13 Things to AVOID when Recording Bands!
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- Опубліковано 21 вер 2024
- Considering a career in recording? Here's the TRUTH about what the job actually is, and what you'll REALLY be doing. Get the Morley HUMNO, Hum Eliminator and HumX at: www.morleyprod...
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About Spectre Sound Studios:
I'm Glenn Fricker, engineer here at Spectre Sound Studios. I love making records, and after doing it for sixteen years, I want to pass on what I've learned. On my channel you can find tutorials on how to record guitar, bass, real drums and vocals. There's reviews and demos of tube amps, amp sims, drums, mics, preamps, outboard gear, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, and plugin effects.
We've covered Moon on the Water, played Bias FX, given you the absolute best in Stupid Musician Texts, ranted & raved about bass guitar, and this channel is where The Eagle has Landed.
Everything you've wanted to learn about recording Hard Rock & Heavy Metal can be found right here on this channel!
I also respond to your comments & questions: The best make it into the SMG Viewer's Comments series of videos. Loads of fun, lots of laughs.
Thanks for checking out my channel & please subscribe!
the editor is having a lot of fun with Spongebob rn.
1:08 was a stroke of brilliance 😂
Isnt glenn also doing his own editing? I see him post in video forums all the time.
0:27 - Your Dreams Will Be Crushed
3:49 - You'll Drain Your Bank Account
4:59 - No More Holidays or Weekends
6:05 - The Clubhouse
7:29 - Cleaning up After Inconsiderate Jerks
8:35 - Overnight Bands = Terrible Idea
9:44 - Musicians Will Second-Guess You
10:52 - Insurance
11:55 - THAT F***ING NOISE!
13:39 - There's No Money
15:44 - The Flat Rates Paradox
16:47 - Never the Producer, Never Get the Credit
18:08 - Endless Mixdowns & Recalls
Thank you
Intentionally leaving a glaring error for the band to fix is my favorite strategy; I literally laughed out loud at that one. Great video Glen.
i usually go with significant errors on the vocals or lead lines so that way they spot it a mile away lol.
I use the ghost fader. The mix is fine, but it looks like work assigning a send, creating a new aux track and sending the signal on a bus to nowhere and adjusting the faders.
I like how you pointed out that using a credit card was a risky idea. As someone who was around 10k in debt, it all started small, but before i knew it, after one guitar, a piano, a set of monitors, and a few other things, the interest they charged ended up being higher then the minimum payment, which was all I could afford. So my debt never went down, even though I was always making on time payments. It went up instead. Was a terrible weight to bear for years. I had to take out a loan from my bank to pay them off. Never touching a credit card again for as long as possible. I was an idiot and had to learn the hard way. Not worth working so many hours for cool gear.
Credit cards can be great if used properly. You need to use them like cash, not a loan. Rates are too high for that. I have one card that pays ME 2% on everything I buy, no limit. I have another that pays ME 3% on gas with a $300 limit every six months but I don't hit it because all I use it for is gas. Another that pays ME 5% back on different things each 1/4 with a $75 limit each 1/4. Sometimes it's Amazon, other times restaurants and sometimes gas. Once I hit their limits, back to the 2% card which has no limit. I pay them off at the end of the month and last year they paid me $2,500 USD. Free money for spending on things I would have bought anyway. I love credit cards but you need to be careful.
I’ve never!
Used credit cards I watched my older brother crash and burn
For Christmas 2023 my 2nd Shelford Channel arrived
I have a self enforced “one way”
vault it’s amazing how much cash you can accrue with diligent small weekly deposits and patience
I guarantee that gear isn’t going to be unavailable unless it’s junk then that patience pays you back twice
Glen, for 10 years myself and 2 friends ran an independent pro wrestling promotion. Everything you've said about dealing with musicians is quite literally the same struggles we had regularly when dealing with pro wrestlers.
