do-it-yourself sound

When senior Nick Kieper home-recorded the first demo for his band The Founders, he did it mostly to save money. This sometimes required using unconventional equipment and methods, like singing into a microphone that was taped to a lamp-stand.

Do-it-yourself home recording has been around for years, but technological advancements in recording software allow independent musicians to record their own material while spending little or no money. In an age of Garage Band and cheap microphones, “DIY” recording has made it cheaper and easier than ever to get high-quality results.

Informatics major and local musician Brian Hulse, who once saw an improvising, home-recording musician put a microphone in a coffee can, said the grainy, distorted DIY sound started out confined to the punk scene in the 1970s and ’80s, but now musicians from all branches of rock are buying their own soundboards and software and recording albums at home.

“Starting in the’70s with punk, you get the DIY aesthetic as a tangible style,” he said. “This gives anything looking or sounding vaguely ratty all sorts of connotations regarding legitimacy and integrity,” Kieper said.

Kieper, who sings and plays drums, guitar and bass in local bands The Founders and Naughty Monarch, said that even more mainstream musicians such as Beck and Elliot Smith recorded their debut albums themselves. The Founders’ debut album Exile in Charon was recorded last summer in the living room of his friend’s house, which the band converted into a studio for about two months.

After the recording was finished, Kieper sent the mixed songs to a private printing company in New Jersey, where the tracks were burned onto the discs and the covers were printed.

“Suddenly, we have a tangible album in our hands,” he said.

Kieper uses a $10 microphone he purchased from Musician’s Friend, an online music store that ships equipment across the country. His band also uses recording software Audacity because it’s the only free recording software available to PC users.

Hulse has been playing music for eight years and currently drums for two bands, Spyclops and a Dead Kennedys cover band named Ted Kennedys. With his bands he has done several recordings, some of them in basements.

“You basically use what equipment you have around,” he said, adding that most bands do DIY recording because of the high cost of paying for hours at a professional studio.
Hulse uses Cubasis, Ableton and Pro Tools computer software, and some musicians use mixing or recording stations as well.

Hulse said the Shure SM57 microphone is a musician’s “best friend” if they are planning on doing DIY recording. They only cost around $100, he said, and even professional musicians use them. According to www.shure.co.uk, the SM57 is the microphone that sits atop the presidential lectern.

“Most musicians who are on a low budget and have some experience in audio engineering and mixing sound try to do their own recordings,” said junior Sam Cone, a communications major.

He said average studio rates for a top-quality recording start at $500.

Cone is the lead singer and guitarist for Seymour, Ind., band Brella. He said home studio equipment is cheaper than ever, and most unsigned bands can produce a decent-sounding demo using bundled software from companies like Digidesign.

Cone records music frequently with his Macbook. Last year, he recorded a demo for his band Brella, and he is currently working on an acoustic solo project.

Hulse said home recording has many advantages over the process of recording in a studio, one of which is time flexibility, which can lead to better sounding records since musicians have the time to experiment with different sounds.

“I have paid for studio time before, and it is like a rush to get as much done as possible, which sometimes means you compromise on the quality of the music,” he said.

The biggest asset in home recording to Kieper is that it does not cost as much. The Founders’ recording engineer did not expect hourly pay but rather wanted a cut of the total sales.

“This freed us up to record whenever we were available and for however long we wanted.”

Hulse said home recording can also allow musicians to play with different ideas to generate different sounds. In a studio when everyone is strapped for time, the sound engineer does most of that for the band. 

Even counting the benefits of home recording – decreased cost, flexibility, sound experimentation – Hulse knows DIY recording has a few drawbacks.

He said there are a lot of times when musicians don’t have a professional in the room to show them how to record, or how to place mics or even how to use many of the features that come with professional-grade software. He added that in a recording studio, you also have access to a wider variety of equipment.

Cone said that while home recording is inexpensive in the long run, getting off the ground with it can be expensive. It requires a lot of initial investment in equipment, and learning mixing techniques takes a long time.

But after putting down money for the start-up costs, subsequent recordings are virtually free. Kieper said the biggest problem with home recording is how time-consuming it is. It requires a lot of setup, as well as a lot of adaptation to nonideal situations and improvisation of materials.

While a crisp, professional sound may be important to some, Hulse knows some musicians prefer the opposite.

“A lot of people just like to get their ideas down, sort of like writing a rough draft or making a rough sketch.”

Home recording provides a cheap and easy outlet for this kind of off-the-cuff expression.

Kieper said having a “professional sound” is overrated. He said “professional” is a good sound that results from hard work and experience, but when it’s the only quality level available it “blinds one to the artistry inherent in low-grade recordings.”

Hulse said DIY recording is more rewarding than doing it in a studio.

“I think you really feel like you have accomplished a lot more when you do it yourself.”