How did you start your studios............?

[ceeelow]

I'd like to hear some stories about how you started your studios. Any funny stories of your first attmepts at "PRO" recording or any unbalivable things no one would believe kind of stories. Also, maybe some facts about how you got it off the ground, where you started it (parents basement?).

Ok, ready.....set.....go

[JGriffin]

Mine has a crank at the front, and you have to be really careful to get your hand out of the way when it turns over, 'cause it cranks back a bit and can break your arm if you're not careful.

But then, I'm really old.

more seriously, I had a studio in the mid-90s that grew out of a rehearsal room in a basement. One of us had a tascam 48 and we used it to demo songs. We mostly recorded local band demos for friends. My current home studio grew mainly out of a desire to get the hell out of my work studio at a decent hour, and to be able to stumble out of bed at 4 am and put a song idea down on something more sophisticated than an answering machine. Wish I had better stories for you, but there it is.

One tale about the basement studio: some neighbor used to call the cops on us a lot. It seemed no matter how quietly we played the cops would show up within an hour of starting a session or rehearsal. We got to know the local police quite well. They were always very friendly, mainly because we were always polite and cooperative. One day we decided to do a little experiment: we made a big show of everyone in the band getting out of their cars with their guitars and such, and walking into the house...then we set all the guitars, still in their cases, in the center of the rehearsal room, opened some coca-colas and sat down. Sure enough, 35 minutes later the cops were at the door saying, "noise complaint again guys." They laughed their asses off when we told them we hadn't played a note all afternoon. "Somebody in this neighborhood sure has a hard-on for you guys," one of them said.

Another time, it rained in February and the basement flooded, as the ground was still frozen and the water had to find someplace to go. All our gear was set up for a rehearsal, we had a show that night...3 feet of freezing cold water and basses and toms were just floating by. I waded across the basement to start picking up gear, looked down and saw the orange glow of a power strip shining up at me through the water. Fun! We only lost two or three pieces of gear, amazingly.

[wayne kerr]

with two million dollars. now i have one million.



CC
PP

[housepig]

it all started with a Tascam Porta-05, and I just keep adding on from there.... just finished my first project that went Beyond the Valley of 16 Tracks (started on ADAT, then dumped into CoolEdit for overdubs).

how I got the Tascam was funny... I used to go to a store in Springfield VA called Veneman's. And I got absolutely no service, because it was obvious that I had very little money, so getting someone to sell me strings or picks or cables was like pulling teeth.

So when I went 4-track shopping, I made sure I had a pocket full of $20's. I walked in, got no response from anyone I asked for help. So I stood in the middle of the shop, took out my stack and started counting it. In seconds, I had one guy from every department asking "how can I help you, sir?"

Even funnier - years later, after I dropped a whole lot of money in their stores, I was known in their system and was MR. Housepig all of a sudden. I was in the Springfield store buying a sampler, and told the guy that story. He remarked how screwed that was, and how they had a lot of bad apples previously in the store, and how that would never happen these days....

I didn't have the heart to tell him that he was one of the first guys in line when I pulled out those $20's.

[wayne kerr]

I didn't have the heart to tell him that he was one of the first guys in line when I pulled out those $20's.

fukkn classic!

[prince turbo lung]

i go to the point as an "artist" (man that term sucks) where my only real interest was to create recordings, not to play live, tour, deal with selling records anymore. i had a 4 track about 7 years ago but alway felt limited. about 4 years ago i bought a 1/2" 8 track a mackie 1604, rode nt2, neumann tlm 103, 3 sm57s, some cheap headphones and cheap powered monitors. i read every book i could buy online or checkout at the library. i also read every post on this board and other similar boards and posted tons of questions. i recorded first myself then gradually other bands (for free of course) then the girlfriend got into grad school at vanderbuilt and i moved from the west to the south. i am still in the same boat, i record myself and others for real cheap or free. the only difference is i have about $20,000+ worth of gear and Know a little bit more....and i still love it!

[thecongostudio]

I had my first major experience as a junior in High school and I went into a pro studio and it changed my views on everything. Our producer/engineer Steve Austin of Today is the Day, totally took me under his wing (and I am presently assistant engineer at his studio). I knew I had to work on a home studio to be able to record what I wanted when I wanted. At the time I was interested, I inherited a CRAPLOAD of money, and blew it all out on recording gear....some SM-57s, AKG C1000s, a Fostex R8 and a yamaha 8 channel board. People eventually learned I had a studio and then I became an alternative to all the local bands in our area. So far I have gone over 4 different recording formats, and I am still going strong. I just sold my ADATs, and bought an Apple G4 and a MOTU 24 I/O, and I'm presently saving up for a 16 track analog deck or a Soundcraft Ghost.

