We live in an excellent time for recording. If you stumbled across my first blog post for my website Illustrious Sound, you might remember me talking about my first studio and having to save data to a data cassette. Can you imagine saving your projects to a data cassette? I can’t believe that was the process when I was growing up. I was lucky I had a four-track recorder in my studio. At the time, that was something.
Fast forward to today, powerful computers for less than I spent on my four-track. DAWs hold more tracks than you could ever use. Software programs that help you mix and master your songs—the ability to affordably promote your album. So many musicians offer reasonably priced services for producing, mixing, and mastering and such services were out of reach years ago. Distribution services that allow you to place your music in all the online music retail stores and streaming services for $20-70. None of this was possible for the average amateur musician; now, these services are within reach.
In the previous post I wrote for this blog titled “Costs for recording and promoting an album,” I mentioned how an album could cost upwards of $30000. My point with that post was that a professional touring band could easily spend that type of money on recording and promoting their album, which would be worth it to them. I also mentioned that I figured for an amateur musician working on their album in their home studio, spending that much money on recording their album may not be worth it. My main point was you could pay a considerable amount of cash to record your album if you got the best of the best to help you at each stage, from production to mastering, and in the end would it be worth it financially? What’s changed is paying large amounts to record your album is no longer the only option. All you need is a computer (or even just a smartphone or tablet), DAW, mic, some software and a little know-how, and you’re off to the races to create your next album for what could be under $1000 since most people already own some of these items.
Instead, in this post, I’d like to point out that many good producers, mixing engineers, mastering engineers, and promotional companies offer services at almost all price points. The number of options available if you’d rather hire people for their services appears much more significant than ever. Singers and musicians have opportunities they didn’t have before.
CD Baby was founded around 1997 and was a way for musicians to sell their music on CDs for wide distribution; fast forward to today, and the number of companies placing your music in online music stores and streaming services has increased incredibly. There were only a few YouTube channels in 2005. A quick google search suggested Six Degrees, founded in 1997, was one of the first social media sites. My niece and nephew have no idea what it was like growing up without cell phones and email; it always existed for them. So for us older musicians, it is surprising how much things have opened up throughout our careers, allowing us opportunities that weren’t previously available.
Enjoy making your next album with all the opportunities available today. Thanks for reading; I’m just a music teacher having fun; catch ya on the next one.