For Hell's sake! I ran a weird wrestling game show as an early teen with no real wrestlers, just guys from school who were interested. We had a terrible ring but I created the belts with beautiful glitters. It was corny af. But looking back, it made me realize how big of a struggle it is to deal with people. It may have been a game thing but we were regular for 2 goddamn years! And each show, I had to call every freaking guy on end to be in time, to not litter, to be considerate and maybe, just maybe, help me once to pay for the maintenance of all the ring gear and PR system that ran the game. Taught me good things. Wouldn't have imagined I experienced everything, albeit in a very *very* limited sense, what you and Glen did as professionals!
PS : If you're still running your promotion, I would love to lay some tracks for some of the creatives titantrons and maybe PPVs. Just a thought. Always loved wrestling, wouldn't miss the opportunity to be involved even if it's through music lol
Dude same! I'll add in ours was here in the Northwest US where I swear wrestling goes to grow an undeserved ego right before it dies. Feel the pain on this one
OM GOOD LORD JESUS! ARE u Crazy
@@joshmastiff1128 Very kind of you to offer, but sadly we've been inactive for many years now.
But music is real. Pro wrestling isn’t.
I turned a hobby into a job once. Will never make that mistake again. Jobs are jobs, hobbies are hobbies. I want to enjoy my hobbies, not depend on them to pay the rent.
Your point about insurance reminded me... I started off my studio career as a tea boy in a small London studio. Naive as I was, I told my car insurance company I was working in a recording studio. They slapped about 50% on my premium because, as they put it, "I could be giving Cliff Richard a lift home in my car, so if I had an accident and injured him, they'd have to pay out millions in damages."
My argument was that 1) Cliff Richard was never going to use that tatty little studio. 2) If he did, he would never want a lift in my rust-bucket car, and 3) If he did, I wouldn't want to be seen dead in a car with Cliff Richard, so I'd refuse him.
But they slapped the premium on anyway. 🤥
I woulda just slapped the contract away.
They can ask Cliff Richard the money, i ain't giving them anything.
Great video, Glenn. There is soooo much knowledge in this 20 minutes that it is ridiculous. Your willingness to share all of this just proves that you are really trying to help the average Joe more than most would. Thanks for what you do!
Thanks very much!
😲 this is just a reminder why my studio is just for me lol.. For singers the best time to record vocals is after a nap. Relax because nerves cause tension. You do not need to do a vocal work out but just a warm up.
Resting your voice is just as important as practicing don't smoke or drink anything acidic or with a coating like dairy..
I record my vocals pretty easily on the first takes because I don't smoke drink or do drugs.. I know being a vocalist is no fun lol...
😎 ✌
I have a personal studio to do music for myself and friends. All the reasons you mentioned are the reasons I was going the "Mastering" route for my studio. Everyone has their own home studios these days but nobody knows much about Mastering. Unfortunately all the AI Mastering plugins might be dashing those dreams though.
I think it's a yes and no situation as of right now (it could change in the future) I think it's a thing like a sports car, yeah anyone can get it but it doesn't mean you'll know what you're doing
Or you can charge bands for mastering and running through AI making you spend no time for easy money.
Think about that :D
@@cederickforsberg5840 still way far out there, it's not like you click a button and it's done, there's a lot you need to do as of right now
@@cederickforsberg5840 I tried relying on the AI options in oZone, but ended up still building my own presets and digging in on a track per track or project per project basis. I do love the AI scooping/masking in NeoVerb though.
demonstrate your value. learn tricks the AI can't do. Everything is played on phones now, right? Look into cross-pan delay techniques and read up on Haas Effect and monocompatibility. You have to take your spot in the industry or you'll be pushed aside. Anyone who would rather use Landr than pay me to master their work the fucking right way isn't worth working with.
Glen, this was easily one of your best and most interesting videos you have done. Thanks for sharing all the great insight and experience. As a musician for over 40 years, I can fully appreciate where you are coming from. The common thread in this whole topic is that people can make or break the experience for you.
Excellent advice. Lot's of wisdom.
