Many musicians and home studio enthusiasts place top priority on expensive plugins, computers, monitors, and other gear. Those are great things, but the well-initiated know that when it comes to making a home studio great, acoustics is where you can get the most bang for your buck.
I was struck by how accurately this exchange describes a problem I’ve had with the music industry for a long time. So many times, gatekeepers ask for something they’ve heard before, and artists who need to put food on the table attempt to copy the vibe of some currently famous act.
It wasn’t long ago that you could spot an amateur a mile away by the cheesy sound of their fake drums and lame piano samples. Back in the dinosaur age – aka 15 years ago – you couldn’t make a record if you didn’t have a bunch of great players, instruments, and a tricked-out studio to record them in – unless you were specifically making “synthy” music.
It’s one thing to have a good idea. But ideas are a dime a dozen. What you really need if you’re trying to make something of yourself as a songwriter is finished songs.
Not everybody has the luxury of a multi-room studio complete with control room, recording space, and booths. Many great recordists make do with one room which serves all these purposes and more. Some people even prefer it that way. After all, who wants to run back and forth between two rooms every take? Other than fitness buffs, that is.
Still, while it may be true that a most recordists work in one room, when we talk about acoustic treatment, we usually talk about specialized rooms such as mix rooms or live rooms.
So, we thought it’d be good to talk about acoustic treatment for multi-purpose spaces – the kind of space most people actually record in.
This article first appeared in Recording Magazine. I reprint it here with permission, and I encourage you to subscribe to that publication, as they are a stand up bunch of folk! If you haven’t read a book called “Zen and the Art of Mixing”, stop now, order it, and then continue reading this. Now that you’ve done that, …
Why choose only one? This article first appeared in Recording Magazine. I reprint it here with permission, and I encourage you to subscribe to that publication, as they are a stand up bunch of folk! A long time ago, in a studio far far away, there were many people involved in a song production, and the process included …
Why acoustic treatment should be your first expense This article first appeared in Recording Magazine. I reprint it here with permission, and I encourage you to subscribe to that publication, as they are a stand up bunch of folk! Being the adventurous, un-monied, and fairly non-famous soul that I am, I’ve been in a ton of low-end recording …
Ask an amateur recordist where they spent the most in their studio, and the answer is likely a piece of gear. Ask any PROFESSIONAL audio engineer what the most important thing in the studio is, and they’ll say acoustics.
