At some point, every musician decides to put together at least a rudimentary home studio. It’s a logical step, whether you’re a songwriter or simply an instrumentalist, as recording your music helps you improve your playing and spot problems with songs. At some point, you may decide to take things to the next level and actually record other bands from your own home; this, too, is a logical progression, but it requires significantly more investment.
Here’s a look at what it takes to run a recording studio from your home.
1. Consider the Noise – Before you even think about running a recording studio out of a house, you’ve got to consider whether noise will be an issue. If you’ve got close neighbors or if you live in an apartment building, it’s wise to check how well sound bleeds out of your house before taking the next steps. Even if you’re pretty well isolated, plan to record louder instruments during the day, or you’ll get a visit from the police and possibly nasty fines depending on where you live.
2. Buy The Right Equipment – A home recording studio is only as good as the equipment you’ve got, so get the right stuff. Invest in some high quality microphones (I recommend something like the Shure KSM37 for vocals and at minimum a few SM57s and a full set of drum mics), and learn how to use them. Look into recording interfaces that can be used to route multiple microphones into your computer, especially if you want to record bands all at once. Read everything you can about using your equipment, and make plenty of home recordings before you consider charging for your services.
3. Budget Time for Bands – If you work a full time job, you’ve got to consider what times you can use to record bands, and budget some time every week, even if a band doesn’t fill that recording slot. You’re essentially taking up another job, and though it’s a fun one, you’ve still got to show up at work on time and keep recording to make your home studio sound better and better.
4. Get Money Up Front – Most bands are full of good people, at least in my experience–that doesn’t mean that they can’t fall on hard times, and there are certainly some shady characters out there, so when you decide to record a band, either get the money up front or hold onto their master recordings until they can pay you. Otherwise, you’ll be spending a lot of time and money for nothing but an album credit–if you even get that.
And by the way, one final tip: tell bands that record with your home studio to spread the word. There’s no better advertising tool than word of mouth.
Do you have any other tips for running a recording studio out of a house? Post in our comments section below.