Most of the famous bands that played concerts really sucked. As Glen stated this is why the producers used studio musicians to create the albums. Live concert albums were always 'less desirable'.. Live concerts have an energy that we all love, I totally get that, but the quality of the music was usually sub par.
On top of that a lot of the musicians in the bands were drunk and or high which will take what might normally be a good musician and turn them into a disaster. Yes, it's true boys and girls that using any substances like alcohol and drugs makes you a worse, not a 'better' musician.
I listened to an interview recently of a musician who played with Mark Knopfler's band for awhile and he stated that no one in the band drank, or used substances while on the road playing concerts. They all wanted to be as sharp as possible for the performances. They truly loved their craft and respected their paying audiences.
Hey Glenn! Just want to let you know that my band and I can't thank you enough. We finished recording a single using all the best of home AND studio equipment (Good Quad Cortex presets, Pro-level crystal clear vocals recorded in MY HOME STUDIO and of course studio drums). We wanted to send our raw project to a mix but I caught a fever when I heard how much mixing would cost. I may have a degree in film music and soundtrack production but I haven't mixed anything in around 4 years. I decided to jump into the ocean and try to mix it by my own rusty ass. I checked your channel for any tutorials and mixed the drums like you showed in one of them and that made the mix SO MUCH BETTER I even surprised myself!!! It took me a while but my bandmates are thankful for saving them shit tons of money. I got a few minor rejects that I'll fix in no-time but they loved my mix thanks to you! I'm telling you Glenn. If collages and any other academic degree-related production courses focused on teaching us how to actually get our hands dirty and MIX THAT SHIT like you do instead of all the theoretical degree-related fuckery I'm pretty sure that at least some part of the music industry would sound different. Cheers, thank you and fuck you Glenn from the band Edellom!
I'm in a slightly different category. I put together my home studio to record my own musical ideas. I can't stand having other people around. I really don't like most people I meet. My daughter is the only other person that has even been in my studio. As a young musician, I spent years trying to get others to play things in a pro manner. Thats when I realised that if I wanted it done right, I'd have to do everything myself. As a multi-instrumentalst, this suits my work ethic. I tend to be most creative in the wee hours of the morning. One am to five am works for me. Occasionally I will get an idea at other times and I don't have to worry about booking a studio and losing the inspiration. I just walk to my studio and record before I forget the idea. I toured all over the world in my early twenties and playing live has it's good points, but being in bands with others that felt that the music was good enough, drove me crazy. That's why I do what I want, when I want now and have never been happier. I can't think of anything worse than having others in my creative space. I would probably self delete if I had to record others. I feel for what you have endured over the years Glen. I really appreciate all the info you give us. I used to constantly change pickups looking for a tone. Now I just put Fishman's in all my guitars because they are so quiet for recording.
Can you upload your work for others to enjoy?
We are actually printing CDs, tapes, and Vinyls. The CDs will take 2 months, tapes we will do ourselves, and vinyl's will come out in October/November.
Our band Glista (which means worm in English) just recorded a new album (my first ever). The whole recording session (from drums to backing vocals) lasted from the 28th of april to the 1st of June. Everybody basically had 1 week to record their shit. The mixing took another 2 weeks to get it right, and mastering about the same, so from start to finish it took just over two months. And we're happy with the result!. The producer was such a great guy, really nice, funny, and yet professional during all hours of the day when he needed to be.
I am so happy I kept watching all these videos of Glen losing his shit over what NOT to do in a studio! So if you read this Glen, thank you
I work in insurance and can confirm the company does NOT want to help you. We had a huge storm come through a few years ago and we were told to “find any preexisting damage to deny the claims with and if we couldn’t to find an excuse to lower the payout as much as possible” needless to say I don’t work claims anymore
Wow that's crazy! I work for a big insurance company and we had a record number of tornadoes and hail and they were out in the field writing estimates and checks before most of the other companies ever showed up! Always hearing these nightmare stories and feel lucky to be working for an honest company who tries to just do the right thing.
