Recording Costs Less Than You Think!

otpp

New member
most of you know me but i wont tell you who i am just yet. i have worked with over 1000 bands live in singapore, both live and in the studio. i have also worked in japan and UK live and in studios. i have been doing sound for over 15 years now. (if you know who i am dont tell the rest, let them think about it!)

here are my questions for you all.......

how much will it cost you to set up a home recording studio? a good one i mean? i can tell you now, its about $10k min. sometimes alot more.
how many hours will you have to work to save this money? how many songs could you write in the time you take to do all this extra work?

how long will it take you to learn how to use it all? to get the 'pro studio' result i mean?
how many more songs could you write in the time you take to do all this?

what are your options? live recording at the venues in singapore never works. i dont know why but the venue never seems to have the equipment needed. (except for the one gig at youth park this sat 22/12/2007 where they are trying to get it sorted out - hello taz)

to get the right kit in your studio you need drums, mics, amps, mixer, computer and software. not just any old junk, good toys! you cant just get some good toys and then some ok stuff, it all has to be good! if you get bad amps your guitars will sound like banjos! know what i mean? it has to be right.

so......mmmmmm.......options........

who of you out there thinks recording in a 'pro studio' will cost you millions? NOT TRUE AT ALL.

lets look at 'Lion Studios' for my example. it is quite often called 'the Abbey Road of singapore' and to be honest i can see why. i have used quite a few of the pro studios in singapore and played tracks from others too. the best result is still lion in my opition. its old school kit to record so you get that nice fat and clean sound then into 'soundscape' hard disk recorder or pro tools for editing.

do you know what soundscape is? look it up on the net, its the daddy of all editing systems. price? hahahaaa! forget it, you dont even want to know. by the time you have the control unit, 3 input units (to make in a 24 chann system), the hard drives, the software too, and so on. dont even get me started adout the FX and plug ins. your $10k is long gone at just the control unit and the input units, trust me. is it worth the money? yes, and more!

SO................ lets talk $$$$$$$$

whats your budget to record and edit your first album? say for a band with 4 people in it. we all know that the big famous bands spend bags and bags of cash doing it. does it realy cost that much for you to do? how much per hour does a studio cost? GUESS? $250? $150? trust me its less! ask the pinholes, they will tell you.

what would you say if i told you you can have an album done for about $3000? say 10 tracks, recorded and edited and ready to sell to the world? thats only $750 each. less that building your own studio. also the result will be better and less stressful!

HOW?? jam your harts out before is the first one. be ready! studio time is by the hour so dont waste the time. get it right second time. go to the best studio you can. if they edit fast you will pay less because, yeah you guessed it, its charged by the hour.

if you want to know more add your questions here. if you want to record with me tell me here and leave your email address.
 
on the thread topic of "Recording Costs Less Than You Think!".

i'm not as experienced as otpp here. but my say is ,

think : if average recording studio costs $50 per hr. and average per song takes up $150 - $200 - $300 depending on level of recording perfection or your performance during recording. then divide that amount by the amount of band members. (e.g 4 piece) = $75 per pax. sounds costly doesn't it, but think putting aside $3 per day for a month. whether is it cutting down on cigarettes , that latte from starbucks/coffeebean , alcohol , cab fare, the latest T-shirt trend , hair dyeing , upgrading your phone unnecessarily to look hip. then it shouldn't be a problem isn't it? I know I know for you guys who start bombing me saying "what about money spent on jamming" , I believe what bands should practise is, write a song, finalize the drums pattern/variation/tempo first. then get it recorded down as a demo either using a laptop/ mp3 player / MD. then everyone gets a copy to bring it home to practise and tighten on your own. yes , what i'm saying here is , bands should learn how to record themselves, not so they can release a cd on their own (if you know how to record/mix thats good then) , but more so they know how to perform better saving unnecessary studio hours. you've seen many bands jam for 4 hours daily and still can't keep the band in time. it's not how long you've jammed, but knowing what to lookout for to practise/improve when you jam. that's why there's so many below-$50per hr studios around, but some bands have yet to understand the proper way to utilize the most out of these low cost (although not high quality, but can hear everything decently) studios. I have DIY Recording FAQs out for this same reason, go ahead, learn how to record in your bedroom so you can practise, and spend money more cost efficiently , like on your new guitars / pickups / pedals.

