Your Pathway To Better Home Recordings
You're an independent musician and probably a songwriter. You want to be able to record when it suits you, and without spending those big-time studio bucks. Recording in a bedroom/garage/ living room is the obvious answer. Yet, you want your music to sound pro, or close to it.
The general public wildly underestimates what goes into making a great sounding recording -- but you have a better idea. You know that audio engineering, production, arranging, mixing, and mastering are all skills that you could spend a lifetime learning. But you only have one lifetime.
What do you do? How can you master getting good quality recordings, at home?
The answer is not easy, but it's simple.
Enter Reaper
More than 13 years ago, I discovered Reaper (it's recording software). I dug in, woodshedded, got my chops back (I'd been off for a few years), and started recording my own songs. I've learned a lot in those years. Here are the main points if you want to get good recording your music, at home.
Some tracks, in Reaper.
My Recording Story
When I was a kid, I got my first real multi-track recorder. It was a Teac 144 Portatudio. 4 tracks to cassette! I would record in the living room of my parent's house in the late night/early morning hours; trying not to wake anybody up. And that feeling you get when you hit on something really good -- there's nothing like it. The hairs on the back of your neck stand up. You listen over and over.
It's the same feeling you get when you come up with a really good lick, lyric, chorus idea, or riff. You might not know where it came from, but you know it's good. And though your confidence may go up and down at other times, in this moment, you know what you've created is golden.
My trusty Teac 144 Portastudio.
I've been chasing that feeling ever since.
I stared joining bands and writing more songs. One day, a bandmate who ran live sound at a Seattle music venue, offered to teach me to do live sound (so he could have days off). He showed me the ropes and I started subbing on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. 3 bands/night, 15 minute set changes. Usually, no sound check. You had to work fast!
Sometimes bands would like my work and take me with them when they played gigs other places. And that's how I became a live sound guy. And when that mix slots into place and the room is jumping, it's that same feeling!
Into The Recording Studio
One night I mixed for a band and one of the band leaders asked me if I were interested in working in his studio. Hell yeah! Again, I had a mentor. He showed me the workings of his small, basement studio and off I went.
Look at the hair I had!
This was pre-grunge days and I did a ton of punk and speed metal records. Again, you had to work fast -- no endlessly tweaking snare sounds. One time I recorded and mixed a full CD in 10 hours! TEN F*ING HOURS!!!
There were a variety of other musical genres coming through the studio, as well. And by that time I had listened to hundreds of examples of songs, arrangements, performances. I'd been in multiple bands playing original material. I started to figure out what works and what doesn't. And I started to apply that knowledge.
Record Producer
Some of the bands I worked with liked my ideas and noticed how comfortable they were working with me. Some of them went out to other studios and worked with other engineers and producers and they didn't jibe. It sucks when you're trying to get the performance of your lifetime, and the engineer makes you feel out of place.
These bands and solo artists would take me with them to other studios, usually as a producer.
So I got the chance to work in many of the best studios in the Seattle area. I even got a job in a bigger studio, but that's another story.
More Recording
Part of my deal in the basement studio was that I got the run of the place when it wasn't booked. I spent hundreds of hours down there arranging, recording, and producing my own music. There was that feeling again!
I remember listening over and over again to a mix I'd made. I couldn't stop listening. Eventually, I would drag myself home at 4 A.M., exhausted and happy.
Teaching Audio
Then a slot for a teacher opened up at a local, nationally accredited vocational college, teaching audio engineering. Sure, I'd mixed in arenas by that point, and done projects in major studios. I barely qualified in technical knowledge, though. I was a seat-of-the-pants, learn-on-the-job kind of guy. But my experience got me the job.
So I boned up on the technical side while I taught. This is where I learned to put together course materials to national standards.
The school had a 2" 24-track machine, an API console, and a decent mic locker. And again, I had the run of the place on nights, weekends, and holidays. I would bring in bandmates to record my songs. I would engineer and/or produce other bands.
I learned a ton in those days, and got a lot better as a engineer and producer. At one point I was teaching audio engineering, doing projects in the studio, playing in an original band, and mixing live in clubs when I could. Music, music, music.
And I got my high. 4 A.M., with the tape machine in repeat, listening to that glorious mix, over and over again. There's no feeling like it.
Life Takes A Turn
I ended up going to Russia for a couple of years, to run a radio station. When I came back, I thought it was time to be an adult. I got a real job at an engineering firm, got married and started a family. My guitars sat in the closet. But the hunger was always there.
Coming Back To A Digital World
When I came back to music, years later, I couldn't do shit. I could hardly play guitar, and my voice was gone. And the world of audio had changed.
2" 24 track tape machines were out. People were using digital audio workstations (DAW) which cost a fraction of what a tape machine and expensive console cost. They were recording in their spare bedrooms.
Now when I taught audio, the digital machines and computer-based recording were just coming in. I even taught one class on Protools. I had to come into the class several hours early just to learn what I was supposed to teach that day!
But other than that, it was a new world to me.
Discovering Reaper
It's been more than 13 years now, and I've been doing home recording on Reaper, with minimal gear. It's fulfilling like nothing else. And I still get that 4 A.M., can't-stop-listening feeling sometimes.
What Made The Difference?
When I look back over the years, I see periods of time in which I made great strides in recording knowledge, and skill. There were other times when I didn't make much progress, at all. The biggest factors in progress are: a cohesive program of study, a mentor to help and give feedback, and actually recording and not just watching videos.
If You Want To Get Up To Speed Quickly With Great Recording Software . . .
I have a free course for you, offered below. It's got what you need to know to get recording.
If You're A Musician Who Wants To Record Music At Home
And don't want to spend years learning the tech.
Grab -- Reaper: Core Skills
Get 'Reaper: Core Skills'
You'll also get supplementary material via the NLNPNL Newsletter.
One Part Creativity, One Part Logic
Make no mistake. Creativity comes from inside us, in ways we don't fully understand. And home recording is one part creativity. But getting shit done Is the other side of the coin. That comes from efficient processes, making good decisions, and getting down to business.
Becoming good at home recording is a marriage of both.
My goal for all of us is to get the technical side of recording down well enough so that it doesn't interfere with the creative side.
Here's to the journey,
Keith
