Building a recording studio

There is a joke in Nashville that people are going to start turning studios into houses. This of course is considered funny because it seems like every other house in Nashville either is a studio or has a studio in the basement. Even on the famed Music Row in Nashville, many of the studios are former houses.

At first glance, that is very inefficient–a huge waste of money that is beneficial only to the companies selling expensive recording equipment. There is some truth in that I’m sure. I have often laughed about that, but at the moment, I am building a recording studio in my basement.

You might wonder why so I will tell you. First of all, I am starting to record more and more. I plan to get two full projects done this year just for myself and I am producing a few others. On top of that, I like doing YouTube videos which also need good audio recording. If I went to studios to get all that done, it would cost me roughly $1,000/day ($500 for the studio rental and $500 for an engineer). Assuming that I spend two days in the studio per project, just my two projects alone would cost me $4,000 in studio time this year.

On top of that, I just like the idea of doing songs one at a time when I feel like it. The pressure in the studio to record song after song over the course of a few days is just brutal and honestly, you have to settle for things you really don’t want to settle for to stay on schedule.

For me, those two reasons make my recording studio sort of a no-brainer. Yes it is expensive, but it will pay for itself within a few years. I already have a recording quality piano (actually a better piano than you would find in 95% of studios) and I have the computer and software (iMac and Logic Pro) already. And I don’t need a wide assortment of microphones and other gear. I am going for professional recording quality at a level at or better than what I am used to but only within the narrow niche of recording piano. So the list of what I need is pretty limited. Here it is:

* Microphones ($2,000 – $3,000 for a pair)
* Preamp ($1500 – $2,000)
* Converter ($1500)
* Various cables and stands (a few hundred dollars)
* Plugins for Logic Pro (a few hundred dollars)
* A soundproofed room ($3,000 in soundproof materials and installation)
* Acoustical treatments to improve the sound within the room ($1,000)

I am not doing the traditional control room/recording room set up. I am just doing a big room with the computer at the piano so I can run everything myself. That is a new trend as technology has improved and it works very well.

To get my piano in the very best shape, I am currently having the hammers replaced and the action thoroughly regulated. That is another few thousand dollars. But at the end of the day, I will have a high end recording solution for between $10K and $15K and while that would not make sense for some, it makes a lot of sense for me. If I want to recoup the money faster, I can lease out the room to other pianists. Some are already asking in fact.

I hope to be done by the end of February and will try to post some pictures during the process.