so it's basically: -You're the most important piece of your studio. -Treat your room acoustics -beware of the low-end of your room, learn how to listen to stuff ON YOUR ROOM. -get decent pre-amps -get a good/decent microphone -know your gear the best you can

Your channel is about to blow up!!! I know how the KZfaq algorithm works... They have your vids in beta testing and cycling them randomly... Congrats and keep this positive energy coming - you are a natural in front of the camera!

I used to have a shit load of plugins "200+ inc Waves full suite", these days I have a handful mainly Soundtoys and Eventide, and I mainly use stock plugs for EQ. It's taken a lot of time, money, experience and confidence to get to this stage 👍

We drove all the way from Memphis to record some vocal tracks in this studio. It turned out great ! Some of the best work I've ever done. Thanks Colt....You're the man!

Man, I really like how you break this stuff down and take the time to explain this stuff at a level that someone like me can understand and I really appreciate that. AWESOME job on the vids.

"Sorry about the mess... boxes everywhere... we're packing up" -- Studio is immaculate and setup :')

Best breakdown of home recording I've seen.

Been at this home thing for a long time... 1)Yes,it's all about your mission,being mentally sound,and being willing to learn the rules,and then do what you will with them...2)I treated my room with my books,records,and stuff,and then I use an older time delay to tame the reflections...3)Buy a professional mic and it does not have to be a mic made for specifics,and then learn it,see if it needs to be EQ'ed,and I use the flat preamps on an original Mackie...4)POWER treatment..There is no use to go further until you tame and clean your power coming into your studio.You have to have everything grounded and you need power conditioning,and then you can use surge boxes behind them. 5) it's better to have less gear but know it inside and out,than to have 50000 plug ins,40 computers,5 DAWs,10 instruments,and 10 synths.. When i got into things,i had ONE analog synth,one digital,one sampler,one mic.If you have hardware samplers,you probably also have great EFX processors inside them,yet you can get great outboard gear that's not breaking the bank.You can get older,used gear,that will work another 30-50+ years and give you no headaches.Avoid power amps with fans,cell phone,and ACs,because they all have their own host frequencies that might cut into your mix..6) If you only record to digital,you MUST use data redundancy or you are at risk of losing your music.For example,if you use an IMac 5K as your main computer,you still NEED a lot of storage,so whatever you have,like a 3TB drive,you need that one and probably the least three 4TB drives as direct backups,with one located in another place. Then you want maybe an older Imac,connected to an NAS or servers,and some portable SATA/SSDs.You want at least one copy of your music outside your place,in case something happens,like a fire,electrical disaster,etc.Then please remember that most hard drives will fail,so it's a matter of when.I use optical drives formats like DVD recording,and I am about to look into MDisc,which last probably 3+X longer than hard drives.Just remember to ignore the hype of 'needing' new gear over and over,because as long as it's working and producing great results,there's no reason to keep spending money acquiring new gear.I come from a live/DJ background so i use multiple hardware samplers,so i totally avoided having to need racks and racks of gear and plug ins,or buying sound libraries,since samplers come with them,or you can make your own sounds that no one else will have.

Dude. When you turned that camera around, my jaw dropped. Thanks for giving us a peek behind the curtain!

The sentence "You´re the most important piece of the Studio" should be written on the most studios walls! Thanks for that!

This is what a high end commercial studio would look like in Mauritius. I mean, in my 15 year career I've never seen one with this much gear!

Really cool idea for a video man. Thanks for sharing. I live and record in Nashville as well. Enjoy the city, and congrats on all your success since moving here :)

Honestly I only clicked on this video because the total gearslut in me wanted to see all your gear but got some nice words of wisdom out of it too. Subscribed!

This, my friend, is very very cool. I love the hardware, but I especially love your attitude, the positivity you give off. I really do think you can inspire a person here and a person there, who would otherwise be thinking, "Nah, I just can't do this, I'm too small-time, too small-space, too small-budget to even START doing something. I think this can give them the feel, "Yes, you CAN!". Start like you say. Get some control of your room. Control those reflections. Then learn what the room is doing that you *can't* control, and move on to a ONE next good component that you can afford. Just one. At a time, perhaps. I was hypnotized by this video, I really was. I have a friend who is right on the edge of beginning this kind of "build a decent home-studio" journey, and I'm going to love pointing her to this, and I think, besides all the great tech info, the positive VIBE that you give off when talking about your space there, I think it will really be great. Thanks for making this video. I've subbed you. :) All the best to you!