based on my freelance recording for the past 5 years, bands approximately should spend this much time :

Drums = 1 hr.
Vocals = 1/2 hr to 1 hr.
Back Vocals = 1/2 hr
Rhythm Guitars = 1hr (double track)
Lead Guitars = between 1 hr to 2 hrs , especially if the song has alot of lead parts.
Bass = 1/2 hr to 1 hr.

if you take longer than this, either your song is understandably difficult/technical, or you're using the hours more creatively for onspot (magic ideas happen often) producing to make the song more happening , or you're Mr Perfectionist, or your band plainly suck and lack of practise spending the time doing re-takes! oh of course, before I forget, some ppl have that pressure in the studio and they actually mess up cos they're too nervous. my suggestion for that is either light 3 cigarettes and smoke them together at one shot if you smoke. or drop by 7-11 during legal hours and buy something alcoholic.

hope my 60¢ worth can inspire you guys to set a certain bar for yourself, have the most fun you can while you're recording. it's the time when your songs (your voice/playing) gets immortalized, frozen in memory, in userfriendly digital audio format in this day and age.

cheers.
 
There Is Some One Else Out There Who Gets It!!!!!

NICE!

at last i realise i am not the only one here who gets it!

BUT i do think if bands jam enough then the times you say for recording can be cut in half again. i have seen loads of bands do the full album in one or two takes.

AND the mastering time depends on the skill of the person doing it. give the a cd of the sound you want but only give them 4 or 5 tracks (NOT 28 MP3 FAMIE!!!)

drum and bass? nice. thats what i write at home. what software you use??? you play in a band? ever play at gashaus????
 
i haven't seen loads of bands do one-two take wonder. most are inexperienced with recording. so they're either nervous or just plainly didn't practise.

>you drum and bass?
no i only listen. recording bands all the way listening to band music can be sickening. as a normal consumer I like trance.

>what software you use???
cool edit pro 2.0

>you play in a band?
nope, no talent with instruments., can't play can't sing. i'm 24 y/o, 11 years experience as comp technician, 8 years for audio editing and 6 years in recording/mixing/producing. only in singapore. not as experienced as you. i do freelance mobile recording.

>ever play at gashaus????
nope. never been there. heard the place closed down already though.

you got mp3s/portfolio of your recording works? maybe i can check it out??
 
most of you know me but i wont tell you who i am just yet. i have worked with over 1000 bands live in singapore, both live and in the studio. i have also worked in japan and UK live and in studios. i have been doing sound for over 15 years now. (if you know who i am dont tell the rest, let them think about it!)

.


HILARIOUS !

even if i agree with whatever u say. i still can't get past that bracketed bit
 
you know me roland

we met through a friend just after you got back from oz about a year ago.

bet you did not see that one coming!
 
actually i do

yes i know. at gas haus

i knew who u were already from ur email which u posted as i have ur namecard.
 
yeah but................

do you want bands or electronic? or both?

it will not be from famus bands but i have loads of others. i am recording 'the pinholes' this sunday in commonwealth too.

do you want me to email them or drop them at the shop?
 
