I own and operate a commercial recording studio in Paris, France. I still find this channel really great! Totally! Your channel is great! My studio made a loss of 5$ in 2022. And some people congratulated us for that! It's a very very tough business. Maintenance of gear is awful. I charge 40bucks an hour! We're paying rent of 1200 bucks. We pay two insurance policies, accountants, building charges, business taxes. We're not fully booked at all! So far, I've been avoiding paying electric bills. It's very very difficult. I often record drums for clients. Your points were absolutely accurate! Spot on!

This video has SUCH good advice... Two years ago (yes, just before the pandemic) I decided to move my home studio into a location that I could record drums. I live in a apartment, so I rented a place next to my home. I had a few regular clients already, but man... I went through every single one of the problems Barry just mentioned hahaha still worth it though... I managed to keep it working through all the hard times, BUT... Thats because I'm young and I don't rely just on the studio for money. I'm also a music teacher and a composer, which is a way to get by in a music career, being able to do a bunch of work hahaha anyway... I wish I could watch this video before I did all of this, this is the kind of stuff most people wouldn't say to you and it's important to hear! Thank you, Barry!!

You truly are the best voice out there. You just gave a finance class I wish I had heard years ago. Here’s something to consider for the young guys. I registered my studio as a bizz in 2019. I’ve been buying as much gear as I can afford and putting it on my taxes. With covid, I haven’t had a lot of business these last 2 years naturally but at least I’m building my gear up and getting a government kickback for it. I know soon I’ll need to show some revenue but with covid it’s not easy to get bands in your studio at this point and time. So keep gearing up! I know Biden has put the kibosh on writing a lot of things off but still it’s worth it at the state level. Every pack of strings or picks or what ever I buy I put it towards the studio. The Gov gives you about 5 yrs to start making money so in that time gear up and advertise where you can like CL or social media and get people in your studio. Even if it’s free! Yeah free.offer 1 song with a limited set of hours like 4hrs of studio time and 4 of mixing. If your good- that word will get out fast. Cheers.

GREAT video!!!!! I started in ‘87 with a totally Teac/Tascam analog studio in a very small market, but still had to work full time until 93. I then worked full time at an ad agency’s in house studio. In 95 I opened another commercial studio in a larger market and then another in 2000 with 3500 sq ft. I had a great run until 2016 and sold my building but kept most of my gear and instruments. Now it’s 2022 and at an age where most are staying home or traveling I bought a 2100 sq ft, 2 room schoolhouse and am considering another studio. I might fall on my ass this time but it’s been a privilege to “work” in a business I love.

100% accurate info here, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I would see this as an opportunity, though. In the last 10 years many things changed regarding to recording/producing. First, so many records that we listen with pleasure, proved that you don't need a "studio" as in "the location" to record. Second, lots of bands are now using amp sims (plugins or hardware) in the studio or on stage for guitars. Now, I don't diminish in any way the role of the recording engineers or the external gear, but if someone is "that talented engineer", definitely he can do it ITB, with minimal external gear. So just eliminating these factors (location and external gear) lots of financial problems can be solved. One example that crossed my mind: use the band's rehearsal place, record everything there, and do the mixing at your home studio.

Barry, I don’t care what anyone says about you. This video is the real deal. You have to love what your doing to succeed for you self regardless of what anyone says. Nobody wants to pay for anything and guys like you and I know our worth!

Perfect initiation, Starting with a laptop, basic studio setup, and a LETHAL DAWless rig as icing on the cake. Thank you for your passionate, kind, thoughtful words of wisdom, love, and inspiration. Starting a side gig, with a small (paid off) basement space and a "teach what you know and I'll work for free attitude." Grassroots, Day one, hour 0. Let's get some reps in. 💜✌️

I could not agree with you more on this one! I have been a lifelong musician (drummer and, line most drummers, wanna be guitarist😂) and an aspiring tracking/mix engineer for the past 15 years. Like you, amassing various pieces of gear over the years. Again, like you, I have been blessed with a career as a professional pilot that allows me to continue building towards my dream of having my own studio and supporting my family. I really appreciate how straightforward you are with the advice that you impart! “Chase your dreams but, do it with perspective!” Should be added to proverbs my friend! And for those out there how might read this. There is so much truth to that! I am 40 years old and, in the process of chasing my dream of becoming a decent tracking/mix engineer, find myself 10 classes from completing a Bachelors degree in Audio Production. So its never too late! Keep the excellent content coming Barry!