[Professor]

The story of my personal setup may seem kinda boring (though occasionally enviable). I started buying a few pieces as a music performance major in undergrad school. The usual stuff like my first Tascam 424, etc. I was used to recording recitals and similar live concerts at school so I aimed long range and tried to make sure I would buy high quality portable gear as I went that would eventually work its way into a nice system when I finished school. Sony D-8 portable DAT, borrowed mics & preamp until I got my first AT-4050, then a little DBX preamp, then a Lexicon MPX-100 for my keyboard setup at home, then another AT-4050. Then I finished undergrad school and started working full time at an A/V store that had a Pro-Shop and was able to get my first DA-78 below dealer cost and pre-release! The business side of things started and ended with live location recording but along the way grew to be an 8-track portable system, then 16-tracks. At one point I won a magazine contest (Live Sound Magazine) and received a Spirit 324-Digital with two Mic/Line expansion boxes - sold the board, kept the preamps for the 78s. About a year and a half ago, a home theater customer gave me a Tascam M-3700 32x8 VCA-automated console as a tip - yes, really he gave it to me because he wasn't using it anymore and it is still upstairs. So things grew in strange ways into a pretty slick system that is presently between homes.

The more humorous and definitely enviable story is the current job...
About 5 years ago the university built a new addition to their music school building adding two more floors to the top which included a snazzy Russ Berger designed Studio space on the top floor. But they ran out of money and couldn't equip it until last year. They had around $125k set aside but knew they would need more and were able to get a grant from the co-founder of Microsoft for $625k. They threw half of that into an endowment to generate upkeep money (about $3500 per quarter) and set the rest aside for the initial purchase. Then they hired me last year, and I showed up to work at an empty professionally designed studio, was handed the keys and a budget of around $400k and have purchased and installed the whole system from the ground up. I didn't pick out the $85,000 nine-foot piano, that was put in before I arrived and was given the budget, and while it's nice, I would have gone with a 7'. But everything else is shiny & new. Red leather couch is on order and should be in soon.

-Jeremy

[Kevin Kitchel]

I had my first major experience as a junior in High school and I went into a pro studio and it changed my views on everything. Our producer/engineer Steve Austin of Today is the Day, totally took me under his wing (and I am presently assistant engineer at his studio). I knew I had to work on a home studio to be able to record what I wanted when I wanted. At the time I was interested, I inherited a CRAPLOAD of money, and blew it all out on recording gear....some SM-57s, AKG C1000s, a Fostex R8 and a yamaha 8 channel board. People eventually learned I had a studio and then I became an alternative to all the local bands in our area. So far I have gone over 4 different recording formats, and I am still going strong. I just sold my ADATs, and bought an Apple G4 and a MOTU 24 I/O, and I'm presently saving up for a 16 track analog deck or a Soundcraft Ghost.

Don't buy the ghost, or your recordings will sound like Steve's recording of When Forever Comes Crashing! Great record, but the Ghost doesn't have that VIBE! I record a lot of metal, and I prefer the internal mixer on my computer to the Ghost. If you're the guy from the grind band id, don't do it! Get some good mic pres and stay in the computer!

[thecongostudio]

Don't buy the ghost, or your recordings will sound like Steve's recording of When Forever Comes Crashing! Great record, but the Ghost doesn't have that VIBE! I record a lot of metal, and I prefer the internal mixer on my computer to the Ghost. If you're the guy from the grind band id, don't do it! Get some good mic pres and stay in the computer!

Thanks for the tip man, I appreciate it. I really dig the way that board sounds, but odds are I'll end up with the analog deck. Record to the deck, and then dump it all into the computer. I am the dude from the band id., and it's a trip that you know about me, althought it's far from grind, still it's weird

[Kevin Kitchel]

I'm thinking of the grind band id. From New Hampshire.

[thecongostudio]

oh no...thats a different band. our id. was different...oh well

[moogplayer]

got a credit card or two in 1993, bought up all I could, am now debt-free as of 3 months ago. I wouldn't suggest this route

[aeser]

oh no...thats a different band. our id. was different...oh well

ha ha i am in the new hampshire grind band id.

by "was" do you mean you're no longer together?

[thecongostudio]

yeah...bass player became a complete jackass, singer stopped showing up, and i formed a few new bands...and i'm glad it died when it did....