Members sb_stefan Posted February 7, 2010 Members Share Posted February 7, 2010 First of all I gotta say that I don't want anything to do with technical equipment myself, I just wanna walk into a building and record my songs. Two tracks acoustic guitar and two vocal tracks, that's it. Where can I find a walk-in recording studio in say New York City? Does those places exist at all? Like back in the day when Elvis and those dudes just walk in and recorded their song for a couple of $ and then left with a tape in their hand. Or do I have to choose between learning the equipment myself (which really isn't an option) or pay a lot of money for a REAL studio (which REALLY is no option)? I just wanna have my songs on tape, it doesn't have to be super good sound quality. But I DO wanna be able to add tracks like background vocals and such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nerol1st Posted February 7, 2010 Members Share Posted February 7, 2010 You should be able to call up a studio and make and appointment for this. Sounds like that could be banged out in a few hours honestly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members sb_stefan Posted February 7, 2010 Author Members Share Posted February 7, 2010 You should be able to call up a studio and make and appointment for this. Sounds like that could be banged out in a few hours honestly. For how much $? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 First of all I gotta say that I don't want anything to do with technical equipment myself, I just wanna walk into a building and record my songs. Two tracks acoustic guitar and two vocal tracks, that's it. Where can I find a walk-in recording studio in say New York City? Does those places exist at all? Like back in the day when Elvis and those dudes just walk in and recorded their song for a couple of $ and then left with a tape in their hand. Or do I have to choose between learning the equipment myself (which really isn't an option) or pay a lot of money for a REAL studio (which REALLY is no option)? I just wanna have my songs on tape, it doesn't have to be super good sound quality. But I DO wanna be able to add tracks like background vocals and such. You have a lot of options... a simple four track hardware recorder would alolw you to do it yourself for not much money and with a relatively easy learning curve - most modern units of that type (such as the Tascam DP-004 or the Boss Micro BR) are designed for use by musicians, not engineers, and their sound quality should be more than enough for your needs. Either one would set you back about $200. Just add headphones and a guitar... If you don't want to do it yourself at all, then look in the yellow pages, or on Craigslist under "recording studio" or "recording services - sound and video". Or you can do similar keyword Google searches for studios in your local area. Studios come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and price ranges... not to mention technical capabilities and quality of the gear, engineer experience / skill levels, and quality of the room acoustics. All are important to the outcome of the recording, but the lower your expectations are, the more likely you can find something local for very reasonable money. It's the "walk in" part that you're probably going to have a problem with... most studios work on a schedule / appointment basis; there really aren't many you can walk into off the street and start tracking a few minutes later. You may get lucky and find someone who just had a cancellation or has some free time, but that's not really the norm. You may also have a problem with the "tape" part too... most stuff is delivered on CD, or as a digital file on a thumb drive or whatever. Not a lot of studios are still using tape. Many of the really low budget places are probably running everything off of their single computer and don't have an analog tape deck. They'd burn you a CD of your stuff at the end of the session. Ask for two - and put one away someplace safe. Then if you ever lose the first one, or it gets damaged, you'll have a "back up" copy you can use to make a couple of new clones from. If you have any problems finding a place in your area, let me know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted February 7, 2010 Share Posted February 7, 2010 For how much $? Again, it depends on the "studio". You might find some college kid who's studying recording (especially if you're in a larger city like New York) who would do it for noodles, beer and the experience / practice. There's probably guys doing it in a spare room of their home who would do it for $15-25 per hour... larger rooms like mine might cost you $50-75 an hour, but really, any half way competent small local studio should be able to do what you want and do it reasonably quickly and inexpensively - assuming you can perform the song the way you want and not make a ton of mistakes. The better prepared and rehearsed you are, the faster it will go, the less it will ultimately cost (since most studios charge by the hour / day as opposed to "per project"), and generally, the better it will sound and "feel". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members UstadKhanAli Posted February 7, 2010 Members Share Posted February 7, 2010 There's probably guys doing it in a spare room of their home who would do it for $15-25 per hour... I have a home studio, and I'm about $20-25/hour typically. I get a great sound with singer/songwriters, although the sure as heck ain't gonna knock on my door and expect to record right away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nerol1st Posted February 7, 2010 Members Share Posted February 7, 2010 If you are rehearsed it should be cheap. If not well... There was a local Jazz artist that walked into the studio where I interned ($55 an hour) and banged out 7 tracks in 3 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Nick Posted February 12, 2010 Members Share Posted February 12, 2010 If you are rehearsed it should be cheap. If not well...There was a local Jazz artist that walked into the studio where I interned ($55 an hour) and banged out 7 tracks in 3 hours. those jazz cats are always so quick - great fun to work with them 'cos they always seem to know exactly what they want. I know lots of guys who religiously practice 3+ hours a day, so there's really not much reason for them not to have their {censored} together - love it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members AluminumFalcon Posted February 16, 2010 Members Share Posted February 16, 2010 If you're looking just to record acoustic guitar and vocals you should be able to find a decent small studio setup for a decent price. Like some previous members stated, check out the craigslist, music store posting, and find something that suits your budget. I remember back in school I used to record singer-soundwriters for beer money. Oh the good old days... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MusicianMaker Posted March 9, 2010 Members Share Posted March 9, 2010 Thought I had enough money to go to the studio for a session on pay day. Turned out I had to go to http://www.paydayone.com to pay for my 2 hour session. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted March 10, 2010 Share Posted March 10, 2010 Thought I had enough money to go to the studio for a session on pay day. Turned out I had to go to http://www.paydayone.com to pay for my 2 hour session. Must have been a pretty expensive studio. Better to save up for it than to pay one of those places the interest rates they charge. IMO, they're practically legalized loan sharks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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