What Kind of Studio Do You Need?

When you decide to record and release a song for the first time, it can be a daunting task to figure out how to go about it. The music industry has changed so much over the past thirty years that there’s more than a few ways of doing things. I’ve found that these days there are a few different kinds of studios that have wildly different ways of doing things. Here are the main kinds of studios you’ll find:

1. The pop/hip hop/electronic studio

2. The metal studio

3. The commercial studio

4. The project studio

1) The Pop/Hip Hop/Electronic Studio

Let me start off by saying that I am not very involved in hip hop or electronic music, so I have the least experience in these kinds of studios. But, I see a lot of these studios.

The Personnel

They are usually run by an engineer/beat producer. Beat production is an art native to hip hop where a beat producer creates and mixes a full backing track for a rapper who then adds lyrics to the backing track or “beat.”

The Facility

Probably in someone’s home or apartment

The Gear

They usually have a vocal mic, a computer, studio monitors (speakers), headphones, a recording interface of some kind, a DAW, and lots of midi instruments and plugins (software) that they can use to create electronic music for clients.

Strengths

These studios can be good for creating quick instrumental background tracks for rappers and pop artists, and recording vocals. Some will be able to deliver competitive mixes and masters.

Weaknesses

The main weakness is that they aren’t really set up to record instruments other than vocals. While they might technically be able to, they probably don’t do it very often and don’t have much experience working with musicians and instruments like real guitars, drums, basses, pianos, etc.

2) The Metal Studio

Even though metal bands that play live use real instruments, most metal music these days, similar to hip hop, is created “in the box” meaning that it’s relying heavily on software instruments like amp simulations and drum samples for its sound.

The Personnel

A studio that focuses on metal will probably be run by someone that actively plays in metal bands, or used to. They will probably be a guitarist or drummer turned engineer.

The Facility

Probably in someone’s home or apartment.

The Gear

They will probably have more experience and capability tracking real instruments than the hip hop/electronic studio. They will most likely have a vocal mic, some great amp simulators that enable you to get a variety of different guitar sounds quickly, and will have a library of metal drum samples that they can use to program drum parts.

The Strengths

A studio that’s focused on modern metal production will probably be able to get you really clean, powerful-sounding recordings/songs. They will be more accustomed to working with and coaching musicians, tracking and editing guitars and vocals than the electronic/hip hop studio. Some will be able to deliver high-quality mixes and masters.

The Weaknesses

Most metal-centric studios will be focused on making things sound as crisp and powerful as possible, which isn’t necessarily what every song needs. They also probably won’t have the ability to record high-quality acoustic drum performances.

Like any music that’s mostly made with software and heavily edited, it can be lacking in character, and end up sounding bland and lifeless.

3) The Commercial Studio

Commercial studios are traditionally what people have recorded in before technology gave rise to home studios.

The Personnel

A commercial facility, unlike a home studio focused on metal, hip hop, or electronic music, will have a variety of engineers and producers working out of it in a variety of genres, experience levels, and price points.

The Facility

Unlike the first two studios, the commercial studio will most likely feel like a professionally designed commercial space. It probably won’t be in a home, or even a residential area.

The Gear

A commercial studio will have a selection of classic analog outboard gear and a console of some sort. It will probably have real amps, drums, lots of microphone options, and separate rooms for tracking and mixing.

The Strengths

A commercial studio is great for a project that has a higher budget, and wants to instill their music with the vibe and character that real analog gear can add.

The Weaknesses

If you don’t have a large budget, and aren’t sure how you want your songs to sound, and don’t have lots of experience performing and recording, recording in a commercial space can be stressful and leave you with really well-recorded, badly performed recordings.

4) The Project Studio

A project studio is a studio owned by one musician/engineer that has one purpose: mixing, mastering, songwriting, film scoring, drum tracking, guitar tracking, etc. Many musicians and engineers these days have their own studios where they can do what they do best for clients.

The Personnel

A musician/engineer who specializes in one thing.

The Facility

Most likely in someone’s home or apartment

The Strengths

These days, many mix engineers, mastering engineers, and session musicians spend most of their time working out of their own dedicated project studios. Therefore, if you know what you want your song to sound like and know who can help you get it there, hiring different people from their different project studios for different parts of the project is a great way to get amazing results on a budget.