Hi Barry, I am watching your videos from France and I like them very much ! I was in the recording business in the 80’ and had to work in the finance business to get a ‘normal’ salary. I fully agree on your analysis regarding how this business evolved. Keep your channel alive !

This guy is RIGHT on point!

Thank you for giving insight into your knowledge, experiences, and giving excellent advice. I am 31 years old, with two kids, and my wife was diagnosed with a malignant tumor (May 2021) but thankfully her craniotomy was successful and chemo seems to be doing it’s job. I just got my master’s in guitar performance in June 2021, and am getting my teaching credential in June 2022. Although it would be a dream to be recording, producing, etc. full time, for me having stable income is more important given my circumstances. Therefore I will be looking at high school music teacher jobs, and plan on working in the education field for the foreseeable future. Hearing your story is encouraging, thank you for sharing!

Great video Barry. I never underestimate my available gear and knowledge I have now. My wife has a great job and while I stayed home from 1990 to bring my son up I've been all in, when I am motivated, to make music. I started with a Tascam 244 Portastudio in 1985 in Australia. They were expensive, and like yourself, I was at the cutting edge of PC / Atari too, in the late 80s into the early 90s. Oh what fun. I have gotten to the point where money isn't a driving force for me. I spend my time playing live online each day, and now I'm getting back into recording more. I just moved all my drumming rig into my main recording room. It's fun to do what you love, we're lucky we can afford to do it full time :).

Great video Barry, you’re bang on with this! We as musicians/producers/ engineers who run our home studios need to hear a dose of reality. We are dreamers by nature and drumming up steady business is difficult, no matter how good you are at your craft. And yes the gear is a huge selling point for clients I find, whether you ever turn said gear on or it lays dormant and never used, clients want to know what gear is available to them. There is snobbery in this industry for sure!

Listen to Barry, he speaks the truth. I am now 60 years old, and started working in a Pro-Studio in 1989, large console, expensive mics & outboard gear, great room, bought the business in 1994 and stayed until 2017. When I first started I was booked solid, but by the end it was hard to get bookings at all, even with stellar flawless work being done. My KZfaq channel has lots of songs (100+) from the 28 years of work done there. I now have a home studio, but so do my many numerous past clients, because ... everybody does, and why not? If you have a computer & some talent you can get the job done (without the $100, 000 console). Mostly what I do now is fix & mix what was poorly recorded by the artist in their bedroom. The natural progression of technology.

I actually get excited every time you say "LETS GET TO IT!"

Great video. Appreciate the insight and perspective you always bring to the discussion.

This is the first video of yours I’ve ever seen or ran across & I immediately liked & subscribed! You mentioned you’re from a small town in Kentucky, I’m also from a small town/county in the furthest part of Kentucky. I liked & appreciated everything you said. Can’t wait to go back to watch more of your videos.

i ran a studio for 20 years and your exactly right!

I feel like this is a MUST watch for a lot of the guys that interact on a lot of the facebook producer/home recording groups. Well said.

Really appreciate your honesty. I feel the empathy in the things you’ve shared. This is a sobering message, but it can also be an challenging confirmation. I’ve done better when I’ve focused on people and helping them achieve their musical aspirations. Rick Ruban will tell you, he knows nothing about gear or even how to play an instrument. He knows what he loves… and has an uncanny way of helping artists capture truly creative art… music. So, I’m no Rick Ruban, but I recognize that there’s a dimension of having a studio that has more to do with how the artist feels, and the freedom that they experience than the gear that’s in the rack. Still, I agree w/ you and recognize that at some point there’s got to be a drawing card … for some that’s gear … still for others it can be their ability to understand, empathize and effectively collaborate w/ artists in their terms. Much respect for you Barry. Thanks for sharing so honestly, your channel carries an important message. Ron Flack, Canton Ohio REALGREY Records