Time Taken................

look at it this way..............

if you jam your ass off so its right you will prob take 3 hours to record 1 hours music.
after all, jam time costs far less than studio time, just be ready!

when i record i do the whole band in one take but record it all into the 'soundscape' recording system as seperate tracks. (keep all 12 drum mics as 12 tracks and 2 guitars as 2 tracks....) this does work if you use the right studio.

this works for 3 reasons.
1 if you need to redo a small part on say one guitar you can just do that small bit.
2 its faster and saves money (time is money!)
3 the files can then be worked on in another place or just remixed to a trance mix later (joking!)

you dont need all the studio, just the files and some good software toys. i use about 1800 plugins and just use what will be best for the job. each instument is worked on for the first track then that track gets mixed. the second track i just use the same settings and see if it works. normaly its 85% right already so it saves time and again, time is money.

i do my 'rough mix' with out the band then get them in to finish / perfect the mix. always remember that its your music, it has to sound as you want it to. if your not happy then its not finished. mastering will take about 2 hours per track.

look at it this way.......... (worst case, so longer times for all costs!)

studio with me (commonwealth, singapore) 5 hours
first song (takes longer) mastering 4 hours
11 songs at 2 hours mastering per song 22 hours


it can be done faster. i have seen 2 hours studio time and 16 hours mastering before. it just depends on you!

remember this will give you a pro quality recording in one of the biggest studios in singapore (www.speakeasy-digital.com for info) and every thing you need is here apart from your guitars and guitar FX. feel free to bring your own drums, pedals and cymbles if you like but we have it. i am a drummer so i know how it is to use your own things.

look at the site and you will see when i say 'pro studio' i am not joking. BUT if you want to know who i am, well sorry, but i not in any of the pictures on the site. i will be soon as we are getting a new site built at the moment.
 
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No! No! No! No!

"""based on my freelance recording for the past 5 years, bands approximately should spend this much time :

Drums = 1 hr.
Vocals = 1/2 hr to 1 hr.
Back Vocals = 1/2 hr
Rhythm Guitars = 1hr (double track)
Lead Guitars = between 1 hr to 2 hrs , especially if the song has alot of lead parts."""
Bass = 1/2 hr to 1 hr.


IF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TOYS YOU CAN RECORD IT ALL AT THE SAME TIME, KIND OF LIKE RECORDING IT LIVE.IT WORKS AND SAVES TIME.

USEING SOMTHING LIKE A 'SOUNDSCAPE' (http://www.sydec.be/) AND YOUR FLYING!
 
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otpp : I'd (in fact seeing the other guys) , i'm sure we'd like to hear your band recordings. preferbly the latest or the best you got , i can't wait to be impressed. do register an account at www.box.net and share them with us. especially your rates are definitely top of the range too at $85/hr.

so you're working at speakeasy? you sound like you're endorsing them alot.

i can record live, I've recorded an 8 piece disco/ska band with my korg D888+peavey 6 XLR channel mixer+behringer 5 XLR channel mixer live before. basically i'm catering to what the band wants. and of course, bands wanna record layer so it's cleaner and more flexible and of course do multi layer guitars. sometimes bands have 1 guitarist but the recording sounds like they got 5, whatever sounds good.

so yeah do let us hear some samples and tell us who you are. SOFT forum is one big friendly network.

budakbone : depends depends depends~~~ thats just a rough gauge.

bernardgoh : don't know, otpp seems to be talking about recording affordably at "pro studio" sound. but most of the time/threads keeping us guessing who he is and what's in store soon
 
4 hrs mastering at $85/hr for 1 song?! Even for 2 hrs at $170 per song.. Dun know of anyone doing it at that rate.. Pls Reveal your big name!!
 
Sounds interesting. Maybe for bands it'd be really sweet.

But i think for solo singer-songwriters like me, it'd be hard i guess. The songs that i (noob) mix on my website are like my really rough records. Thinking of making a demo but yeah, the cash part is kinda hard especially that $85/hr. That's a huge pinch.
 
speakeasy

yeah i do work at speak easy. sorry i thought that was obvious to the point i did not need to say. we use the studio at lion to record bands too.

look at the site www.speakeasy-digital.com

there is pics of the studio there too.

as for my music, i am recording 'the pinholes' this sunday (13/1/2007) at lion but for speakeasy. When thats done it will be all over, just chill and see.
 

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