Wow I had no idea your studio was in your apartment! This is inspiring dude really digging the videos and look forward to them great job!

Thanks man! Love your good energy and attitude! You are absolutely right about room treatment! Guys, listen up! It's a HUGE factor...

man im exactly the guy youre talking about at the beginning of the video. ive been on Gearslutz too much lol..anyway, i initially was planning to just go to a studio, gave up on looking for singers and starting singing on my own kind of music. its not the best but at least now i dont have to look for other people. i mentioned this to my friend, and he said i could have a very good set up at home...i finally built a pc after labouring over the parts for almost a year, lol kept procrastinating procrastinating... now im typing from my studio PC as we speak, got my monitors set up - now i need to treat this room. feels like theres too much to learn and taking away from workingo n my music. i will do similar to what you've done with your panels. the back of my room is a closet, so whenever i record i will throw my mattress against the closet, haha...not ideal, but at this point... theres some days i feel like im wasting time with this shi* and i should just have gotten a h4n or tascam dp-008 and figured out the music fully, and then just go to a pro studio to record...but...here i am in the rabbit hole...i just hope im doing the right thing!

One valuable piece of advice I'm walking away with, is - make sure you know your equipment...! Thanks, great insights in this video!

Thank you for this post i've been following you at least three years and never seen this one and it gave me a turbo beleif that your plans work out throught all you went thrue .

Hey dude this video inspired me alot to practice with what I got !

This is the very best video on the subject I have ever watched. Beginner or seasoned pro, everyone should approach things this exact way. Thank you for this, it will help many.

I’ve been a live sound engineer for years at IATSE Local 16 in SF I also went to school for audio recording and I enjoy looking at tutorials you are by far the best everyone on you tube seems to copy and paste from everyone elese I want to say thank you and keep up the good work you are the second person I have ever subscribed too and the first would be Pinsodos place lol

A computer and an interface. That's literally all I started with back in 2006. I didn't even have proper monitors, I just used an old stereo. I look back at some of my old mixes and you know what? Bar a few things, they still stand up. If you have a vision of how it should sound and you listen to what your client wants then you'll get decent results. Just check the mix on a variety of platforms (Stereo/iPod/TV/Car) and that will keep you right, no mater what gear you use.

This is a piece of advice I was given in 1979 by a decent producer. Still used today seen it on many channels S.I.S.O method Shit In = Shit Out Doesn't matter how good the pre amps are or mic's or the gear you use S.I.S.O counts Reasonable priced gear will always work if the person who you are recording knows what they are doing and a home studio can work well based on this. Good advice here and enjoy watching

Enjoyed this video. You really stayed on the most important points and then gave us gear geeks a great tour. Bottom line, these are tools and you create the music. Thanks for that. One point that should be considered though is the amount of electricity consumption. I've lived in this same apt since '81 and it's a very well kept older building. Built in the '60's, the walls are double fire brick in thickness, which is ideal for recording since you don't offend your neighbours. Add the proper acoustic treatments that you said, which I have, and it's a great setup for me at least. But with old buildings comes old wiring and I am very careful not to blow any breakers. So I'm in the box. I have an RME Fireface soundcard, which have great pre's in them and a Millennia pre. Like you said, what goes in is very important. This is my only outboard gear...okay, maybe a guitar amp or two. But I run my whole studio from one 15amp outlet into a battery for conditioned power and have never blown a breaker. To have your outboard gear would be challenging to say the least. I think this should be a consideration when deciding what gear you're going to have running all at once in your apt studio. Your apt studio looks like it needs more than 15 amps to run. It's what has kept me in the box. Great video.

Wow, I'm from Illinois and moved to Nashville also. Marseilles, IL to be exact. Now I've moved South of Nashvegas to Pulaski, but stumbled across your channel because I was looking at improving some of my room treatment, etc. Glad I found you on here!