From all of us young engineers still wet behind the ears, we're watching & listening to your experience, Thx

I'm right there with you . My first recording system was a Tascam 424 syncaset. Then I got a Tascam M1516 board with a 238 Syncaset. I thought I hit the big time when I got a Mackie 24*8 with an Alesis ADAT XT (it sounded GREAT). I had a bunch of outboard gear and just loved writing, recording and producing music, including a few other artists/musicians. I would record vocals and guitar on the ADAT and the drums, bass, and other instruments would be done in my computer and I'd sync that to the ADAT and mix it all down via the Mackie to a Panasonic SV-3200 through a TC Electronic Finalizer. Those were the days but I have a fantastic recording set-up now with a fair bit of analog gear and a great interface. Sorry for the long comment. Good stuff.

Great video, Barry. Keep up the good content!

Yes, I'm feeling you. This is true, pure gold simple advice... a subscriber from overseas, south France. Keep posting and keep up the good work man !

Sir Barry God bless you reel good sir thanks for this wisdom you are giving out for free. Sir have been following you on KZfaq you have been a blessing to us here in soundtime stuido

Thanks for this video!

This video is so refreshing for me. A few days ago the idea of renting a space for building a studio crossed my mind and let’s be honest here, it’s unnecessary. For the most part, work is being made through internet. The pandemic has taught us that you only need an internet connection to bring an income. And, if you think about it slowly with all the subscriptions happening today, you can pay for them in a yearly basis but renting a space is far more expensive in the long run. Thanks for sharing this video and your thoughts on this subject. Music production is awesome. It’s even greater than everyone can actually get into it, but the competition is going to be harder than ever.

I'm 66, I started with the Teac 3440,. My 1st midi was an Atari 1024. 2nd Mac Classic, 3rd a G5, 4th Mac Pro and now my last project studio; iMac Pro 2017 3.0ghz/4.5 turbo, 128 gb, Vega 64w 6 gb. I've always used Protocols but I plan to switch to Logic Pro X. IMO, this channel has provided tons of information, regarding hardware, software, industry marketing and unbiased reviews. When you throw in reality, that's a bonus!

Great vid. Barry, for most of us this is a great hobby a bit like Ham Radio. While the kids run around in rags we enjoy nice bits of gear - haha. Keep it as a hobby it's great. Here's an idea - why don't we book in a week at your hotel and you include some time in your studio ? Good one eh ? Keep the vids. coming..........

I too began in the analog world in the ‘80s and truly appreciate this video. Your approach is such a breath of fresh air and I look forward to viewing more videos from you. I got back into the business by years ago and it was like starting from scratch.

Been recording, producing, mixing etc, since I was 12. Got my first job at a studio in 2016. When we had bands in it was some of the best times I ever had but man… that’s not even half the work. It can be so so exhausting. It’s like constantly having to apply to jobs and do interviews. Except, when you land the job… you’re not on salary and set until you leave the company. It’s contract and you’re always going to be on the job hunt

Barry, my story is almost identical to yours, only I'm a little younger (52). I remember you from the old days (over 20 years ago) from from the DUC, back when you were trading old HD systems. I remember wanting one but Digidesign could never quite get it together for stable virtual Instruments at low latencies, at that time. I went to audio engineering school for a short time but realized quickly I could not make the money and have the benefits I wanted. I went into Aviation instead and ended up in the Corporate world with great money and benefits, which afforded me the opportunity to buy all the toys I wanted and do music on the side. It had proven to be the best of both worlds. However, I retired last year and can now do music full time! And I can be choosey what I do because I don't rely on music as my primary income. I just moved to Nashville and have upgraded my studio with all kinds of great gear. Vert excited for the future! Cheers to you for what you are doing! Keep having fun!

I have been at this game my whole life,i have been working with the same client going on 2 years now,my studio is in my home,best thing i ever did,keep that overhead down.

Great Video Barry!

