The Dark Side Of Home Recording
Before you hit Delete, can reading this SAVE you time ??
As I get older, along with music, TIME is my most valued commodity. So I’d only ask you to read this if I thought it could give you MORE time for music, and for life.
We get a LOT of emails, most of them spam and time-wasters, but humour me for a few lines, and maybe I can buy you some time with what I call, “THE DARK SIDE OF HOME RECORDING”
You’re a musician or a songwriter, and you built a home studio, or you want to. Great! Now what? We can literally create full albums by ourselves at home. But SHOULD we ??
If you’re a songwriter, you just need a pen & paper. Or your phone could be your studio. Or a laptop.
To flesh out your songs, you could use AI apps, but that’s an article for another day.
So you buy a bunch of gear - but what to buy? That’s like asking what vehicle to buy. Gas or electric? Car, minivan or scooter? So many of my clients have spent big money only to find the gear didn’t suit their needs.
You could spend hours reading articles and reviews, cruising forums, etc. but that’s time away from MAKING MUSIC.
So my advice — DO NOT TRY TO DO IT ALL ALONE.
As a keyboard guy, I used to spend weeks creating “guitar” parts with sample libraries. They were ok, but then I called a guitarist. He played something way better, and it only took a few minutes! AND, now I have someone else invested in my project, adding their creativity. It pushed me to make better music.
And what about non-music tasks? I used to spend hours every week, cleaning my home. I thought hiring a cleaner was too bourgeois. But I finally caved. She charged me $30/hr, while I used that time to work for a client, billing considerably more. It was a win-win.
The same applies to music tech. If you’re writing, just write. If tech is bogging you down, get back to writing, or risk losing that moment of inspiration and creativity. Why not leave the tech to someone who has likely seen the problem and fixed it?
Yes, this is kind of shameless self-promotion, but I love fixing studio problems. Next time you want to record a song without juggling crash reports and corrupt plugins, just know there are people out there who live for that kind of stuff. You probably CAN figure it all out alone, eventually, but wouldn’t you rather just make music?
Mark Alexander is a Toronto-based composer, producer, and music educator whose credits span Cineplex screens, national TV commercials, and networks including CTV, TVOntario, YTV, and Treehouse, and who has taught film scoring and post-production audio at Trebas and Metalworks Institute
Website - www.905music.com