Home recording in 2021 sure is different to when I started doing it in the 90’s. One of the best ways I ever found to improve and expand my playing was to start recording myself. This is also pretty helpful if you happen to also be a songwriter. These days home recording can produce professional results with little more than a laptop, a mic, a few cables and some software. It’s something you can easily do and you really should.
Like most people my age my first experiments with home recording were conducted on really basic tape recorders. The only way you could multitrack in any way was if your mate also had one. Then you could play back a recording on one machine and re-record it on another while adding an other sound at the same time. You could continue this process several times before the sound quality became completley unlistenable. It sounds unbelievabley primitive now but its basically what Elvis, the Beatles and their contemporaries did for decades until multi track recording was born.
When I was in my late teens/eary twenties and living in a caravan on a hebridean island, I invested in a second hand 4 track tape recorder and a little drum machine. They proved to be a fabulous investment. I had a method of playing in time and could record several guitar tracks on top of each other. I wrote a number of songs and definitely became a better player overall. In fact years later my first bands recorded live demos on similar little recorders. One of those demos, recorded warts n all in a barn with a few microphones, almost got us a record deal.
The Digital Revolution And Home Recording
Of course tape is now more or less a thing of the past. Although I still miss the intangible “warmth” of tape recording, the digital revolution really opened up home recording possibilities. Now in a serious band with my music and life partner Mo, we moved on first to a digital 8 track recorder and then to a 24 track digital workstation. Our tiny one bedroom flat on Glasgow’s south side quickly filled with equipment. We had an eletronic drum kit and several flight cases filled with compressors and effects processors. We had an old midi sequencer set up too with a sampler and several keyboards.
Fast forward just a few years and I can do everything on my Macbook and Logic Pro. I have plugins for everything from drums to guitar amps that sound amazing. I laugh when I think of how I used to have to record and mix our drummer with 8 mics.
There is a danger in getting into all this stuff too though. I found myself wearing too many hats. I was writing songs and playing guitar in the band – enough of a job in itself. Over time though I also became the recording engineer, producer and midi programmer. I love all of these roles but it is hard to do all of them well at the same time! Its much easier now though when you dont have to spend hours setting up a ton of heavy equipment.
Home Recording 2021 – Where To Start?
If I was starting out now, depending on my budget, I’d do one of two things. If money was tight, I’d buy the modern, digital equivalent of my old Tascam 4 track and Roland TR606 drum machine. Whatever those are – an ipad probably – they will be much better than what I had then. If I had more cash I’d go for what I have now: A Macbook pro with Logic pro X, a Focusrite interface, a midi controller/keyboard and Ezdrummer2. I’m assuming you’d already have a few mics and cables.
I also have a Boss GT100 amp simulator and fx processor but to be honest some of the Logic amps and FX are absolutley awesome. These are my personal choices but there are plenty of alternatives out there.
Home recording for me these days is usually done in our living room. I now make music as part of a duo – just me and my other half who is a talented singer, bassist and guitarist. She also started learning cello a year or so ago.
My Home Recording Process
We start by jamming out ideas on acoustic guitars. Then I create a new Logic project and find a beat in Ezdrummer to get us started. I’ve also used Logic’s drummer function which is excellent – especially if you have an arrangement plotted out first. See my article on Ezdrummer here.
I’ll then plug my Focusrite 2i4 into the Mac and lay a guide guitar track down. I’ll either use the Boss GT100 for a sound or i’ll use one of the 4 or 5 Logic guitar sounds I like. I like using the arrange window in Logic as that lets me move song parts around easily. When we are happy with the arrangement, Mo puts down a guide vocal. Usually since its a scratch track, she’ll just do it with an SM58 through the Focusrite.
With a basic arrangement and guide vocal recorded we now start to flesh out the song. Acoustic guitar parts are recorded with one of my small condenser mics or D.I’d – sometimes both. I double the parts and pan them left and right. Electric guitars and bass are recorded as described earlier. For cello parts I use a condenser mic a couple of feet away and a dynamic mic close to the F hole. Keyboards are either D.I audio from our ancient Korg X3 or midi’d Logic sounds. I recently got the BBC Symphony orchestra sample pack from Spitfire Audio and use that a lot for string parts.
Recording “In The Box”
Now Mo will record the final vocal parts. This is the only part of the process done in a different room. I use my SE electronics SE2200a large diaphragm condensor for vocals. It’s usually set up in my small studio room which also has a green wall for videos. The room isn’t acoustically treated but we get by with a pop shield in front of the mic and a thick coat hung behind it on a boom stand. I usually put a compressor and a nice reverb (Logic Pro) on the input to help her get a feel and to avoid distortion.
Modern “in the box” recording on DAWs like Logic Pro and Protools gives you so many options and possibilities at both the the recording and mixing stages. These days its common practice particularly with vocals – to do composite recordings. You record multiple takes then assemble a track from the best parts. We have tried this but find its a lot of extra work. Mo prefers to just keep trying till she is happy with her parts. We do record verses, chorus’s and backing vox seperately though and cut and paste repeated sections.
Is It Cheating?
This ability to cut, paste and manipulate audio and midi is one feature of digital that I do fully leverage. Like Mo, I’ll do a number of passes till I’m happy with rythm parts, riffs and repeated phrases. I’ll usually just do one of each though and will cut and paste wherever I can. I build guitar solos in the same way. I also use some of the timing and automation tools. I’ve never used autotune but it’s in there. You have to be careful with all this stuff though as you can easily lose any feel and start sounding programmed. Some musical genres call for that feel though, so if that’s what you need, its all there.
Eventually the song is assembled. To finish it I usually go back to Ezdrummer and create a proper drum track. The single drum pattern that we built the song around now gets intro, verse, chorus, bridge and outro parts along with some fills and percussion parts.
Finally its time to mix, master and export the song into a format suitable for Soundcloud, Bandcamp or CD. This is a whole subject in itself so I won’t go into detail here.
The Song Remains The Same
We usually do our mixing in our living room. I have a set of Alesis nearfield monitors which sit on acoustic pads atop a pair of custom built stands. I position them in front of the coffee table the Mac sits on. Then I feed one set of outputs from the Focusrite to the monitors and another to our separates hifi system’s amp and speakers. Long story short we listen to both and headphones as we mix until we are happy with what we hear.
Home recording has come a very long way in the many years I’ve been doing it. As a guitarist, band member and writer it has been a priceless journey. I still fondly remember sitting in that caravan with my two little boxes of tricks. Ironically after going from that to whole rooms full of equipment, I’m basically back to two little boxes. The boxes are cleverer but the spirit is the same.