Absolutely true - all of it. I'll go a step further and point out that these days, post pandemic...it's a tough time to be a NORMAL small business...and a recording studio is the ultimate in small business challenges. I'm making it work by not depending on the "for hire" aspect of the studio (look into songwriting, licensing, etc.) and using existing space. This keeps overhead low and "for hire" dependency low...that's the only way to have a snowball's chance in hell to make it work.

Great topic, awesome insight

I am that guy Barry, the guy who has the modern space. I run out of a suburb of Chicago, and almost to a T the finances equate as you stated properly and I CANNOT STRESS TO THE PUBLIC ENOUGH how misguided and misconstrued this whole system is and as to how the end result comes down to the modern musician being the target market for the music industry; not the consumer of it. your video is sobering to me even who sat through the video literally verbally responding to you passionately agreeing(lol). Wake em top Barry

I was thinking about starting a small studio and I didn't have any one to answer questions about it but this video touch on the topic .

just built my acoustic treatments and got a space and some microphones to do the thing... soooo after watching this i. might take it all back and keep waiting tables and hope for the best thanks bud.... just kidding .. im in detroit and i am building the studio at home and there are a lot of indie, punk and metal projects i feel like i can accommodate.... im excited

Hey Barry....good advice. I'm doing great music production in a spare bedroom. I often think about a commercial aspect to this but financially it's not feasible and wouldn't make much sense. Some of my friends are sold on the "big" pro studio sound but I can do that in the bedroom. I'm not sure how they feel about that but... Having said this, a commercial context is always at the back of my mind. Keep up the good work 👍

This is going to be a long comment, but you've hit the nail on the head with everything in this video! In my early-mid twenties after I finished university and got a full-time job, I invested in a handful of quality outboard pieces to mix through for the occasional projects I had outside of work. For what I was charging when trying to establish myself, it simply wasn't worth the inevitable mix revisions bands would make where I'd have to do recalls and do real-time bounces of a mix. I took a MacBook Pro, my interface, pres and mics on location to record, then mix it all in my bedroom through outboard gear after the tracking was completed. I thought bands would be impressed that I had outboard gear like the big studios, but by not having a permanent location to record in and mixing in a bedroom, nobody cared, and I'd never be able to get into that next step of clients working that way. Due to the shift in the industry and the pandemic, more and more people are recording from home, and as you mentioned, people are only going to book a studio if it's an impressive space with high quality gear to record drums in. I think that being predominantly a mix engineer and maybe a mastering engineer still has some weight because they don't know how to do these things well, and they can send their recordings to you over the cloud. They can, however, easily record DI guitars through amp sims, program some MIDI drums, and record vocals through their 2-channel interface.

Barry just reminded me that I didn't pay my electric bill this month thank you bro

Just wanted to say thanks for explaining my questions.

Great thoughts here Barry. I think in today's market youve got to truly put yourself above the crowd and offer something special or specific that most people have a hard time getting on their own. If you want to make any real money that is....

Great insight, appreciate you "old man" ;)

My trajectory sounds quite similar to Barry with the exception that I was actually working in someone else's studio when the local Sherriff office came and closed the business for back taxes and some other shady stuff, and the city took everything and auctioned it off. We were operating 24hrs a day at that time btw. That was the end of my creative recording studio professional life. I went on to work other places.but that was drudge work until I just couldn't take tracking the vocalist that autotune couldn't fix, replacing 80% of drum tracks because no one else knew how to use the software.. There's worse.. but if I tell you, I'll start to twitch and there'll be nightmares again.. My two cents is that music production and recording has become a thing you do because you love it and you'd do it no matter what... its a really piss poor career choice... And I don't care how frugal you think you are, at the end of the day it's a ginormous money pit worthy of it's own History channel documentary. The marketplace for musicians is a different thing, places they used to gig routinely got replaced with monopoly owned restaurant chains that don't do live entertainment. How many downloads on spotify do you need to make minimum wage? Digital gear gets obsolete fast, it does not get repaired but replaced.. that runs up your cost of business, while revenue is depressed. If you can only make $40 an hour tracking.. frankly, you are much better off going to learn how to be a plumber, and doing your music on the side.. The best part of that plan is that the number of folks trying to steal from you is greatly reduced... fewer headaches, more time to make music and do fun stuff. What's that worth? "Priceless" I'd say, if for no other reason than you actually get to do, what you want to do, and work with who you want to work with...or not. Don't miss that, if you work for yourself you get to say NO. If you own your own business and are in truth working for the bank.. you don't have that choice really. Just my 2 cents.

