio gear and a skilled set of ears.
I’m just going to question it. 
I’ve been into home recording since 1995, when I first got Logic and a Yamaha four track. Armed with a Roland GR-1 guitar synth went about making the three work together. Mixing, EQing…I’ve learned a lot over the years, but damn, I’ve got some respect for folks who know how to carve different frequencies into a pretty sonic picture. I decided at some point not to worry about all that stuff, choosing instead to keep the music my primary focus. Still, all the features in Logic make it so easy to start tinkering. And you know how it goes when you’ve got a cool song but the vocal part isn’t sitting right in the mix…
I’ve also recorded in some top notch studios here in the Bay Area, big fancy rooms with all the latest Pro-Tools gear, huge rooms to record monster drums, spare no expense type situations. It’s fun, let me tell ya…and there are few greater thrills for a musician than hearing a talented engineer take your song to a higher level.
But is the expense of that quality worth it?
The music industry is seriously in chaos right now thanks to the Internet. It’s great for the little guy because s/he can make good (if not perfect) quality recordings in his home, make CDs for cheap or bypass that option and go straight for Tunecore/CD Baby on his way to iTunes. Then you have social networking sites, podcasts and blogs looking to promote his stuff, getting as specialized as he wants. No record deal or radio promotion needed, though those can obviously give you a significant push…or not? You really can’t be sure these days.
This industry chaos is also bad for the little guy because BILLIONS of artists all levels of quality are fighting to be heard. Everyone has a website, a Myspace page, a CD and tons of free stuff to give away in hopes of getting your attention first. And of course, we have an ever expanding culture that has no problem taking that music for free if it isn’t being given to them already.
Which inspires the title of this blog.
Recording quality tracks isn’t cheap, at least $50 an hour, often $150 or more, depending on the level of celebrity you’re hiring. If you’re an acoustic guitarist/singer/songwriter and you prepare well enough you could probably crank out a full CD in a short time and keep your costs down. But if you’re a band and you gotta track each of those instruments on top of getting them mixed and mastered. Then there are ding-dongs like me who want to blend all of their homemade blips and bleeps into the groove, creating an additional headache for the engineer. But at these rates he can happily afford lots of aspirin!
Over the years I’ve read stories about do it yourselfers making $10,000, $100,000, real profits selling their CDs or digital downloads through hard work and promotion. Then again, I hear most of those stories from Tunecore and other sites that charge for their services. I’ve never met an indy band or artist who’s been able to quit their day job and kick it while six figures roll in. I’m sure it happens, but I suspect the unknowns making $10k+ off iTunes downloads is pretty small.
In my own experiences I’ve made barely more than Slurpee money selling my music. To my discredit I don’t do any steady gigging or touring to promote my music outside of the Internet. That’s a whole other expense in gas, hotel, etc. On top of that my CD is mostly orchestral music to a story about giant, killer teddy bears eating supermodels. It still sells a copy here and there…nice to know I won’t be deprived of my Slurpees!
I’m way too embarrassed to admit what I spent making my album and my EP. I got excited, daydreaming about how quickly I’d recoup my investment, that never really got recouped. Don’t we all fantasize that our CD will be the one that breaks out from the herd. Whatever…I had fun making the stuff. Can’t say I wouldn’t do the same thing again in another life.
THIS life on the other hand? Never say never, but I just don’t see the point of handing someone thousands of dollars on the “possibility” of making that money back through iTunes–unless I’ve got a steady stream of gigs that are pulling in crowds or something similar. I’ve got a great studio setup full of nice sample libraries and a whole studio loaded into my Mac. Heck no, I’m not going to get retail quality recordings out of it, but if I were to show you the my earliest 4-track demos compared to my latest online stuff (check out the “Keith’s Songs” subcategory to your right) you’d hear an amazing improvement in sound quality. You’ll get a great idea of what I sound like.
You could argue that it costs a fortune to get enough recording gear to make a decent demo and you’d have a point. But there are so many options to choose from at all price points. Amazing software like Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase and Digital Performer, self contained, portable mini studios from Boss. Even Garageband comes built in with Macs and can do quite a bit despite limitations. There are plenty of tutorial books & DVDs to get you educated in recording your own demo. Again, it might not replace the benefit of professional ears, but think of how many demos you could make with your own recording setup.
I hopefully don’t come off like a know-it-all here, because I’m aware of my limitations and mistakes. That’s the other cool thing about the changing industry…”unknown” artists who have decent followings to sustain their careers. But I think about all these bands, some of them my students’ projects, talking about their NEED to go into the studio and record an album. It’s a rush, it fuels the creative need to make something tangible…it sets you back thousands of dollars!
And what if you get screwed with a bad recording, the engineers thinking it sounds great while you feel uncomfortable even letting your Mom listen to it?
Happened to me once. I had some home studio tracks mixed at a pro studio, decided to have them record new songs from scratch a few years later. Spent about $4000 between them and hiring a session drummer. I got the first mix back and felt knots in my stomach, something very out of whack. I can’t totally fault the studio…I made some dumb mistakes in pre-production that made their job harder and perhaps had unrealistic expectations. But my conscience wouldn’t let me pour more money into their efforts, so I ultimately decided to spend another $2000 having the songs mixed by other studios. I ended up with some good tracks in the end, but am I going to recoup $6000 in digital downloads? Hey…fingers crossed!
Just one musician’s opinion. There’s no shortage of other comments on the subject.
And if you still decide to spend money that could get you a nice Les Paul or a loaded Mac Pro, I’ll share some of my tips to help you prepare in a future blog!
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