Re: acoustic treatment - it always blows my mind when you see these guys who spend literally like $1,000,000+ on their home stereo with the most ridiculously high-end shit that supposedly eliminates every single tiny little problem with the sound that no actual human being could ever actually hear.. and they have *literally zero acoustic treatment in the room*. But then I suppose for them a lot of the time it's about flexing/dick-waving how high-end their setup is and rockwool and bass traps isn't very sexy.

I don't understand for the life of me why people always have to criticize a company like Auralex. They have many types of treatment out there, and it all works for that individual, we all like what we like, at the end of the day. But please stop bashing Auralex products for the sake of promoting others. Honestly I have a combination of Auralex and other acoustic treatment in my home studio and the room sounds pretty darn good. I started off with just plain walls and then I brought in the treatment that I have and I have never been more happier.

That first statement was exactly like Peter McKinnon wishing "good to see your smiling faces"🙂

I'm the most important part? Ahh I'm blushing

Hey, Colt! I really don’t like “longer than 10 minutes” videos but I had watched another shorter video of yours and I liked it... then I decided to give this one here a try and I’m glad I did that. I really liked the video and really like your calm style and opinions. I’ve even realized myself about something you mentioned: it is important or at least a good thing when you feel inspired and find some extra joy in a piece of gear that you really like, because it just adds to the fun and fulfillment we have on our daily music making journey, and that’s great. Thanks and keep it up. I’m subscribed. 💪

This video is Literally the best and most valuable video for someone starting out or wanting to get into mix engineering. This answers all the question’s of why don’t my mix sound as good as the person in the KZfaq video. Watching videos of people using plug-ins and not knowing about the very important TYPE of acoustical treatment, front end and a possible hybrid set up that KZfaqrs have, but don’t say is annoying! “The last eq video” could have been done in the first eq video had they informed the viewer of the pre amp, eq, compression and high end converters going in. Content creation for KZfaq is good but leading people in circles is annoying and time wasting! Thank You for this video! This is amazing for people in our home studios needing that quality sound and answers to these questions! Much Appreciated. Moving into my new townhouse next week and you are a big help in setting up my home studio.

It's amazing how far things have come. As long as you have the knowledge and a little bit of good gear, there's no reason why you can't do professional level stuff. How many times have you heard even classic songs from great musicians, where the production seems off where you think: how did they let that happen? Learning never ends. Even the pros make mistakes.

That diffuser is beautiful. So is your attitude.

5:22 totally agree. I never so listen something so real like that

Congrats man with your beautiful homestudio! Cheers from The Netherlands, Jeroen Simons, Independent, ex - Epica.

Really inspiring....thanks brother!

Great advice on the necessities of a home studio. I have been struggling with the sound in mine and your video just tipped the scale in investing more into room acoustics than buying more guitars. Thanks!

The Rubber Factory album from the Black Keys was recorded in an abandoned tire-manufacturing factory, they used a highly imperfect audio environment to breathe a certain sound into the mix dont be afraid to use an imperfect studio, find what its unique qualities are and use them to your advantage

Wow, I have learnt so much from.this video. Very informative

Great presentation, you’re good on camera, nice editing...you’ll be at 100k subs soon!

I have the off white wildwood Friedman smallbox limited edition. It is the best amp I’ve ever heard or played. It’s got a bouncy feel to it. It is quiet even on its highest gain channel. The sound is phenomenal. I only wish I had come across it first. I would’ve saved a lot of money on other amps that I bought that well...aren’t that great. But I’m a pedal addict so I use my dirt, fuzz or overdrive pedals to help those amps. The Friedman needs zero help but it does take any pedal I throw at it better than any other amp as well. This is 6 months old but just showed up in my feed.

I 100% agree with everything you said bro

I am an absolute beginner in being music producer and my basic is only vocal. thank you for being an inspiration sir

That was fun ! Thanks for sharing your world with us Colt ! ! !

Had the opportunity and pleasure of recording in a Carl Tatz prepped “phantom focus” room. Just wow.

i love carrie underwood. Thumbs up

Good vibrations!