Great advice....thanks....

Barry, you’re killing me, 😂. Pesky little thing called “electricity!!!!!!!”

Poor man just getting over “omnicron”” lol! Great advice buddy!

Man barry is the best …. Such helpful info

Exactly my own experience. Things have changed. Adapt or die, human. Your Pro Tools skills are what you're selling, same here but with Logic. I've hated Avid from the day I learned of them. Plugins are to recording music as the internet is to the telephone. I don't have a Neve or SSL board, don't need them anymore. We have plugins that sound great. People skills are important, as is hygiene, in the studio, heh.

57 here also. ROCK ON! In my area going rate in a pro level studio is $60/hr - this includes large console mixers, lots of better outboard gear and mics. Of course the folks that run these have many years experience also. In spite of my pretty good home studio I often will get some tracks mixed at a studio and re-cut certain parts (vocals for example) as it is worth it for the final quality. I also have my tracks mastered offsite - prefer is the Abbey Road studio mastering services. Another reason why a lot of studios went under in the 90's and 2000's was partly a result of crazy real estate price increases and a lot of places could no longer afford the leases or the leases were coming due (many studios had 15-20-30 year leases started in 1960's-1970's and then suddenly the leases were through the roof. So I think the demise of studios was a result of several factors. Further, console sales are through the roof, so a lot of people are setting up studios. Also, lots of musicians and artists have no money to setup a nice home studio and recording in a studio might still be a viable option. With more and more people wanting to break into music, mostly are not musicians, we have a golden opportunity to bundle production level services with recording.

Good advice Barry. Sadly, so many students come out of a school in this field with $50-200k of debt, and no viable connections, thinking they are going to break in and pay their bills. I think the potential is for songwriters to become recording/production savvy, or vice versa, and DIY. At least until something hits or someone comes along with deep pockets.

I’ve pretty much settled into just doing recording and production as a hobby...and letting my full time job in healthcare pay the bills. If people eventually want to pay me to do what I do for them, great...if not, then also great.

Great Vid Barry! Super fun, kinda like a dad talk, but complete dead on points. BTW if you have a family room with decent dimensions, and you know how to improvise sound treatments, you can get FANTASTIC drum captures. The wife will get over her comforter draped over chairs as part of a space taming strategy, and seeing the leather sofa in the kitchen(heh heh). I have recorded and "released" two recent albums with LivingRoom drums. FWIW on Home Vs. Big Studio captures: I have had some of the worst sounding results on my guitar performances in large commercial studios. Those guys rush EVERYTHING. The sound quality has always been just OK. In my experience, a LOT of those guys depend on impressive looking spaces and equipment and haven't yet honed skills such as microphone / source pairing and effective guitar cabinet mic'ing knowlege. So when I track guitar for other people, I refuse to use their studios even if it is paid time, and just record the tracks at my house. They simply come out sounding superior.

Barry, you ought to think about doing a podcast, dude. You are very easy to listen to and your personal perspective on things like this... I would listen to 60mins of that once a week. Or if there's a way to upload videos like this in an audio format... I don't know. Or just stick with KZfaq. I guess what I'm trying to say is I like listening to you spitball off-the-cuff like this.

You’re in Orlando? That’s where I’m located. Lol that’s awesome.

I can tell you this. That u87 will stay in the Wooden box some sessions but those 2inch rigid insolation Panels (with burlap and framing wood) with be pulling their weight every single session you do. Build your own, get an electric staple gun if you don’t want carpal tunnel. In my 20 years of experience treat your room. Then sound reference Id after that. Even your speakers aren’t as flat as you think or they say. Massive 80hz bump in my nuemann monitors and KRKs.