Thank you Glen for sharing, my take on this is all about attitude of the musicians, They think that life and everything in it is given to them for free and you owe that to them! I live here in So-Cal and believe me they take total advantage of everything life brings before them. Most studios here have certain rooms for different things. like the live studio room at back-line studio where there's video cameras set up, lighting and a stage to show the performers how they look and sound before they get any further, but before anything happens it's payola first up front, and no B.S. front window is where you pay then they unlock the door no exceptions that means everybody!
My band still presses CDs. We burn them ourselves and hand make the sleeves and sign them for a personal touch. People who don't use CDs still buy them for the custom style. Takes a lot of time, but it's pretty fun and rewarding as well.
About the producer thing: my band also never called the engineer the producer, as in my country the producer always gets a part of the rights to the music as well. We simple state "recorded, mixed and mastered by ...."
And if you look up what Wikipedia has to say about Record producer "Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions: ensuring artists deliver acceptable performances, supervising the technical engineering of the recording, and coordinating the production team and process. The producer's involvement in a musical project can vary in depth and scope. Sometimes in popular genres the producer may create the recording's entire sound and structure. However in classical music recording, for example, the producer serves as more of a liaison between the conductor and the engineering team. "
Yeah it can vary, for some genres the producer basically writes, records, mixes and masters everything, and maybe gets the singers to karaoke on their stuff.
I think that's pretty common with pop, electronic and rap, though rappers usually write their own lyrics.
When a band told me ‘your mixes sound better but this other guy has x compressor that’s really cool so we’re gonna go there’ I realised it’s time to quit.
Recording for the first time, we went in knowing we knew nothing. We trusted our engineer/producer completely. He was invaluable. His contribution cannot be understated.
We also did our best to respect the space, time and engineer/producer.
It was a great experience and we couldn't have done it without the guy behind the board.
I’ve been spending the last few months watching UA-cam videos on how to get the best out of my little hobbyist house setup. Studio monitors, decent headphones, how to actually use Logic’s features, and how little things for instruments like fresh strings or a strobe tuner can potentially make a big difference, etc, etc. I’m glad there’s so many resources on UA-cam so I’m not draining my accounts on a community college course. One of the few topics I’m actually interested in diving down a bunch of rabbitholes on.
I stayed at our studio for a few days to finish our EP. I would NEVER dream of doing anything you mentioned. Someone invited me into their home in order to help me realize my vision. Common courtesy is to leave the place just as clean as you found it. Also, a beer or two, to help with eventual nervousness is ok, but you are in the studio to work, not to fuck around.
Glen, brother, I'm an old guy, (just turned 60 today, in fact) and feel your pain. Recording has become easier, but not necessarily better. If a band can't play it live, on the floor, that's not a band.
As someone who worked as a Freelance Graphic Designer for 3 years before quiting, these are problems that are not exclusive to music. If you want to get into ANY art trade (film, writing, nusic, illustration, etc), take this advice like GOLD. In those three years before i got fuckin smart, I've had people refuse payment over stupid tiny reasons, straight up steal my mockups, call me in to re-design MULTIPLE TIMES, i used to charge a flat rate, only to work almost triple time, leading to burnout. However, with all those complaints.. I still do what I love, even if that love is tested... CONSTANTLY.
Also, fuck you glen 🤘🏻❤️
In january i released an album. Even thought i don't have any device which can play a CD, i still pressed CD copies with artworks and everything. I think i am a little oldschool about CDs.
Yes i know that nowadays music is listened via streaming services and i'm also using them, but seeing your hard work in a "physical format" has an entirely different kind of feel. Holding your own work in your own hands, turning it back and seeing your tracklist written, seeing your name written etc. I cannot find words to describe it. I maybe never listen to that cd, but even after years, i can still pull it from shelf and proudly say "i created this". I hope every musician have a chance to feel that way.
