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Welcome!  You have arrived at

 

Tweakheadz Lab's

GUIDE to the
Home and Project Studio

How to put together a less expensive Recording Studio that Rivals  Professional Studio Sound

OK, so you are new.  You have an idea of making and producing your own music.  And you feel inspired.   Perhaps you are a seasoned musician, tired of paying someone else to produce your music.  Perhaps you are building a studio to record your band.  Or you are into producing audio for video, film, podcasts.  Maybe you have nothing more than a spark, the urge to create, a desire to fulfill a sense of artistic vision.  It's Cool.  You are welcome at the lab.  You have found the right place and good people.  We are here to help you build your own recording studio, your own laboratory for creative projects that works perfectly within your needs and budget.

All the rules have changed in the past few years for putting together a recording studio and they keep changing.  It used to be that you needed expensive multi-track recorders and mixdown machines, a  roomful of outboard gear and processors, and more cables than you would want to count. 

What is this Guide?

Consider the Guide as a classroom and each article a lesson. The Guide is a series of articles.  It starts with the core basics of modern music technology and progresses through advanced concepts of studio production.    There are approximately 75 classes which you can see on the sidebar to the left.

 Of course, you still can make a large studio with tons of outboard gear (which sounds better than ever), or you can let computers and modern digital multi track machines replace hundreds of functions that used to require separate hardware units. 
 

We are not talking about a cheap, hissy, unprofessional sound, like we used to get with old 4 track cassette studios.  Those days are gone.  With the dawn of modern recording software (called sequencers), with their full-featured digital mixers built right into software, you can expect your sound to rival the big boys in the studios downtown.  Yes. It's true!  For a modest investment in microphones, preamps, audio interfaces and software you can be well on your way.  I'm going to tell you all about today's gear, tell you what you need and what you don't need, give you strategies for gear acquisition that are tried and true, and show you where you can save money and exactly where you should not compromise.

When you see this "TweakSpeak" Icon, you know important terms are defined or F.A.Q  are answered.

What is a Recording Studio?

A Recording Studio is a number of devices that allow you to capture different "takes" of performances and assemble them into a finished audio product.  It includes microphones, recorders, instruments, a mixer and audio processors.  With the exception of microphones, these may come in software forms as well as hardware.

What is a Sequencer?

A sequencer is a computer application that allows you to record both digital audio and MIDI data and blend the sounds together in it's software mixing console. There are editing tools that let you control every aspect of the production down to very fine details. Effects and processors of high quality are increasingly being added to these applications.  The modern sequencer now can fulfill many recording studio functions that were possible only in expensive studios a decade a go.   Cakewalk SONAR Home Studio (Windows) Sonar Home Studio 7 is the easiest way to turn your PC into a full-fledged music production studio. From start to finish, Sonar Home Studio will help you capture your creativity and share it with the world. With Sonar Home Studio you can record live instruments, vocals, or any audio source. You can easily edit audio, MIDI, and music notation. The updated Loop Explorer gives you the tools to build backing tracks faster than ever.

What is a multi-track recorder

A multi-track recorder is a recording device that allow you to record audio directly to separate tracks.  Once all the tracks are added, they can be mixed down to a stereo master recording.  Today's digital multi-tracks have built in effects so you can add varying amounts to each track.  The major difference between a hardware multi-track recorder and a computer sequencer is that the sequencer can record and edit MIDI data and the multi-track cannot.    Boss BR-1600CD 16-Track Digital Studio The BR-1600CD Digital Recording Studio combines BOSS famous, easy-to-use interface with eight XLR inputs for recording eight tracks simultaneously. This affordable 16-track recorder comes loaded with effects for guitars and vocals; including COSM

What is MIDI?

MIDI is a form of computer data that keyboards and  computers can send back and forth that turn on notes.  You can write musical notes on a computer screen and the data turns notes on and off on the keyboard or sound module.  Likewise you can play notes on your keyboard and the computer will "record" these commands to turn on and off notes.

 

But don't think just because you have the gear you will sound like a million bucks, automatically.  No, my friend, it does not work that way.  You need to understand music to write music and you need to know how to use the gear or software that you have as tools.  Talent is important, and there are many talents required to make a full production.  But that doesn't mean you need to know how to play an instrument, like the keyboard, with proficiency. 
 

Basically, we consider the studio itself to be a musical instrument.  Like any instrument, you get good by practicing, trying different things, experimenting, mimicking, tweaking, mixing....  After a while, it dawns on you that making music is a craft, the mixer is its workbench, and the studio is it's laboratory.  You supply the creativity, your musicality, your quest for musical beauty.  You capture your tracks then tweak it down to a work of art.  This process is the focus of TweakHeadz Lab. The goal of the studio tweak is to create art in its highest form of expression. 
 

The great masters of the recording arts learned their techniques by devoting their lives creating, capturing and tweaking sound.  These secrets are hard earned, and used to be passed down from the pros to their apprentices at big studios.  You would set up microphones, sweep the floor, run for coffee and take out the trash, then, one day they let you help them at the console. Those days are almost gone.  TweakHeadz Lab is the modern day equivalent of that apprenticeship.  If you read my articles carefully you will find many secrets of audio production.  Of course, I don't know everything, no person does. but I do know a lot.  Enough to get you on your path.
 

In your recording studio, you get to have three roles--musician (as creator and performer), audio engineer, and producer.  What stands between you and the masters is simply knowledge and experience.   Their knowledge translates directly-- the tools in the modern software studio have the same names and functions as the classic hardware machines in a pro facility and are used in the same way.  The big studios downtown have compressors, limiters, vocal processors, delays, reverbs, equalization, multi track recorders, computer automation and massive consoles that hook it all together.  If you have a modern software package or hardware digital multitrack, you have all these tools too.  They know exactly when and how to use EQ to clean up a track, when to use compression, the precise place to put reverb in the mix, how to record vocals, guitars, drums and how to level everything to make a stunning audio image.  I am going to be your guide to acquiring all these skills.