Members Primal Yell Posted January 6, 2010 Members Share Posted January 6, 2010 **Please share your thoughts :idea:about the definition and purpose of a project studio , or, maybe, your Attitude or personal Philosophy about the project studio. Or, What it a Project Studio is NOT For.... (..... I'm distracted ---off in tangents like technology and gear slutiness, and gear lust, other vices.... ---looking to change attitude....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jchas Posted January 6, 2010 Members Share Posted January 6, 2010 It seems mine is much the same as yours - constant state of flux.I've been doing it for quite a few years - starting with how many vintage keyboards could I fit in my room (this was before they were vintage thank God). Then, when I realized I couldn't write a good song if my life depended on it and would be better off recording others - I sold off the keyboards and thought I could get a compete setup (drums, bass, guitars, keys, mics) enough to make everybody happy. When I realized that was pretty much an impossibility I decided to liquidate (less is definately more) and go for a few quality pieces that could do sooo much. Now I have a few good signal chains, a couple hi quality keyboards, and a nice relaxed and efficient atmosphere.I resist trying to keep up with technology - it changes too fastI resist slutiness - you will never have all the best stuffI resist gear lust - buy what I NEED not what I want.I get good results and a great deal of happiness with the room I have, the gear I have, and the skill I have - I have no intentions of trying to be more than a hi-end hobbyist and have no regrets. I have made wonderfull friends with the same passion I have for music, and can use my equipment and my skills to help others with a dream of making music. I can charge as much as I want, or ask for nothing at all. I've been busy for years and have never bothered to run an ad - work finds me. I can accept it or turn it down based on talent level, moral compass - or for no reason what-so-ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members korgan Posted January 6, 2010 Members Share Posted January 6, 2010 I'd say ultimately a project studio is one that (being your project) you don't rely on for your main (or any) source of income. If you can afford to record others for free, I'd say it qualifies as a "project studio." You may have a $99 usb interface and an old PC with a P3 inside of it, or you may have a professionally designed and treated control room and a live room with cathedral ceilings behind an HD3 rig, either way if you are still a heart surgeon then the studio is your project. I'd relate it to fixing up an old car. If you run a garage then fixing an old car is probably not a project for you, but if you own a studio then restoring a '66 Mustang is just a project. My project studio dream is to have the best gear I can and learn to be the best engineer I can, despite the fact that I don't necessarily plan on running a studio professionally. I'm pretty set on instruments for now, nice keyboard, acoustic guitar, couple of brass instruments, good drum set (I'd like to get a better set of shells as I just sold my Reference kit) so my next step is to get better recording gear. In the mean time I'd like take some engineering courses as my ears are good but my skills may not be nearly as wonderful. As life continues I'll continue to accrue gear that will improve my recording and monitoring quality. It will always be a "project studio," but hopefully one day the stars will align and I will be able to open up shop as a "for profit" studio. Even if that day comes, though, it still won't be my "day job" thus keeping it in the category of project studio. To answer your question in the format you're probably looking for, a project studio is small, maybe taking up less than one room. The gear is most likely pro-sumer, its center piece being a keyboard or computer. Enough to record <_ tracks simultaneously and enough room for a drum set. i say that would cover the picture in most people head when someone says project studio.> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Primal Yell Posted January 7, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 It seems mine is much the same as yours - constant state of flux.I resist trying to keep up with technology - it changes too fastI resist slutiness - you will never have all the best stuffI resist gear lust - buy what I NEED not what I want.I get good results and a great deal of happiness with the room I have, the gear I have, and the skill I have - I have no intentions of trying to be more than a hi-end hobbyist and have no regrets. I have made wonderfull friends with the same passion I have . beautiful words. simply beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Primal Yell Posted January 7, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 rig, either way if you are still a heart surgeon then the studio is your project. I'd relate it to fixing up an old car. If you run a garage then fixing an old car is probably not a project for you, but if you own a studio then restoring a '66 Mustang is just a project. My project studio