Music Sound Recording Studios
Can You Make Your Own?

Here are a few important points to remember about setting up your own home studio:

• Buy your hard drive with a very fast processor and a lot of memory.

• Buy most of your products from a store that gives solid, free technical support.

• Be prepared to spend money in order to save costs in the future.

• Don’t buy too much.

• Try to get somebody to give you lots of money for future software purchases.

• Try to get somebody to buy you a building for your future recording studio. If they resist, tell them you’ll be their friend if they buy it for you.

Aside from the last two points, the above is fairly standard advice. With respect to point number one, remember that stored midi sounds can take up a tremendous amount of memory, while the running of a complex recording program requires a fast computer.

As for point number two: you will probably run into technical problems when hooking up all of the connections (hard drives, monitors, external mixer… believe me, it can be quite overwhelming). I would also recommend buying from a store that will install all of your software and sounds into your hard drive(s). There are stores that do this, and it saves us humble composers a lot of time and aggravation.

Bullet point number three is a valid one. The reason most composers get recording software is so they can ultimately make and record their own music without having to step foot into an expensive recording studio. Ultimately, a busy professional musician will make back the cost of their computer system and then some.

Finally, don’t buy too much. If you have good credit, it’s too easy to say, “Oh yes, I guess I could also use this and that…” In a blink of an eye, you could end up spending a lot more than you originally budgeted for. Remember the basics: a hard drive, mixer, decent recording software, an appropriate sound card and some decent sounds. There are other details including patch chords, microphones… Part of buying necessary equipment rather than frivolous items depends on how much research you’ve done and the honesty of the retail store. Shop where you trust!

A professional or home sound studio, like a website, is a work in progress. Build slowly and with practicality, and you’ll never be regretful.

A home studio has great possibilities, but also some occasional limitations. Some of the possibilities include:

• Easy and fast demos that can be produced for potential film director clients.

• Less overhead, with less pressure at not having to work with expensive hourly rates provided by first rate professional recording studios.

The disadvantages include:

• Expenses due to sound-proofing costs.

• Lack of technical support in emergency situations.

• Lack of space to accommodate a large ensemble of live musicians.

There are, of course, many more pluses and minuses. Practically speaking, a job is often started in a home studio and finished in a professional recording studio. In this way, you have the best of both worlds such as:

• You save on initial recording costs.

• The director is quickly supplied with a much needed demo of what the final movie soundtrack will be like.

• You have a larger professional studio available for a large ensemble of live performers and fine tune editing of the final product.

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