How to record your DIY album for cheap...Making the Most with What You Have, a mindset to success.
Great music rarely needs more than a powerful performance to make itself memorable in our minds. Patsy Cline, Elvis, The Beatles: they all used gear that was "technically inferior" to what is available to us today. Many hits of that era recorded on two, three or four track recorders. Often in one performance! Not to mention the blues kings who came before them, who recorded to direct to wax or acetate.So, while we have the luxury of extreme hifi all around us, we still must ask, what makes some music special and some less so.
Below, is a link to my new album, which was made with the above mantra: Make the most of what you have. (By the way, if you put me on a spotify playlist, it's good karma! And it helps me continue to make music!)
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In my opinion, it is always the performance that cuts through. And this is why some artists can achieve success with less that perfect recordings. Historically, artists have rarely had the luxury of refining a recorded take to perfection. The performance was an artist's chance to be sure that the masses would hear what was in his or her heart. In a similar vein, there's also no such thing "Perfect" recording space. But there are places that can be perfect for you to record your music. Likely those places are nearby you. Maybe it's your bedroom, or garage? If you have a budget, perhaps a studio.
Also, what tools do you need? Start by taking stock of what tools you have. Totally acceptable results can be had for very little money... You could make an album on your smartphone! Or, a boombox, VHS recorder, flash camera recorder; each day the tools available to the general public become more and more powerful. You CAN record an album for cheap! But...don't "cheap out" on your performance!
And that brings us to the 1990's, when this gem of a four track tape recorder was refined.
If you have a 4 track tape cassette recorder and a standard stereo cassette recorder, you could make an all "analog" release! Or, record the four tracks to your computer(or iPad!) and do a digital release!
The key is to know your material and spend some time making recordings in whatever space is available to you. Keep listening back to the results and think about which recordings sound better, and why? Before long, you'll have the confidence to record your music in a way that's pleasing to you!
Here's a little taste of four track quality. Drums on tracks 1 and 2, Rhythm guitar, track 3, Solo on track 4. That's it!
If you came from my youtube page, the above link is the mastered version(mixed down directly to an Otari MX5050 BII Tape recorder...
So don't get caught up in what you don't have, make the most of what you DO have! And no matter what, focus on the performance, since that's what we're all listening for anyway.
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