Home Studio Setup Pt. 1
In this series, we’re going over all the basics of setting up & using a home music recording space. We’ll focus on some of the most common issues I see in DIY recordings coming through my mastering studio.
First up: defining our space. What exactly are we trying to do here? Let’s start answering this question by examining the pros and cons of home recording.
The Pros of Recording Music at Home
Home recording gives you complete personal control over the end product. Hint: this can sometimes be a double-edged sword.
You have much less time pressure during the songwriting and recording process.
When done right, home recordings can make for more raw, genuine, intimate, and honest sounding recordings. That’s definitely what we should be going for!
The Cons of Recording Music at Home
Recording at home is something that’s easy to be meh at, but very difficult to do well. Especially when working by yourself. It’s very tough to succeed by putting out meh recordings, in a landscape as competitive as songwriting and music production.
Home recording requires learning a complex new technical skill set, one that doesn’t always help you write better music.
It’s very difficult to succeed using only informal home recording as your only method of producing your musical work. That’s why most of the artists that you’ve heard of make at least one studio album, at some point in their careers.
Why are these cons a thing? Well, because everyone else in the world is also trying to record themselves informally at home or by using their phone, all the while hoping for just a little bit more of your attention through sheer luck on social media.
You have to stand out to get noticed. Investing in quality production of your musical work is one tool, out of many, that can help you do this.
This isn’t to say that every single album needs to be a glossy studio album, but many of the greatest artists do both bedroom and studio quality releases simultaneously. These are two music production methods that work great in combination, because it shows your audience artistic range and artistic development over time.
Famous examples of bedroom recordings done right
I like to use the Bruce Springsteen album Nebraska as a case study. Nebraska came at a point in Springsteens career where he had already done a bunch of studio albums to great acclaim. So, on Nebraska he did some simple informal recordings in a New Jersey bedroom using a cheap cassette deck, and then touched them up in a pro studio before releasing them.
Nebraska was a smash hit because it showed something different, honest, and unexpected. And, whether or not you like Springsteen’s music, I think you might agree that this is one of his most genuine sounding albums.
Another famous example? Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago. Recorded informally in a remote Wisconsin cabin on cheap gear, then touched up in a professional setting, and another big breakthrough hit. This was then followed up by a more straight ahead studio album release. This serves as another case study on how using both studio albums and bedroom recordings (that are done right) in combination can really work out.
You’ll notice in both of these cases, professional music production was used as part of the creative process; neither Springsteen or Justin Vernon chose to release their informally recorded music directly onto the Internet. Instead, they used their informal recordings as source material, and then touched them up in a professional setting, before releasing them. A very cost-effective choice, that also worked out great for the careers of both of these artists.
The good news is that high quality professional music production has never been more affordable! We’re living through the first time in music history that independent artists have had the ability to sustainably self-fund their own creative work. That’s really exciting. You can see how those numbers work out in your individual situation by using the Easy Band Budget-izer.
