Few events have as much influence over a band’s career as making an album. Recording and releasing music has been the name of the game for the last 50+ years, although its uses and worth have changed quite rapidly in the last 10. Up until this wonderfully inexpensive global distribution system (the internet), and its incredibly convenient transfer medium (mp3’s) came about, the only avenues for music promotion and distribution were almost entirely controlled by a few large companies. While TV, commercial radio, and most traditional print media is still almost entirely controlled by
The Big Four and their “best friends” (
Clear Channel), with national concerts mostly going through
Live Nation, the internet is still open and free to all (for now anyway:
read up).
Why The Internet Rules For Independent Artists
The internet & the advent of digital recorded media have nearly eliminated two of the largest costs of getting a record in peoples’ hands: distribution and duplication. I’ll get into distribution in another article; but it’s duplication that really changed the industry. Unlike vinyl records and compact discs, digital files can be reproduced an infinite amount of times, for free, and with no inherent sound quality reduction (although most commonly-distributed mp3’s are already much lower-fidelity than CD’s or vinyl records). With this new medium, and with ever-faster internet connections, the value of recorded music is now totally controlled by each individual consumer’s tastes, income level, and moral code. No longer can record labels rely on the weaknesses of traditional recorded media for their grossly over-inflated profits: thus, the “
360 deals” mentioned in my
previous post.
Fortunately, as an independent artist, this likely affects you in some very positive ways. For one, more people are seeking out and listening to more music, leading to what’s commonly called the
Long Tail concept. This means that there are more opportunities for you to get your music heard and find your audience now than ever before. The major labels have largely been very slow to adopt this concept, and are instead focusing on cutting as many not-profitable-enough artists as they can. As a result, much of the infrastructure created around overly-inflated profits is
crumbling. Unfortunately, most of the people losing their jobs and businesses were the ones that were in the industry with the intention of genuinely helping to promote the artists they loved (read: record stores).
On the positive side, this revolution has resulted in the ability for literally anybody with a few simple tools to get their music heard, or at least available to be heard, all around the world. Sure, there’s a bit of an initial investment, but if you work at it, you’ll likely end up saving quite a bit of money in recording costs. In addition, and more importantly, you’ll have
full control over your art, and that’s worth it in and of itself. Plus, with no recording costs to pay off, a portion of the profits from each album could logically go towards upgrading yoru equipment, and thus potentially increasing the quality of your recordings (although skill level is
vastly more important than quality of equipment). Of course, if there are inexpensive or free high-quality alternatives to some of the expensive stuff, all the better. That’s where programs like Reaper come in.
Reaper vs. Pro Tools
“
Reaper” is an extremely powerful, free-to-try, fully-featured Digital Audio Workstation (or “
DAW“). For reasons I won’t get into (there are
plenty of
debates out there already, if you’re interested), the most popular DAW, and thus very likely the one you’ve heard of, is Digidesign’s “
Pro Tools“. It is generally considered to be the Industry Standard, and for the most part, it really is the most widely used DAW in most large/professional studios. Large Pro Tools HD systems have a truly impressive amount of power. However, with the recent advent of relatively inexpensive multi-core processors (and even multi-processor, multi-core computers), and software like Reaper, Logic, and others, much of the power that proprietary/closed Pro Tools HD systems have, can be had at a fraction of the cost. In addition, by utilizing open software, you’re opening up a world of possibilities as far as audio
interfaces. Pro Tools requires Pro Tools-specific audio interfaces, and they charge a healthy premium for the privilege of using their software.
Reaper Rules.
I’ll leave the Pro Tools vs. Everything Else debate for you to research yourself. I use both Pro Tools and Reaper on a daily basis, because of the nature of my work. In addition, I use Garageband on occasion, and have used Cakewalk software in the past as well. That said, I can certainly say that, were I in a band looking to start recording ourselves for the first time, I would definitely recommend Reaper over anything else, hands-down. It has vastly superior capabilities to almost any other software, and a license for personal use is a modest $60. If you’re broke, the software will continue to fully function forever, with free (rather frequent) updates and a friendly reminder to pony up some cash when you can get around to it.
Recording Your Own Band For Fun And Profit
Which ever software you choose, you’ll have to get a decent computer, and some sort of multi-channel audio interface to interface with it. Much like Pro Tools vs. Everything Else, I won’t get into a Mac vs. PC debate. There are advantages to either option; I’m partial to Macs. Do some research.
There are many hundreds of audio interfaces, each with their own fun advantages and disadvantages. The two things you’ll really have to worry about (other than potential Pro Tools compatibility) are…
- A: how many inputs/outputs you need to record your band
- B: how the hardware interfaces with your computer (firewire/usb/PCI).
You’ll be hard-pressed to find anything that actually
sounds terrible these days, as far as digital interfaces go. For the most part, your own recording skills (or lack thereof) will be holding you back for a long time before your interface would ever begin to matter, as long as you get something relatively capable.
Once you’ve got a decent computer and an interface, you’ll need to look into some microphones. (Tip: try asking friends & family if they have any mics you can borrow, or even keep.) I hesitate to give any specific advice as far as which microphones to get, as it really does depend on your budget, what type of band you are, what sort of production style you’re going for, etc. However, the following mics are generally a good starting point for any standard rock-type band out there (eg: drums, guitars, bass, vocals, and keyboard).
Assuming you’re starting from scratch, the main microphones I’d recommend are a
quality pair of small-diaphragm condensers or “SDC’s” (for overheads, acoustic guitars, and anything you’d like a nice accurate stereo image of: for example, the Oktava MC012’s), and at least two good dynamics (either the Shure SM57 or Audix i5). In my opinion, with these four mics, you have the minimum microphone power necessary for making a decent-sounding record. No, your recordings won’t be major-label-quality, but it’ll be a while before the microphones are holding you back, and once you start looking to upgrade/add to your collection, you’ll continue to use these mics indefinitely. If you have a bit of spare cash, perhaps grab an AKG D112 for kick drum and bass guitar micing. A bit more cash and I’d grab another dynamic (for close-micing toms). A bit more, and I’d start looking into some more application-specific microphones like a large-diaphragm condenser for vocals. Either way, starting with the two SDC’s and two 57’s/i5’s will get you started on the right track.
Unfortunately, there are around a million other factors when it comes to learning how to record. It’s definitely a skill you’ll have to dedicate yourself to, and it’ll take many many recordings before you start to not suck horribly, but trust me: it’s completely worth it as a band in the 2000’s. Like so many other skills that bands used to rely on labels to take care of, at least some knowledge of self-recording is quickly becoming a necessary skill for success. Fortunately, it’s significantly less expensive now than it’s ever been before, and there are literally hundreds of articles and forum threads dedicated to helping you not suck at recording. If you’d like individual advice, feel free to either contact me, or post on one of the many fantastic message boards out there specifically dedicated to recording (
homerecording.com/bbs,
gearslutz.com/board, the
Reaper Forums,
The Womb,
ProSoundWeb, and many others.
For an excellent primer on home recording, check out
www.tweakheadz.com.
Best of luck!
-steve.h
