The Music Blogger

So you’ve finally decided that you want to take your passion a step further and pursue the world of music recording. You must feel overwhelmed by the amount of information out there, because I was in the same boat. Around a year ago, I moved into a new home in Scarborough, Ontario. I moved from a 1500 sq. ft. condominium to a house that’s approximately 2500 sq ft. That’s when I finally decided that I would take my passion for music a bit further and invest in my own project studio. Not knowing where to start, I began my journey by positioning myself where any musician should at the beginning of their ‘journey’: at the local music store. I met a sales person by the name of Tarell, who produces for Toronto-based hip hop artists including Kardinal Offishal, Julie Black, and Socrates. I spent hours in the store, figuring out what kind of equipment I needed to start my project studio. But before I get into all of that, I want to recommend a book I purchased that day called Modern Recording Techniques, Sixth Edition. This book my studio bible. It has everything you need to know about studio recording. So enough with the jaber…what`s the first step to get started?

Set your goal: What do you want to achieve? What is your budget? Do you want to take the ‘amateur’ studio approach, or go professional? Do you want to build it in a room in your dwelling, or create your own studio at another location? All these questions must be answered before you can begin to build your studio. The key questions which must be answered are:

1. How much money do I want to spend? Though this question seems obvious, many people don’t consider it when planning their studio. The recommended start-up budget to get your studio going is roughly $1500 - $2000. If you want to take the studio outside your home, it requires much more money. Your budget deciphers the kind of equipment you can purchase. The better the equipment, the better the sound. Your budget also dictates the type of acoustics your studio will have. Soundproofing is extremly expensive, and can cost anywhere from $300 (home-made) to $5000 (done professionally). I will provide you with a breakdown of the different costs of equipment in latter parts of the project studio series. So after you set your monetary budget, what do you do?
2. How many parts of the ‘Recording Process’ do you wish to accomplish with your studio? The recording process includes the following: Recording, Overdubbing, Mixing Down, Mastering, and Product Manufacture. Most studios will hit the first 3 parts of the process. Modern Recording Techniques, Sixth Edition covers what each part of the process encompasses, so I won’t go too deeply into it. To sum it up, Mastering is a process which requires a lot of attention to detail and professional experience. As a recoding newbie, it may be hard to learn about Mastering. Most edited mixdowns of projects are sent to a mastering engineer so that fine-tuning adjustments can be made to the overal recording.
3. What is the calibre of your equipment? As a musician, you may be limited by the type of instruments you and/or your band play. Therefore, you must ensure that you build a studio based on your skill-set. Though it may look nice to have a complete studio, it may not be a practical alternative. The latter parts of the project studio series will discuss about studio setup, but I would suggest that you do some general research in your building phases to ensure that your studio infrastructure can support your ultimate goal. The final question you should ask is…
4. Am I doing this for fun, or professionally? Many musicians have big dreams and aspirations. I, on the other hand, use my project studio as an outlet to foster my passion for music. Bigger dreams mean more equipment, more time spent, and ultimately…more money. This is probably one of the key questions to ask yourself before you begin your ‘kid-in-a-candy-store’ shopping at your local music store. One way to answer this question may be to bring your band together and talk about it on a serious note.

This concludes the first part of the Project Studio Series. Stay tuned for Part 2 of the series, which will go over the basics of studio recording equipment, and where to get a good bang for your buck.

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