By the way, dearest Glen, i'm watching your channel for years and i've learned a "metric ton of stuff" from your channel. Thanks to your advices, the entire album's guitar and bass tracking just took 3 simple days. Every guide you've released had tremendous impact on me like "how to be ready for recording", "what to do in the studio", "staying away from the shinies and get critical equipment" and the producer actually said this: "I've been through dozens of recording sessions and you are clearly the best prepared and trained one among them".
About the producer ? He took his payment full in cold hard cash without delay, without bargain, without any BS. Thus, his name is proudly written in the artwork and streaming services as "Recorded, mixed and mastered by "insert producer name"
I can't thank you enough. Keep up the good work.
This is why I gave up on music production and went into film post-production. Glen is spot on with this!
Shout out to Glen. I took one of his classes not even two years ago to learn to mix and now I'm working full time in film post-production. Sadly, you work in Pro Tools or you don't work in film :(
and they say the audio instructors are full of shit. We had to work exclusively in Pro Tools for this very reason. This was 2008. Glad to see they were right and it wasn't a total waste of money. Now I set up my clients with Pro Tools Intro (which is free) so I can record tracks on their system and take it home for mixing.
I live in a town where every teenager wants to be a rapper so they send in beats that they either stole or sound like trash cans getting smashed by submarines. I rarely get any metal or rock people. All the old people that can actually play their instruments all play country and my ears just bleed. But hey, it’s side money that help my family and I go on vacations. As much as I think the music sucks lol
Glenn, re your question about CD pressing, the artist I work with is still selling CDs at shows. At the moment, we have 2 on the merch table. I mixed and mastered one of them (a live CD recorded at 2 shows) and did the artwork for both. I can't know what the clients are doing with these CDs but I suspect the majority are buying them as souvenirs of the show they've just experienced and some might be buying them just to support an artist they appreciate. I sometimes wonder how many actually even remove the shrinkwrap.
My second to last time recording in studio was around 2001. We had an 8 hr session and laid down 6 songs. Recorded band together and vocals separately. Was a decent recording at end of things. Mixer hooked us up with 3diting hours as long as I came in late at night. He banked so much time with rap artists who didn't write anything until they got to the studio. So I rocked it and spent about 10 hours mixing the tracks. There was one section we really screwed up out of all the songs lol one of my friends came in to be a second set of ears and was his first time seeing pro tools. He leans in and goes does that thing have a talent key? So we lost the next 15 mins laughing. Lol
And yes I'm the bass player. Lol
Lies I say! No bass player in the history of man has ever managed to do more than walk and chew bubble gum. Here you are claiming to be capable of mixing tracks! Although I have heard tale of a bass player that could do such diabolical things. I refuse to believe that I have found this fabled creature in a UA-cam comment section! 😂
@darksu6947 yeah unfortunately I was the most committed member of that band and they even ended everything after we were talking with roadrunner. It does happen but yeah most ive met are useless.
@@fat_ninja_status That's unfortunate dude.
I honestly don't understand the bass player hate on this channel. In my experience, if the bass player sucks, so does the rest of the band.
More often than not, in actual committed bands, the bassist is driving force in the group (again, in my experience.)
@aguynamednathan I learned of the hate from the minute I started playing just accepted it as people have to say something no matter what.
About Morley, I've used an ABC selector for my band, as I play my guitar through 3 amps (2 guits, 1 bass), but I had noise issues. Then I went for the black ABC Morley Pro. Damn it cost me a lung, but no more noise issues, better shielding, and the ground/polarity buttons are handy.
Concerning pressing CDs, let's start with a bit of context : In France, you have to register at the SACEM (private artist mafia) and as for a registration code in order to have the right to press CDs. That is if you go through a company who has legal obligations, like the one we went for. Thankfully it was free of charge registration, because we only wanted to do a hundred of them.
I mean we ARE using Distrokid in order to make our music available. But people asked us at the end of our gigs if we could sell them a CD. That's why we pressed one. Just for those who ask for a CD. We sell them 2€ more that they cost us, just to get back the money we spent (and because we offer some to our close friends).
