Studio or Home Recording
I figured i would start this blog with a post on recording. My goal is go to into the studio soon, ideally by the end of the year, and start on a solo guitar cd. It would be pretty much celtic music. A few people have been bugging me to do it, and i think i have some nice arrangements that others would enjoy.
I been going back and forth on whether to record at home or in a studio. The tracks you hear on my music page were done at home. To me they sound ok, but obviously have a good bit of extraneous noise. I think some of that could be avoided by turning off the pilot light to my furnace, and removing the DMP3 Preamp from the signal chain. I’ll have to experiment.
A good local studio would probably cost me $35-50 an hour. Right now i am looking at having 14 tracks on the cd. Based on past experiences i would estimate about an hour to record each track and do basic editing. At an average of $40/hour i am looking at $560 for tracking minimum. If i factor in tracks that take longer or some more complicated edits its probably more like $600-700. Then there is mixing, a solo acoustic record probably would not take much, and then mastering. I am not sure how much mastering usually costs.
I have heard alot of good recordings made with modest gear at home. My friends in Castlerock just posted a bunch of new recordings to their Myspace site. I was really impressed with the quality, and even more so when they said they used a Motu 8pre interface andKel Hm1 mics. All budget stuff that can be had for under $700 total. So if i did it that way i would save a bit of money vs a studio, plus i could take my time and record when i want, and i would own the gear.
There are other aspects to think about to. In a studio its nice because i dont have to worry about editing or any of the technical issues. I just go in and play. When recently recording a bunch of tracks at home on my present setup i found myself just wanting to get through it, and anxious about having that perfect take so i would not have to mess with digital editing. I dont know why i get that mindset, i should feel less stressed recording at home and play more freely, since i am not on the clock. I think if i decided to try and record the whole thing at home i would need to get in the mentality of taking my time, and making sure everything is perfect.
There will also be a sound quality difference a studio vs at home. I recorded a few tracks at Doug Young’s studio a while ago, and you can easily hear the difference compared to my home recordings. Doug has pro level gear and an acoustically engineered room, not to mention skill recording acoustic music. I think if i get something like the Motu 8pre it should quiet down my signal chain a bit, and i record when its quiet outside i would be able to get some decent sounding recordings.
I’ll have to see. I am thinking about buying some gear locally with the agreement that i can return it, and just spend a week recording at home and see how it sounds.
Anton