Why I Love Home Recording Studios

I love home recording studios. My son and many of my friends have small recording studios, and many of you will have one too. Please tell us about yours in the comments, and check out our Author Interviews to hear about others’.

People invest their time and money in their studios very differently. For some it’s a passing interest, or just software on a PC to tinker with occasionally; for others it is a passion that consumes their time and money and gives birth to dreams and hopes about the future.

For me, learning to play music and creating a home studio happened in quick succession around the age of 20. Musically, I was a late bloomer – though I admit not as late as some. I loved music as a kid, but became a very shy teenager, and felt embarrassed to express myself in any way, even smiling. As I got past that stage of my life, I started to learn music, and found it was a great way to have fun and express myself.

Music became an important part of my life, and I invested in it. I splurged on a couple of synths, a Roland keyboard amp, a keyboard stand, and some leads and pedals. With the money I got for my twenty-first birthday, I bought a Yamaha four-track recorder, and eventually also purchased two drum machines, an Alesis digital delay unit, a Yamaha electric grand, a couple of Ibanez electric guitars for my wife, and a couple of Ovation acoustics.

Here are some things I loved about my studio:

• Getting a great rhythm happening on the drum machines and vamping along to it on my piano.
• Trying to get amazing sounds out of quality instruments by experimenting with playing and recording techniques.
• Being creative, and being able to capture it.
• Watching a project grow and develop over several weeks.
• Seeing how the combination of several simple parts can lead to something really interesting.
• Once I’d recorded something fairly good, adding something that enhances what I did rather than takes over.
• Occasionally getting musical friends to play a guest track on a song I was working on.
• Turning off the lights at night, setting the drum machines and synth to play something ambient, and playing along with it on my electric grand while watching all the blinking lights.
• Having lots of knobs to twiddle.
• Having something better to do than watching TV!

I spent a lot of time in that studio, as I did in the sequencer-based studio I created in the 90s. I suppose that learning to play music in a studio taught me different lessons than if I learned by playing live in a band. On the one hand I learned how to put different instruments, chords and melody lines together in an effective way. On the other, I spent lots of time recording small passages in multiple takes, which didn’t demand the discipline or consistency of playing live. But I did eventually learn the other lessons of playing consistently, listening to others, and learning to perform in later years. For many years now I have only played live, and have had no time for a studio – a consequence of having six kids and several jobs.

But recently I’ve started to think about putting together a home studio again. In addition to my other writing, I’ve become editor of Audiotuts+, and now have enough work from home to quit my other jobs. That means I’ll have a greater focus on music, and have the opportunity to start putting a home studio together again.

I want to savor the experience. I don’t want to rush down to the music store and buy lots of new gear – not that I could afford to! I want to take what I have and grow it into something new over time, getting the most out of everything I have. If you have any advice for me, I’d love to hear it.

I already have a good keyboard (M-Audio Keystation Pro 88) and sound module (Yamaha MU-128 with the amazing Yamaha PLG150-AP Acoustic Piano Plug-In Board piano card), a reasonable set of speakers (not to mention two PA systems), a couple of wonderful Ovation acoustic guitars, an acoustic drum kit and Roland SPD-11 Octapad, a condensor mic and small mixer I inherited from my son, and some computers (Windows, Mac and Linux). For a modern home recording studio I’m missing a few key ingredients, most significantly an audio interface for my computer.

Without trying to plan things in too much detail, here is how I think things may go initially:

• I need to find somewhere to set the studio up, probably right near my desk. This might be tricky since I have a house full of people, an eight-month-old son, and a wife who does shift work! I have to accept that wherever I set it up, there will be time restrictions on when I’m able to make noise.
• I think I’ll start by experiment with recording straight from my sound module to a DAW rather than using software synths or sound fonts – though I intend to experiment with those eventually. Initially I’ll have to use my computer’s sound card until I buy an audio interface.
• I’ll start evaluating audio interfaces. Should I buy a cheap one while I save up for a better one, or wait until I can afford a mid-range device? I’m not expecting to be get usable results until I get one.
• I’ll check out the audio and MIDI software and plug-ins for Linux, and see how far I can take it. I use Linux as my main day-to-day operating system.
• I’ll also fiddle with GarageBand to have the experience of using a Mac for recording. I’m not expecting a lot from GarageBand – do you think it will give me a fair idea of recording on a Mac is like? How far can I take GarageBand? If I prefer the Mac, I’ll consider buying Logic.
• At this stage I’m not really considering using Windows for recording. Should I reconsider this? There is a lot of free software for Windows I could experiment with.
• I also need to experiment with the best settings and technique for recording vocals and acoustic guitar. My Ovation has a stereo output which I love recording with, so I think I’d prefer to plug it in rather than mic’ing it.

How does that plan sound to you? I imagine that it’s a different path to what most of you have followed, but I want to initially get a broad experience of all the options, and then later decide on the tools I prefer and specialize in them. I’ve already warned my wife that some money (and hopefully not too much initially) needs to be spent. I’ll report back here with my progress around once a month.

If you have any advice for me, or just want to tell the story of how you put your studio together, please let us know in the comments.