With all that said, since you can record and create music fairly easily these days on your own, what would stop you from doing so? While doing it all yourself can be fun, rewarding and save you some dough, let me give you some food for thought  into why you may choose to not do it all yourself in your own bedroom, (or living room, kitchen or basement for that matter).

Is it self-serving for me as a studio owner do tell you why you should use my services, perhaps, but also being a musician and an instructor I understand the process of creating as well, and actually have someone record me when I need to record. Here are 7 reasons to considering using a studio over DIY.  Read on……

1) Time – Which is better for an artist? Spending their time writing, honing their instrument chops , fleshing out tunes or spending time learning the software, mic placement, mixing techniques and hardware interfaces needed to record on your own?

2) Focus – This goes hand in hand with time, would you rather be focusing on the how to record or what to record? Let me tell you, I would rather focus on my performance rather then the capturing of it when I have the chance. When doing it on my own, there are times when I pay more attention to pushing the record button at the right time, instead of the first note I play….that sucks!!!

3) Knowledge – By no means do I wish to talk down to someone, especially to someone who has the desire to learn the art of recording. However, for those of us who have been doing this for decades, there is SOOOOOO much to learn in how to record properly and get great results. At times it is overwhelming, here is an example:

During recording my first album in Hawaii, I could not for the life of me figure out how to get my guitar to just fit into the  mix I was doing. I tried effects, volume, panning, I just could not get a good balance. I shared this with a friend of mine who had a couple years on me, and he helped me out. He sat down with my mixer and troubled guitar track and with a few minutes of listening and a couple turns of the EQ knobs, the guitar somehow blended in to the mix, like melted butter into a muffin!! I was amazed and humbled that someone could fix such a frustrating problem with such ease.

4) Technical difficulties – Most of the ease of recording now days comes from technology. Having built about 50 computers over the years, I have done more troubleshooting then I care to talk about!!! This can be frustrating when all you really want to do is record the backup vocals!!!!! A studio should (and must) in my point of view, have all the bugs worked out of their systems before a client comes in to record. This gives then the ability to focus on the creating, not the technical issues. More than once I have forgotten a part I wrote, by needing to deal with a message that just pops up on the screen.

5) Another POV- When I record my own music, I really like to have an engineer there that I trust. They can honestly tell me how my performance was, and if I need to do it again. Was I in tune? Does that voicing fit here? Was I a little ahead of the beat? Having a trained engineer with a qualified set of ears is better than a brand new tube amp!!! This is so important in getting a great take and does wonders with the project!!!

6) Experience – Even after almost 20 years doing this, I still learn something new with every session I do. It is so important to keep an open mind and learn from your experiences. With a good engineer at the board,  you have more than just someone puching buttons for  you. You have a wealth of knowledge sitting there at your disposal. I like to look at the engineer as part of the creative team, putting all the awesome performances together.

7) Quality – In all my years, I have never heard music sound as bad as I do these days. Not necessarily the content, but the sound quality. MP3’s are just terrible sounding and loose so much fidelity in their compression. Music these days have no dynamics (are too loud and never soft) and often have nearly no clarity, this comes from the pursuit of being as loud as others on the radio/internet. Many artist these days may not even be aware of how to attain good fidelity or what it is!!! In addition, some easy to use recording programs, try to match the “modern sound” and can harm your chances of getting the best quality. You can pick settings to “sound like” something you want to emulate, but that is almost like painting by numbers.

Please don’t mistake my saying things are too loud as meaning loud = bad (I am a guitar player for goodness sakes). But there are times that you want things loud, and soft and a nice in between balance.

These are just a few reasons to consider when choosing to do your project in a studio or at home. There are more reasons than those above in considering to use a studio verse recording yourself. With all this said, please work on recording at home, you can learn SOOO much by doing so, it can even make you a better musician and song writer. And if you have good ears, you can do a good job. However, if  you want to keep your focus on the music you are creating, save some time in learning programs, have a wealth of knowledge on your side, look for a studio near you. You might just be happy with what you get. If budget is a concern, perhaps consider recording you tracks at home and bring them in to do vocals or mix in a studio. This can save a lot of time and money and still get you a great track or CD.

Check back weekly for more tips here!!!