Joy of administration !
Do you have to register also as an indie artist?
In Italy you must register to the SIAE to copyright the songs (and it's a paid registration), but you do not need it if you just burn the CDs and sell them.
Actually, if you register the songs, then you have to pay the SIAE every time you play them live, and you also have to pay them if you do cover songs.
So if you're ok with having no licence (or getting another kind of licence somewhere else) you're actually better off not licensing your songs.
You still legally need to have a VAT number to sell records at a gig (or anywhere else really), and i think you also need to have a card reader if you have a physical shop.
Yes CDs work for promotion. People and friends want a physical copy even when they don't have a CD player anymore.
Nobody wants a CD. They are as good as garbage nowadays
@@gavinhammond5415 well, I sell almost 500 copies a year of more. So... 🤷🏽♂️
@@gavinhammond5415Naw, CD’s will always be around.
Hey Glenn, haven't been around the Channel for a couple of years, cause I got more into playing music again instead of mixing and recording. But I gotta say, man, the amount of time and money you saved me getting started is insane. And for that I will always be thankful! Keep up the great work! Btw, everything in this Video is a 100% accurate, especially when it comes to dealing with musicians.
In the early 2000s, I used to shoot bands (with a camera). There was a cool local band, and I suggested we do a photoshoot that tapped into the Crazy 8 vibe from Kill Bill. The lead singer said she would buy the outfit, but the rest of the band would need to buy suits.
I pitched it to them, BUT they said that $110 for a tailored suit from Mens Warehouse was just too much money.
They bought beer instead and mercifully, faded from memory and history.
I only had one band during that time pay me for pictures.
I will never work with musicians again.
I’d rather shoot wedding after wedding with the crazy, overbearing sister who believes she’s the one that’s getting married.
DON’T WORK WITH MUSICIANS.
During the pandemic I bought two Moogs and a drum machine. Yes, music gear is expensive, but so is camera gear.
Great video!
I REITERATE: DON’T WORK WITH MUSICIANS.
I used to record rappers a lot. One time the session was over and I played the track back for them while I went to the bathroom. Mind you the whole time they sounded like trash, were cocky af and trying to act hard or gangster or something idk. Also it took 2 and a half hours to record mediocre vocals for one song!! When I came back dude was in the booth recording while his buddy was at the controls! I lost it on em. Lol. Threw their money back at em, deleted the tracks, and told them not to come back. After that I stopped recording for just anyone. I talk on the phone with them first and ask a lot of questions. Ask about prior recording experience, goals, expectations, etc...find out what type of person they are a little bit first. I've had to turn people away before. It's easy to do respectfully. I always just recommend a studio that is cheaper or "more geared" towards what they are going for. 9 times out of 10 they'll thank u for looking out. 😉
My goodness, Glenn, dropping MAD TRUTH-your rage has finally transcended your stated intent.
Came for the Focusrite clickbait thumbnail, stayed for the unintended exegesis on sociology, economics, humanity! Phew, what a great job!
Sigh. A lot of similiarities between this and working as a freelance content writer, especially when it comes to dealing with clients and their shenanigans.
Come to think of it, this applies to most such professional services.
Love your stuff, Glenn. Never stop!
Cheers and F**k you from India!
Glen is spot on with this video!!!... I have encountered multiple experiences here and can attest that Glen knows his shit when it comes to these experiences. Take this advice and don't get burned... Oh... and the Ebtech/Morley hum eliminator has saved my ass multiple times!!
Glad they have come in handy!
Thank you Glen. The information you share is invaluable. As I begin the journey into recording and mixing I will attempt to apply what I’ve learned. THANK YOU!!
Your experience sounds bewildering to me. With my band it went like this: We called up a home studio, told the studio owner what we want and asked for a cost estimate. Paid it upfront, recorded and didnt even smoke or drink inside. Always did that in a local bar afterwards. Always pay upfront guys.. I actually think it makes the record sound better :D
Glen, all your horror stories in this video are the makings of a great book, I'd buy that shit
I still make CDs. I don't even need to plug into a computer. I use a roland recording unit, and plug the left and right outputs into my Tascam CD recorder. Works awesome.