dream is to have the best gear I can and learn to be the best engineer I can, . I like the analogy, and wish for a nearer-first class signal chain, but i better get ahold of this gear lust. Sure would like a u47 copy or 251 tube mic, but , I really only originally wanted to get a setup for demo songs! Never had the slightest desire for a u47 back then. On the other hand, a u47 copy would make me feel glamourous--like paul , like the beatles. and feelings and ego and glamour are part of that ......... The original purpose was simple, demos, and I have a setup suited for demo work. But somehow my purpose became twisted involving ongoing gear lust cycles. dreaming and feeding the gear lust. No getting down to the business of making demos. Its not easy to "just say no" to it--How did you guys Conquer the gear Lust Merry-Go-Round ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jchas Posted January 7, 2010 Members Share Posted January 7, 2010 Its not easy to "just say no" to it--How did you guys Conquer the gear Lust Merry-Go-Round ?? I have a simple mantra I recite each time I find myself lusting, it goes something like this: " I am the master of my domain and there is NOTHING stopping me from having ALL the BEST gear money can buy - but then what will I blame my sounds imperfection on? " I do have some quality gear, and I 'think' I have some skill, but I don't deceive myself that there aren't some holes in my sound - most notably my 50-year old ears. I could throw good money after bad at it, or continue to have fun trying to make what I have work.More than happy to send you a sample if you'd like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil O'Keefe Posted January 7, 2010 Share Posted January 7, 2010 I wrote this as the welcome post to my Project Studio forum over on the Musicplayer forums back in 2004. Six years later, I think a lot of it still applies: So, what IS a "project studio" anyway? Or a "home" studio? Or a "pro" or "commercial" studio? It's really difficult to say in an absolute way.... the lines are sometimes pretty grey. But I think most of you get it pretty well... it's not so much about the gear as it is about the PEOPLE. Traditionally, a commercial studio is a "for hire facility", and while they provide a support staff, rooms and gear, most of the projects being done there come in with their own producer and first engineer... IOW, you're renting the "room" and the "gear" as well as support staff (second engineers, runners to go get your pizza and pornos, maintenance engineers to calibrate your 2 track analog deck how you want it, etc.), but the engineer and producer are usually "outside" cats. Home studios are typically, well, at home. Back in the day before "project studio" was a common term, you either had a home studio or a commercial studio - with any setup - no matter how elaborate - located at a home being described as a "home studio". Problem was, as the gear started improving and becoming more readily available at more affordable prices, and as things started getting more sophisticated insofar as some of these "home" setups, calling them a "home studio" gave people the wrong impression. After all, the quality had reached the point where people could - and were - doing TV theme music, movie soundtracks, jingles, and even albums in these "home studios", but calling it that hardly generated a positive image in the mind of some of the "suits". Anyway, I THINK I first read the term in the pages of the early EQ magazines... I can't say who came up with it, but it might have been someone at EQ. In any case, they certainly helped popularize it. A project studio, as Jeff the marketing weasel mentioned, can be as simple as a old Portastudio in a corner of a spare bedroom all the way up to SSL and Neve equipped rooms. They might be at home, or in someone's warehouse space or in a commercial building somewhere. The difference is, IMO, the people. Clients who hire a project studio are oftentimes less interested in the room or the gear... they're hiring YOU. Obviously the gear and the room are important, but assuming a certain level of quality that is appropriate for the job at hand, the important element is the people. They're usually not going to be bringing in an outside engineer, and many times not a producer either. That's where you come in. You're almost always involved, in one way or another, with all the projects coming out of your "project studio". Project studios have been used for doing overdubs on major label records (costs less than renting the big rooms), jingles, TV theme music, soundtracks, the new CD project for the owner's band, etc. etc. Is a project studio "pro"? You bet! Just because it's not in a big commercial building somewhere doesn't mean you can't get pro results from some of the gear out there these days. That's not to knock the big rooms - there's still a lot of advantages to major studios. But what you CAN do in a project studio nowadays - again, assuming a certain level of gear (and more importantly, skill on the part of the owner / operator) is pretty staggering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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