Hey man I enjoy your videos we are the same age and have some of the same passions

This is good info mate and cheers for sharing. Im just about to move into a space in an industrial area to setup a small project studio away from my house so I can record at all hours. Its cheap and I plan to use it as a space to purely hone my craft. I understand that it wont be a place thats desireable to record at but maybe some people will be interested in doing demos. Either way Im not too fussed about "making money". But it has got me thinking to myself "Whats the point of all this?". I mean I love it, and its all that occupies my thoughts, but learning how to do this stuff is almost like learning to do magic tricks for a dog. Its becoming so niche that its harder and harder to find ways to find avenues to pursue besides just wanting to do your own music. Kids are damn good with their laptops these days and rightly dont see the value in spending extra money on external sources. Especially when all of my favourite records were recorded over months or years of studio time. Something which simply doesnt exist anymore. Everything comes full circle though and hopefully there is a resurgence of people wanting thrilling recording experiences with people in real spaces with real gear. Music is worse for not having that in my opinion, as the effort just isnt there with modern computer music. Total recall and ballistic editing doesnt make for any real excitement and gone of the days of capturing "real moments" warts and all. Anyways, good food for thought here dude.

Barry - I just think your videos are great man! I am about your age and know what you mean - I keep thinking wouldn’t it be great to own a commercial recording studio - but yeah you are correct. It is NOT something you can just do and make enough money to survive. I do my own material for myself for projects here and there and for my KZfaq… That’ll probably do for now Anyway keep up the good videos man! Take care

Gracias

I started at 14 recording music. I was a studio gofer, for a lot of Motown acts in Detroit.

I live outside the States. And the country I live in, the home or small studio is still out of reach for most people. So the studios around the city still run and charge out rate are much like the 80s or 90s in the U.S. When I moved out of the U.S. about 5 year's ago, I noticed music and studios still run like the days of old, and I love that.so I opened a studio that has all the gear a band needs to make whatever they want. For me I don't have the patience to sit and mix for hours. I use to do that, but I rather play guitar, piano, bass, whatever someone wants from a session musician. So the last four years I have live where I live, I just rent the studio with a deposit up front. The band can mix and master them selfies or hire someone they know. I am their just to operate the gear they need. And I am way cheaper then the other studios around because they don't pay for my time to mix or master. I have been able to run three locations so far so good for the last three years. The cost of building, and utilities are very cheap compared to the US.The strange thing about the other studios are, they are oblivious about new or older recording gear. 99 percent of them are computer's and some kind of interface. If you mentioned universal audio to any of them they have never heard of them.

I have a couple of friends that operate studios here in the New Orleans area. One of them has a regular day job, the other guy plays music in various bands in the city to supplement his income. I would never ask, but I often wonder how much money they actually make from recording bands. Both of them do get some work from artists that are signed to labels. Both of them have the gear and space to record anything, and both are very good at what they do. That being said, they charge around $60/hr and have all of the overheads that you talk about in your video. I have been playing music since I was 10 years old and got the recording bug when we recorded some of our first albums/EPs. We started out towards the end of the analog days, when digital was just starting to come around. The first thing we recorded was on an 8 track cassette recorder, and then we moved on to ADATs. Once we started getting some traction and making a little money, we went into a studio that had a 2" tape Studer machine, and then eventually Pro Tools and Cubase came around and replaced all of that. I got very interested in the recording process, but really only wanted to get competent enough to record my own music. Today, I have a project studio at my house, that required a some investment to get up to par to be able to do decent recordings/mixes. I have thought about seeking out clients, but I work mostly in the box and have a couple of pieces of outboard gear that I use, but nothing too crazy. I have a regular day job, so that has kept me from really seeking out working on other people's music, and really a lot of artists I know these days have their own project studio and do almost everything myself. The digital age has made recording way more affordable for most people. I would say that with good room treatment, a person could churn out good mixes using stock plugins that come with whatever DAW that they are using. I love my studio though. I do a lot of my music and often collaborate with other musicians from near and far and has made music very fun. I think that it is great that today I can record some music, send it to a vocalist 1000s of miles away, and get a very good end product all without having to leave the comfort of my home studio. It doesn't pay well, but I've got that covered through my day job.