I always made sure my band was sober and ready to record by the time we hit the studio.
I wish I could say that, but ........ we had a lot of fun. That's for sure, and that's all I really remember.
And here when I thought that I could not admire the late Great Randy Rhoads any more than I already do, Glen gives me dozens more reasons to.
Reality. See it. Smell it. Feel it. Taste it. Great video Glenn.
Glenn I'm one of the CMF'ers thats always messing with you in the chat area😅
But look I bought A BV 1Q" 30H 8 OHM Speaker. And ive bought a SA 212 E Cab from SEISMIC Audio. Just too see.
I am BLOWN AWAY dude🤯💥💣💨 i have already ordered the 2nd BV 30H 8ohm too fill the SA 212 Empty up.
Well i hate to admit it. But dang it my brother you have taught me a lesson!!. Oh and my friend this SEISMIC SA 212 EMPTY IS NO JOKE inexpensive easy to load, nicely made... you should try one. And nopes i dont work there lol im in a little town in Alabama.
Well ok thanks beuh
...😅
Whew! You're right about Full Sail!
Although not in the Metal scene I still do CD's with my small record company. With the prices today it is still possible to make a profit! Love your channel Glenn !!
The two bands I'm in both record everything in our home recording set ups. We don't press CDs, but that's mostly because we just prefer to toss things onto distrokid and spend more time and money on recording and playing shows
TL;DR: Exotic gear probably won't solve your problem! I bought a $1200 Josephson e22s mic to use on snare drum after hearing so many wonderful things and demos about this mic on snare. I wasn't getting the sound I wanted and figured throwing cash at an exotic mic would do the trick. The mic did sound GOOD on snare, but I was still wanting. I started doing more live work and didn't want to take a $1200 snare mic to the stage. I sold it and bought a slightly-used Beyerdynamic M201TG for $250. The first time I heard how the snare sounded coming out of the speakers, I had a grin that wouldn't leave my face. I've since bought two more for other uses, and am still ahead of the e22s on price!
I've heard so much negativity toward the hired and session musicians I think this could be a fun time to cause some chaos. Time to piss a lot of musicians off. If you focused on making your music the best it could be and being the best musician on your instrument instead of what ever shiny toys came along and what ever side quest you decided to piss your time away on then people like me would not need to exist! I'm not even a full time musician I'm a freaking financial analyst with my own business. I'm just good enough at what I do as a guitarist to come in. Learn my parts. Play. Be professional. Get paid and go back to my daily life with a few more bucks toward that next fun gear purchase. Thank you for defending the session musicians Glen we appreciate it
Since you mentioned CDs, I do still buy CDs once in a while. I live in the sticks where radio doesn’t reach, so having physical music is a great boon, especially if it’s music I already know I love.
You speak the truth sir! After completing a basement remodel to make it a recording studio, I offered a local band in Columbus, Ohio one free song so I could "tweak" the control room. 16 hours into recording JUST THE DRUMS, I quietly quit recording bands. I'm glad you're warning those folks considering this as a business. It's tough, frustrating, gross and unrewarding.
I just bought the Humno. Thanks for tip Glenn.
My 90s hard-core band still presses cds. Great video
My home studio is there just to serve me. The only arsehole I have to deal with is me.
Glenn, i love the spongebob references here! I enjoyed them thoroughly while weeping at my recording career in a college town!
You wanna know what’s hilarious though about bands staying over night? I’ve had many bands stay at our place and they were the neatest bands ever. The drummer from one from NS actually cooked breakfast when we were going to hahaha. They’re the coolest
Thanks for the experience.
I never understood the thing about musicians not being able to play their instruments,
until I went to a local gig in an irish pub recently.
The first band wasn' quite fully in sync, timing was sloppy,
the singer of the second band was a pleasure to look at, but not a pleasure to listen to.
