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This web site is all about providing alternative ideas to going to an audio recording/music production trade school or college. I imagine many who read this site will wonder how finding the money to lease or build a studio is going to happen.
As stated in a previous article, a business loan from the federal government or a bank is a possibility. But, if you don’t want to take that big of a financial risk then a good alternative is mobile recording.
What is mobile recording? It’s where you bring your audio gear to different locations and record. Whether that be at a musician’s rehearsal space, their home or at a concert venue…you are going to record sound on location. You could also record audio for TV shows/movies but that is a whole other field that is outside of this web site’s scope.
Recording music on location is a good way to get your feet wet. It has its pros and cons. The biggest one being that room acoustics will vary. If you have your own studio, your rooms are under your control. And unless you want them to change, they don’t change. This affects not only what is being recorded but what you hear as well.
That’s why with mobile recording I would recommend a good pair of reference headphones like the Audio-Technica ATH-M70x, Sennheiser HD600/650, Philips SHP9500 or the Oppo PM-3. These aren’t my personal recommendations, they are from Sonarworks’ neutrality test. And if there’s any company I trust when it comes to headphones it is them.
Couple a good pair of headphones with Sonarworks Reference and Waves NX for the complete package.
Headphone amplifier quality matters too…although this is another controversial subject like cable quality. But, if you are serious about fidelity and don’t want to cut corners, check out the Rupert Neve Designs RNHP or the Little Labs Monotor.
If you’re going to record at concert venues then a couple Radial OX8 splitters are essential. You’ll need to buy a small rack too to put them in.
Don’t forget to buy some cases to store all of your gear in! My camera gear goes in waterproof Pelican brand cases. I haven’t checked myself but I’m sure they have many products for safe audio gear storage.