Love your content Barry. Hows your wood shop/garage going? Ever think of making studio desks?

I opened a pro studio, purpose built from ground up Inside my home!. But only money I made was broadcast work, not really music, some rap clients, and voice over work. You need to be in an extremely populated area-with minimum overhead to make it work doing music only. I closed it up when my broadcast contract expired, just wasn’t worth it. Personal home setup only now.

You're far from dumb. Shit happens. Thankyou for this!

The big studio I had an internship lined up with ended up closing and the technical engineer I'd planned to study under had to fix home stereos for awhile before moving to L.A. to find better work. Now that records don't produce the revenue they used to, a big recording studio just ins't a viable business model.

BTW I'm 55.You don't really need that much gear. If they are going to hire you for your gear then they are probably nothing but trouble Anyways. However if your at the level my College friend from my Berklee days is then yes you need the bling still. That is on the way out I hope. As far as income with children, don't forget most wives work. One thing that is amazing is how cheap it is to record today and the the cheap gear sounds good. By cheap I'm mean UAD, Prosonus and so on. Cheap gear never sounded like this before. I have Apollo 8's but now you can get everything you need basically in the Prosonus 32 console for $2500. Another alternative to UAD is buy some interfaces used and then get the Slate Neve plugin preamp to get the same thing as UAD unison which no other plugin does that I know of plus with low recording latency. Today $11000 will get you the same sound that would of cost you over $100,000 in the 80's. Plus you would have to pay $150 via that would be about $500 today for tape that would only fit 4 songs. Imagine that we only had 24 tracks not a hundred. Some people had two locked together for 48 but not the norm. Anyways good luck and just Record!!

Sound On Sound

Words of Wisdom Barry Words of Wisdom,

I also started at 15. But I’m only 38.

Yea, because of the heightened technology with personal home recording and production, major studios aren't really a thing anymore. Lol anyone can literally create an entire album straight out of their own bedroom, attic, or basement nowadays.

Ya gotta be a renascence man these days. Record bands, Master Podcasts, Live sound, Teach Protools/Logic/Abelton, Run workshops, Play in bands, Hire out Gear, get used to only recording drums/re amping guitars, forensic audio if you can and teach an instrument. Then you're pretty much set... Providing your studio is in your home and the overheads are ultra low.

Here 1st, my man!! Let's fix the title. Add the 'r' in Recording. 💫

So much of the hardware now is digital. So many don’t need that equipment just great software and plug-ins.

In the UK there’s not much outside of London.

Be careful what you wish for. I know a guy that built a beautiful studio on to his house and records/mixes full time. Because rates have dropped so low he has to work all the time to pay the bills and make a living. Imagine spending your days working on music you may not even like, with musicians that may not be very good just to keep the lights on!

Covid is stopping a lot of session work.

Barry you let me down on this one .. really just felt like click bait 🧐🍻

Love the videos they dope 🔥🔥😎 keep it up, if you ever want to work with a hip hop artist hit me up

Also looking into the future Mabey years from now or sooner , NFTS and the meta verse might have a space for home producers n such , don’t know much but I’ve seen artist and producers involved with the meta verse already 👀 . Might be something to jump on early

Hey Larry ! I am almost 50, of course I feel like 30, do I give up on this?

Ye Union Village Studio waiting til covid is over lol 😎

A lot of this stuff about having a studio space is irrelevant these days. There’s a lot of opportunities in remote tracking, mixing, as well as recording in clients’ homes. You were right in saying do it from your home, but the gear part is strange. If you are having people make decisions based on outboard clones, then why work with them? You also mentioned that most people work in the box anyway? Gear lists is only interesting to other engineers. Artists care about the finished product/ sound. If they’re deciding a studio/ producer because of gear list, then I doubt they’re somebody that you’d want to work with. I don’t think moving to LA or Nashville is necessary anymore. Unless you want to work for the top 5 commercial studios. You spoke on not doing this unless you have experience, but how do you gain experience if you don’t try? Side note: I lost my job when Covid hit due to the close relationship of my job to the hotel industry, so I’m surprised you aren’t attesting to the changes and remote nature of recording, mixing and the *good* things associated with this shift.

