Fifteen years ago, albums were recorded in studios with big budgets and cumbersome analog equipment. Independent bands that put their sounds to tape dropped big bucks on limited studio time and often had to settle for unsatisfying takes.
Ball State University student Frank Reber experienced the rigors of studio recording firsthand, when his band, Charlie Don't Surf, recorded its first album, "kvalitetssoey" at the Ball State Music Engineering Technology Studios.
"Most studios, you go into this place, you're totally out of your element, and they'll be like, 'OK, do the best s---- you can ever play right now,'" Reber said.
Though studios give musicians access to high-quality equipment and producers with expertise, recording at home allows them work on their own terms, Reber said.
"It's a lot cooler to work in your own atmosphere when you're in your element," Reber said. "In a big studio, everything you do, you're thinking about money. A lot of times you compromise. Recording at home, you're safe doing the things you know. You're not being oppressed in any weird way by external forces."
Home recordings have a different feel or "energy" to them and are free of a producer or engineer's influence, Matt Thomas, owner of Muncie-based company Brave Captain Productions, said. Thomas does recording and engineering for the company out of his basement.
"It feels different to do that in your basement or bedroom than loading up your guitar and driving an hour and a half and waiting to get into a studio," he said. "I don't know if it's more honest to do that, but it definitely seems easier to be more honest when you're doing it at home."
Bruce Springsteen discovered the "energy" of home recording nearly 25 years ago when working on his album, "Nebraska." After recording demo tracks in his bedroom, he went to the studio to flesh out the songs with the E Street Band, only to find that the studio versions failed to capture the songs' raw emotion. Springsteen's home-recorded demos were released as "Nebraska."
Getting started
A musician without prior recording experience can't cut a home demo in a day, but with the right equipment and a lot of patience, he can make a recording that rivals many professionally recorded albums, Reber said.
"We learn to spend money in the right places and how [to] take shortcuts and still get really good results," Reber said. "If you're innovative enough and have enough time, you can make it sound just as good as anything."
Equipment prices vary greatly, but it's important to shop around and realize price doesn't necessarily amount to value, Thomas said.
"The best way for a poor musician to start [his] own cheap studio is to talk to other musicians who run their own studios," he said. "My experience with talking with people in stores is that you're better off just guessing about the products."
Reading online reviews of products is also a good way for an aspiring audio engineer to determine what equipment will work for them and falls into their price range, Reber said.
"A lot of stuff has problems that you won't find out about from retailers," he said. "Reviews will tell you how long it usually lasts and what problems the product might have."
Many avenues to learning the craft exist. Thomas learned by observing a fellow home studio owner at work, he said.
"You can get an idea what they're doing, and once you have an idea what they're doing, you can trial-and-error from there."
Reber prefers reading up on technique to form a foundation of knowledge before he tinkers around on his own, he said.
"I think it's a combination," Sean Geyer, engineer at Chicago Recording Company, said. "It's kind of like, if you're in a situation where you don't know anyone that does it already, and you don't feel like screwing around, read. If you wanna just get to it and mess around, do that. If you know someone, ask them. Everyone learns differently."
Changing the industry
In the early '90s, indie rock band Flying Saucer Attack rigged up a recording system on the band's home stereo and recorded most of its low-fidelity albums on it. On the spine of each of the albums was a note that said, "Home taping is reinventing music." Now, with compressor microphones and digital audio workstations (DAW) such as Pro Tools and Nuendo, musicians can not only record their own albums, but release music that sounds professional.
Musicians looking to throw down some ideas and make a raw recording like "Nebraska" can begin by spending a few hundred dollars, JJ McGinnis, audio salesperson at Guitar Center in Indianapolis, said. Those who want to make sleek recordings of full bands can spend $10,000 to $20,000 or more, he said.
Home recording options and techniques are as varied as the music that the equipment is used to record, and some musicians still prefer going to professional studios to record their music.
"The one thing to agree on, though, is that it will take a long time for things to start sounding right," Geyer said. "It's an art, and it takes practice. Be creative and prolific. Understand that your first go around is not going to sound like a Steely Dan record, but it can. It's the same stuff. You just gotta develop your technique."
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