It seems that the acoustic treatment for your control room could be quite different than your recording room, especially if you are recording drums and even vocals. But if you are limited in space you have to make sacrifices in a home studio.

I see your Opals and...man these are great!

I am slowly getting there. Not cheap but, well worth it of every penny! I think drumming in the small room will be a challenge especially I have upstairs and down stairs neighbors. But, I am willing to make a change for it and challenge myself.

Loved the vid dude. As a guy who doesn’t have much experience n recording its a huge help when people like you post things like this. Awesome. Thank you.

Awesome setup and advice! I can pretty do everything I need to do in my studio. But I hire out the drums to be played and recorded.

Colt, great name,, I'm a drummer in NYC and almost done converting my basement into a living space/ studio (still at the mercy of my contractor) glad I watched you vid great intel . I did subscribe and intend to watch more and will have questions as soon as I am ready to move in. Finding drums are tricky to record but learning more each day. God Bless, Michael

Watching from Belle Meade. I also live in apartment here in Nashville and I just wanted to say thanks for making this video! I am 22 and went to Dark Horse Institute in Franklin, where I learned the ins and outs to audio engineering. I have been really self cautious about not having it all together, with the right gear and plethora of talent here in town, I’ve been discouraged. Just really want to thank you for this video!!

Yes your own finger controls your universe. and as far as the gear is concerned definitely "get the boat on the water cause if anything is going to happen it's going to happen out there". Capt Ron. For those still telling yourself you will be the worst out there... Check out my sounds on my channel (yes a bit of a shameless plug), or Check out "Mike Cyples" on the streaming services. I did these songs for myself, got a few more I am trying to finish but I am stuck cause I keep thinking they need to be better for others, instead of just getting them finished for myself. Reread the Capt Ron quote.

you laid it out pretty well man, great communication skills! I will be following you.

room sounds pretty good

You rock, very inspring, started checking you out after seeing on various of Jeff and Capi blogs, channels etc....

Watched maybe 3 of the videos on your channel and man i gotta say....definitely got a new sub! Videos ive watched seem packed with pretty useful bits of information and spoken in a way that doesnt seem very over my head as a newcomer to studio and production work. Good work brother.

Say man, you mentioned mixing drums. Have you ever done live drums in a temporary dwelling/ apartment and how’d you get away with it? I’m sure I’m not the only guy who wants to be free to practice drums and every little bit helps. Thanks bud!

Floor to ceiling Basstraps and a ceiling cloud made all the difference to my tiny studio. Make your own using dense 6" deep rockwool set in a timber frame.

Cheers man! Some good philosophy you got into during the middle of the video. Wise words brother

I've been following since Peoria. That's my home town too. My parents live just a couple blocks from Flores Music. It's great to see you doing good. Can't wait to see the new studio set up. I would have never guess that was in an apartment!

you forgot to mention a lava lamp! big gear monster to rest your mind to take back controll of psychoeffect rest of your hard work and when gear is comforting you doing a great work :)

It's a very nice set up but in reality you only need a fraction of this to record music and still get quality recordings. Or SERIOUS music as you so delicately put.

I second you on using the LCA-2B instead of the CL1B. I've had great success with the CL1B, but I feel like the LCA-2B just controls dynamics better with that VCA chip. Recently ran a pair of scheops MK4's in ORTF on a grand piano through the LCA-2B and it was just awesome.

Amen brother. Treatment, knowledge and drive. Great video. All misinformation videos should be replaced with this one.

Thankyou So Much For This Amazing Explanation !! ❤️ It Really Helped Me Alot ...Keep It Up Man ! ❤️⚡

Thanks Colt. That was great.

Appreciate every point you ever make. Thank You Colt. Happy new Year.

Thanks man...great advice and great attitude

Great vid, great advice and great set up! Hope the new digs are working out well.

Great informative video! Thanks for sharing your ideas! 👍

Great video! Inspiring, positive advice for all home studio users, experienced or starter. Nice one.

Great work!

Love your passion, insight, and intensity!