Weaknesses

If you aren’t sure what you are going for and aren’t good at communicating your musical ideas, project studios can be focused on speed and can deliver a product that isn’t what you really wanted. There also might be things that need to happen on your end in-order to make the product of a project studio work for your song.

For example, if you are hiring a musician remotely from their project studio, many times you will need to have their performances edited. If you were in a commercial studio, the engineer on the session might at least try to do some slight editing to make everything work.

Combining Strengths

These days, understanding the strength of a certain engineer, musician, or facility can help you get the best bang for your buck.

1) Arrange and produce in a producer’s project studio

When you are first getting your song together, it’s best to find a producer with a home studio where you can record vocals, scratch tracks, and make arrangement decisions. If the producer has any experience in your genre, they should be able to help you get your song headed in the right direction.

2) Hire remote musicians to add their instruments

Unless you get the impression that the producer has a great set-up for recording bass, guitar, drums, etc., it’s worth hiring someone with a project studio dedicated to that instrument to track parts remotely and send the files to your producer.

3) Record drums in a commercial studio

These days, there are lots of drummers with great home recording set-ups, but drums are the instrument that requires the most gear to get professional results. Most home studios owned by musicians can’t compete with commercial studios when it comes to outboard gear and instruments that can help drums sound amazing.

There’s a big caveat here: all that gear only helps if you have a great drummer. Even with a great drummer, you’ll still need to edit the performance. An amazing studio can never make up for bad performances and poor editing. A project studio that focuses on drums and a great drummer can sometimes offer better results.

4) Hire a great mixing engineer

These days, most great mixing engineers work from their own dedicated set-ups. Just because someone can record your song doesn’t mean that they’ll be able to create an amazing final mix. Before you let someone mix your song, you should ask to hear other songs they’ve mixed. If you don’t love their past work, and if you have the budget, it’s worth it to find a great mixing engineer who has mixed songs that you know and love.

5) Mastering

Some great mixing engineers will deliver mastered mixes, some don’t do that. Traditionally, hiring a dedicated mastering engineer is important to have a final master for distribution. A great mastering engineer will help your song sound appropriately loud for your genre (For pop, hip hop and heavy music that will be louder than acoustic/roots music).

What kind of studio is Red House?

I like to think of Red House as a balance between a producer’s home studio, and a project studio (I do a lot of remote drum session work) that can deliver results and an experience that punches above its weight.

I’m a drummer, and the studio began as a project studio for recording drums remotely and in person for artists and producers locally and around the world.

My wife, Lane Marie, is an artist and encouraged me to try to get into production so that I could help record and produce her songs.

These days, I split my time between recording, producing, mixing, and drum session work.

Genres Red House is good for

We specialize in indie rock, singer/songwriter, and alt-country music.

Weaknesses

We don’t really work on hip hop, EDM, or metal. Those genres are best served by people who are active in those scenes. While we respect and listen to those genres, we know they aren’t our sweet spot.

Strengths

Vocal tracking, drum tracking, editing, mixing. As a drummer, I have the most experience in music that uses real instruments - real drums, real guitars, etc. I focus on making music that is both authentic and organic and slick and modern.

I try and allow the artist to play an instrument on their songs, and I outsource instruments that I don’t play to experts who are going to fit each song the best.

How To Choose What's Right For You

There are a lot of factors that go into choosing the right environment for you to record and produce a song. Here are a few important things to check before you make your decision:

1) Does the main person you'll be working with have experience working in the genre your music most closely identifies with? You may feel like you can't put your music in a box, but engineers/producers who work primarily in different genres will approach your song(s) with vastly different approaches.

2) Are you more excited about recording organic performances from real instruments, or having someone build a more pristine, electronic track with midi instruments? Genres like modern pop, edm, and hip hop usually don't feature very many real instruments and are going to be easier to approach with more midi instruments than real instrumental performances by real musicians (in general).

3) What's your budget? Commercial studios are usually more expensive. They offer lots of nice gear and a fun collaborative experience.

4) Are you focused mainly on experience, or on efficiency? If you have the budget, know how commercial studios work, and are a great musician, and want to have a fun, "real studio" recording experience, then a commercial studio is going to be a great fit.

If you are trying to get the most bang for your buck and have the opportunity to really workshop your songs without breaking the bank, you might try a more project studio approach, or spend some time in a commercial studio, and some time in project studio.

Hopefully this post has given you some helpful things to think about when looking for the right producer, engineer, or studio to work with.

Interested in working with Red House? Send us a message on our get started form.