How to Promote Your Home Recording Studio Online
Once you’re setup and operational, it’s time to capitalize on your new investment. This article will show you how to profit from your home recording studio.
You’ve created not only a place to record your music, but also a great resource for musicians in your area. When you rent out your studio you will create a little income and make some great connections at the same time. Remember, this is a relationship based industry. The simplest and most effective method to market your studio is to use the internet.
To get you started, find below some useful techniques on how to promote your home recording studio on the World Wide Web:
Build a website or a blog – Prior to going out and spreading the news about your business, it’s a smart idea to have a dedicated website or blog for your music. Doing so provides a place where your potential customers can browse your contact info, services, equipment, fees, etc. When creating your website or blog, it’s also highly suggested to use keywords on your web content and other SEO (Search Engine Optimization) practices to attract traffic from various musicians searching for a recording studio.
Publish on free online classified ads – Posting free online classified ads is an incredible way to promote your home recording studio and obtain numerous would-be clients. To do this, you simply need to create some interesting and catchy classified ads; search online for sites offering free classified space; sign up with a number of these sites and post your ads with a link back to your website. Monitor and update your ads as needed. You can also publish your ads according to your location. Register with at least one site that exclusively deals with businesses situated in your city or town, so you can target musicians looking for a home music studio in your area. Craigslist is perhaps the best place to find classified ads; be sure to get your name advertised there.
Take advantage of Twitter/MySpace/Facebook – These top social networking sites can be a gold mine if you invest some time to use them wisely. They provide a great opportunity to connect with different musicians and bands. You can begin following all the local artists and engineers you know, and gradually grow your set of contacts. You want people to easily find out about you and your home recording studio, so get out there and create an online presence. Besides, these sites offer free registration, so you definitely have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
These are just some of the many ways you can promote your home recording studio online. The revenue possibilities via the cyber-highway are vast, and most are even free of charge, such as article marketing and online forums, to name a couple. Thanks to advancement in technology, you can effortlessly get a return on your investment using the Internet.
Six Common Home Recording Studio Setup Mistakes
As much as you want to immediately begin with your home recording studio setup, you need to hold on to your excitement to avoid the mistakes which most newbies make. When you think about it, a home music studio is a great investment—and you want to make sure your time, effort, and money are all worth it, and not wasted on unnecessary blunders.
Here are some of the most common mistakes that you should stay away from:
Spending too much – Before breaking the bank and spending more money than you need to, step back and ask yourself what equipment you truly need. Oftentimes, people think that they must have all the latest, coolest gear to make great music. The truth is that you may end up with a lot of equipment that you paid for but never end up using. Just because it’s the most modern technology out there and it received a lot of hype, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s suitable for your project. However, you can splurge on some of the essentials, such as a good microphone.
Wrong choice of room – You need to be wise in choosing a room for your home recording studio. It should not be located next to your neighbors’ bedroom, as you might just end up disturbing them or not being able to create music with much volume. Avoid square rooms if at all possible since square rooms will have certain frequencies that will resonate more than rectangular ones. Now, if the room is too small, the sound will bounce more around the room. It is also more difficult to achieve good acoustics in a small room.
Not soundproofing – If your studio drives other people mad, it is not going to be a convenient place to work in. It should have zero or as little unwanted noise as possible, especially on the microphone tracks. Also, if sound from the outside disturbs your monitoring, or gets onto your recording, then you are not going to get quality results. Eliminate undesirable noises, such as traffic, pets, air conditioning, heating, etc.
Fewer furnishings – You need to add furnishings to your home music studio because the fewer furnishings present, the more reverberation can be heard. While some people like some kind of room echo on their recordings, most of the time you won’t want any at all. To test, clap your hands. If you can hear the resonance right after you clap, you may want to add some more soft furnishings like curtains, carpets or cushions that will be helpful in soaking up these reverberations, diminishing the sound.
Wrong placement of speakers – The speakers must not be positioned in the corners of your home recording studio, as this will further highlight the bass. As much as possible, eliminate surfaces and objects between you and the speakers, as reflections (called early reflections) will bounce from the speaker on these surfaces to your ear. They must be facing towards you at around ear level, with some distance between the left and right speakers and some distance between you and the speakers forming a triangular shape. The speakers must be roughly 1.5 meters apart from each other and about 1 meter away from you.
Wrong position of equipment – All equipment needs to be set-up to give you a comfy and dynamic environment. Everything needs to be accessible; place your MIDI controller somewhere so you can still see your screen and play simultaneously.
Keeping in mind these unwanted mistakes will certainly help you create quality music comparable to commercial studios. Learn these things by heart, and in no time you will be on your way to establishing your dream home recording studio.
Can you Really Run a Recording Studio From your PC?
It all began with the four-track cassette recorders, which was one of the first signs of a recording transition. Today, it’s easier than ever to record music independently. Thanks to modern technology, any musician with a few bucks can have an awesome PC recording studio.
Find out how below:
First off, you’ll have to get some music production software for your computer. There are tons of packages available on the market today, so do some shopping first to find something you want. If you’re a Mac user, you most likely have GarageBand already installed on your computer. This is an entry-level, simple to use software, which enables you to instantly start creating music. If you’re a PC user, you should choose a program like Fruity Loops for starters. If you want to take it to greater heights, go for a program, such as Cubase, Pro Tools or Logic.
After installing your chosen software, there are plenty of methods to start recording music. In fact, you can even create music with nothing more than your computer by just editing some loops together. You can also include effects and compose arrangements this way, but just remember that this is a technical and non-spontaneous technique.
Next, you need to get a midi keyboard so that you can manage the virtual instruments on your computer. There are several types of virtual synths available and once you plug a midi keyboard to your computer, it lets you play any of these instruments in real time.
You can also produce and record music the conventional way by connecting a microphone to your computer and adding live instruments and vocals to the mix. What’s wonderful about music production software is that it allows you to readily combine virtual instruments, real instruments and vocals. For example, you may lay down a beat with a virtual drum kit, set some background using a virtual synth and then record live acoustic guitar plus vocals. You can merge all these tracks, adjusting the track volumes and adding effects until you come up with a professional quality recording.
As soon as you’ve recorded your music, you can export it as a digital file, like MP3 or WAV. From there, you can upload it to a website; play it on your computer or burn it to a CD.
In this age of technology revolution, almost anything is possible, even in managing a recording studio. Nowadays, you don’t need much to become a budding recording artist of producer if you wish. You can smoothly imitate a fully functional recording studio at home, which can as well be utilized for everything from multi-track recording to audio editing and even music scoring for videos.
