Where to Spend Your Money on Recording

Hiring time in a recording studio is not cheap.  Studio time on average, costs  $100 an hour and can go up from there.  Even the cheaper studios cost around $50 an hour.  That doesn’t sound like much but consider that working three eight-hour days in a studio at that rate would cost $1200.
 

Of course recording studios offer many benefits.  Most are well outfitted with recording equipment and provide a good environment to work in.  They will also often have instruments available to use.  Working with an engineer can be beneficial in that you can have an outside, expert opinion to bounce your ideas off of.

However in a recording studio time is quite literally money.  Many artists thrive on this pressure and use it to motivate themselves to produce their best work in a short time.  Still, working under the gun like this can stifle some artists creatively.  The pressure can undermine their work resulting in a finished product that is below par. 

Consider the fact that if you have twelve to fifteen hundred dollars to hire a recording studio, you could also choose to spend that money on recording software for your computer.  Programs like ProTools and Ableton Live that duplicate the functions of recording gear are widely available and relatively affordable.  The money one would spend on hiring a recording studio could just as easily be invested in such a program and some hardware to complement it.

Tube preamps for instance are a good way to liven up a digital recording.  By running vocals or guitars through tubes and then into the computer it is possible to give them a more warm, authentic sound.  And while spending a grand or two on a recording studio may result in one good demo recording, investing that same amount of money into recording software and complementary hardware can give one the means to record freely whenever you feel like it.

With today’s recording technology it is literally possible to record an album in one’s bedroom with a laptop, some cables and a microphone.  Obviously there are many advantages to working in a proper recording studio.  However if you are just starting out on your musical career there are perhaps just as many advantages to being able to record yourself.

The ability to write and record new music constantly can be a great asset when first starting out.  Also recording songs on your own can be a good trial run for entering a professional recording studio further down the road.  So when it comes time for you to record, consider where your money would be most well spent.