GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Nearly every player with a laptop these days has a “Home Studio”. This is a term that covers a LOT of ground. It can be as simple as a laptop, a guitar, an audio interface, and a pair of headphones. That is honestly all it takes these days. So it’s NEVER been easier to build a modest home recording setup that can yield pretty impressive results. More than good enough to share on youtube and or instagram.
For those that reach the next level, they might add a pair of audio monitors and maybe a larger computer screen or HDTV to work from. There are wads of setups like this that you can see on youtube. HDTVs are cheap and a good pair of powered studio monitors can be had for a few hundred bucks.
Beyond this, folks might start adding actual guitar amps/cabs, microphones, sound treatment, etc. The sky is the limit. You can start with just the laptop and over time end up with something very close to a professional grade studio. It’s just a matter of time, experience and money.
So what are the PROS and CONS of using a “HOME STUDIO” as opposed to doing what people used to do and booking time at a “REAL STUDIO” (E.G. a professional facility that charges by the hour and has very expensive gear)? The pros and cons vary wildly but let’s look at just a few that might be relevant.
PROS 1 YOUR AT HOME You are already at the studio. There is no commute. You don’t have to travel very far. You know where the bathroom is, you know where the fridge is and you can stock it with whatever you like. You can decide who shows up and what is going on.
2.YOUR SCHEDULE Since it is your home you get to decide the schedule, not a client, assuming your recording your own stuff. This way you can avoid problems with the neighbors/family by not recording loud parts or doing loud mixing late at night when others would find it disturbing.
CONS 1. YOUR AT HOME You are still at home with all of the distractions that come with that. The phone can still ring, people can randomly show up, knock at the door, etc. If your family is there with you, you may have a LOT of distractions indeed. This can seriously get in the way of your work flow.
2. NOISE LEVEL If you are in a small apartment, or a small house with close neighbors, cranking up a mix can result in the cops getting called for noise complaints. If you mix late in to the night, you may even irritate the members of your own household. Of course, you can try to sound proof the studio, but starting out, it’s hard to do all that at once so you end up using headphones which is not the best way to mix. Mixing with loud monitors results in lots of loud noise so it’s worth taking in to account.