Great video and I really dig your positivity, encouragement and overall good dude attitude. You have some great gear and nice to see the hardware getting used. I like your comment on the gear can inspire. I have my set up in a smaller size room like your apartment and I keep all my guitars, amps cans in there as well.... I hear you on the plugins, there are some really good ones (I like the UAD stuff) but WAY too many to sift thru and too much of a time waste...pick a few good ones, learn em inside out an keep using them. I do like the idea of having the hardware chains like you have it, you know it works for you and its ready to rock in an instant. I sort of getting back into the HS game after a few years...thanks for the pointers. Can't wait to see your new Studio after the move.

Thanks dude, got some new info by watching your videos. And yes, music is expensive if you want a high quality sound. And i completely agree with your statement that we have to sucks first in order to be good, and that's what i'm doing right now, creating my own cover songs eventhough it's still shits but i hope i can learn to make it better. Thank you

your studio is better than some of the "studios " in india

Nice wooden auratone 5c’s. Such good speakers for mixing

You are full of very useful information, Nice Gear,and Refreshingly Great Attitude, I'm glad I Stumbled on Your Channel, Looking Forward to the Next Video!

flyest studio on the gram. 👌🏾

I watched the build of your new studio first and you still called it home studio. There's nothing wrong with, it's a studio and at your home, but I imagine, that many people, including me, expect something less sophisticated :).

Biggest go-to piece of gear is without a doubt that lava lamp.

Certainly agree that treatment and preamps are important, I have to respectfully disagree from a slightly different musical perspective. I was trained as a classical pianist as a child then turned into a synth nut and electronic composer, for many years. I've used just about every converter available, starting with the Digital Audio Labs CardD+. I now use a Burl B80 Mothership. I'm convinced that recording digital audio begins and ends with the converters, period, end of story. You can have the best room treatments in the world, vintage killer tube preamps but it means nothing if you don't get a good A-D conversion. That's just the story. I'm especially convinced of this since the Burl really goes about conversion in a way that gets really close to tape, and analog dynamics. If you've never listened to a Burl, it is highly recommended. Your studio is way cool, BTW.

Great video! Thanks for making this and presenting the details. Love the Siberian Husky! Nice 1st item to see...You described all the important items well and the importance of each. Thank you!

Great stuff. On point. Love the gear choices, too!

Been following you on IG for a while, but this is the video of yours I've seen. Great work, and that's awesome that you were able to make so much out of that room! The new place looks like it's coming along and can't wait to see it finished. Thanks for the studio tour! Subbed!

Thanks for your time and your words of wisdom. Looks like a damn nice studio.

Woah. barely even 30 seconds in and I'm already blown away by this coincidence. I started watching this video because I need ideas for a new studio. Thing is, I'm moving to a house that's not far from Peoria, IL at all, so when you mentioned Peoria, I kind of had a fit haha!

Could you do a video on the education you acquired in order to get started as a producer/engineer? Thanks. Love your videos

Brilliant video! Wasn't too sure to click on this when it came up in my feed... Glad I did, love your enthusiasm for the subject and clarity of explanation. Sweet gear, thanks for the tour... cheers! :) Subbed...

My home studio is in Peoria, IL too!! This just made it hella personal.

Excellent. Thanks for the pick me up.

Nashville? I'm up in Gallatin. Just moved here 2 months ago. Should get a group of Nashville, greater area etc to hang out and talk shop. Loved the video, timing is good as I'm setting up a 14x15 space, which has my main pc rig, synths, amps, etc. I have 2 guitars, 1 bass, a few odds and ends like old synths, etc. Every watch "Show us your junk: SYLVIA MASSY' - she embodies what it means to save things you may think are useful. You have a lot of gear, and you use it, I probably won't ever have a ton of gear but I agree 100% make do with what you have. I have Bias FX for my guitar plugin, and 1 compression plugin. That's it, I know people who just buy gear, plugins, and chasing the dragon so to speak. At some point you have to sit down and just play, write, create and stop the buying and do something.

I about shit my pants when you said you are from Peoria IL. I’m from ptown. Best of luck brother!!

Respect! Good vibe all around ! Wish you all the best! Tilen

GREAT SETUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you for the wonderful video, great information and encouragement