Hey Barry, I’m in Jax with a home studio. I’m in healthcare software sales and travel to Orlando regularly. If you got a website or contact and open for collaboration let’s talk. I run Apogee Symphony with Adams A7X and sub. I have a cranborne lunch box with Burl preamps. Getting some Kush audio outboard compressors and EQs soon (on Backorder). GIK custom treated room.

Sound On Sound from England i think you mean

Just turned 21 work at wear house , a year in learning mixing mastering and beat making , Long way To go ,into become great at this . But last year i spent about 25K in audio equip. I live home and pay 0 bills besides my ones for audio equipment, I plan on spending 25k or more a year in audio equipment witch is 1000% possible , I’ll be 24 with 100 thousand dollar studio , i by no means believe I can make a living off of a home studio POSSIBLE but not reallly realistic as u said , BUTTT I plan on taking over KZfaq and spend money to achieve the highest quality videos and do beat making videos , mixing videos , plugin tutorials , mabey even a podcast Or reactions channel I just plan on spending all my time after work building following on KZfaq and I think if I dedicate myself to that , I might have a better chance becoming big on KZfaq rather than tryna live off a project studio . Worst case scenario “witch ion believe will happen” I have 100k studio and I just sell everything get alot of the money back and invest it in something else ! Smart idea ? Or bad one ????

The idea of you saying such Knowledgeable information and just sitting there in ur chonies is funny af

Only 45$ an hour ? Ahhh ,for the good old days again

Barry, I hate to break it to you but all of the gear you are blushing over is nice but studios are different than the ones we grew up with and the type of studio you and I have are like the dinosaurs 🦖 once rulers of world but not so much anymore and me being a guy about your age and dreaming of studios with 64 channel consoles with flying faders and racks of outboard gear and a big huge live room and two or three vocal booths and a receptionist, most of those things are in the past because technology has made us irrelevant and the people who buy/download music are kids who don’t care about the kind of gear you have or what you’ve done in the past or what kind of music you think is good or bad because they know everything and nothing at the same time and have found a way to make boomer a bad word so I dig where you are coming from because I have a fare amount of outboard gear in my control room and a live room and a vocal booth and I hope to one day have clientele who give their business to me because I provide a quality product but for now I’m not willing to go as far as you have down the rabbit hole 🕳 as far as gear because studio tours on KZfaq have shown that you can make a hit record with a laptop, one midi keyboard 🎹 and a microphone so really all that stuff you are so thrilled about having is just an expensive way to relive your glory days and you can disagree with me if you want but if you don’t believe me look at all the hit records that are successful almost none of them have any musicians and almost none of them have singers that don’t use auto tune they are not selling the music they’re selling the faces on what used to be album covers, That could be the topic for your next upload

Good analysis. But you're missing one thing. As an artist, you dont pay for the gear, you pay for the skill of the producer. Dont care if UA 1176 plugins or real compressors were used when the engineer doesnt know how to use it.

Today music is about monetization of wealthy people's vanity, I'm waiting to get back into engineering once I see Jeff Bezos looking for an engineer for his vanity cowboy music record.

time to sell the studio lol

Barry you are stating the obvious in some ways.. it can work if you have multiple income streams

One of the most depressing videos I've ever seen in my life. I have a commercial recording studio. I'm doing killier recordings. I have some incredible clients. I have trouble filling it for 40$ an hour though! I'm losing money constantly.

It's slow for us that don't record hip hop. I have the commercial studio and everything you talked about in the video except for the racks of gear. I also have a great sounding drum room. For money I mix live sound for a few bands and festivals around town. Everything you talked about is 100% true but I am living my dream on the second half of my life. I took a 30 year hobby and turned it into a music machine. Don't give up because it's hard. Be Unlimited. dplunlimited