Now I've got an idea of what Glen is going through
Facing adversity & the fear of becoming a bass player, I must soldier on in pursuit of my dreams... but damn, that's good advice.
Videos like these is why we love you Glenn. Always keeping it real and to the point about what it takes to be in this business. And staying level headed and passionate while doing it! Great video as always. Also, Fuck you glenn‼️‼️
Great stuff, thanks Glen!
Honestly, I want to make music one day, and these videos of yours make me want to be a musician who is a lot more bearable to sound engineers and producers than those you have experienced.
Holy shit do I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND 100% of this video. I love doing this, but I couldn't stop laughing and weeping at this video because it's SO TRUE!! I've got one I'd like to add. When the band/artist wants to bring their friends to "Check out the process", and then, as if being completely unrehearsed wasn't enough, they get nervous because they are attempting to show off what "bad ass one take wonders" they are, then somehow dispute the final bill, as if it was your fault they took 6 extra hours to track ONE VOCAL ON ONE SONG!! .... Not that it's ever happened to me. 🙄
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My "Home Studio" Only Consists of the Macbook I already have, An Interface and some Monitors. That's all I need to play Guitar Plugins while using Headphones( I like to practice in the Evenings). I really am Space restricted, and it replaces Amps for me basically.
What a brilliant video Glenn. Thank you for it. I love making my own music and I would love to mix and produce other people's music at some stage too. Your experiences are so insightful and has really opened my eyes to these realities. It is so hard to get the money together to buy all of this equipment and then to have these ef wits not pay you for the amazing job you just did to make them sound awesome, that is very demoralising. Your video explained the pitfalls of home studio music production, and it is great to see the challenges. You made us aware of these problems and gave us the tools to overcome these annoyances. Your videos are so informative and you are such an inspiration to me Glenn. Thank you!!!
The recall thing remind me a friend of mine who ask me to change some little things maybe 10 times because he was never satisfied. At the end, i sent him the first mix, i just renamed it v11 (or something like that) and ... it was perfect ...
On another note... Very based takes here. I do have my own home studio but I would never even dream of bringing people into it for recording services of any kind... I have it entirely for my own personal use as a composer, sound designer, voice over artist, and making music for ads, movies and video games by request. Anything that requires a second head goes straight to an outsourced studio.
I have a really sad story about a family that was very close to me... Middle aged couple with a kid in their teenage years who had a bright future ahead of him as a drummer. I'm telling you, the kid would literally slay Avenged Sevenfold songs at 15 years old with only 2-3 years of drumming experience, most of which were time in Rock Band and Guitar Hero.
The family had money and his dad was the type of guy who likes to flaunt his perfect kid to everyone as if it was a trophy, and tried to spoil him beyond belief. Everything looked like a fairy tale until dad decides to open a recording and rehearsal studio at their own home. I can't tell the amount of people that told them what a dreadful idea that was going to be, especially given it's your own comfortable family home that you already own.
Long story short, the idea of having a home studio open to everyone practically destroyed the family, made the kid quit drumming, almost got them ruined on a tax evasion affair that got the studio closed, and got the mother in such a bad mental and physical shape that covid managed to take her life throughout the pandemic.
Food for thought. The home studio really is a terrible idea for anything beyond exclusively personal uses.
Plugging into multiple circuits in the same room does not create a ground loop. All of those circuits share the same ground.
You should make sure the ground is the ground everywhere. Make sure the neutral and the ground aren't swapped. And make sure all ground lugs are tightened.
Majority of noise is going to come from electromechanical contaminating the ground, ballasts going out, EMF from LED panels, power supplies, etc.
If changing a receptacle in the room makes your ground hum
go away, you need to call an electrician because you have a fire hazard on your hands. In a properly installed electrical system, switching electrical outlets or circuits doesn't have any effect on cleaning up ground noise.
I still have CDs pressed for my bands music. Of course I always offer digital options as well but I try to include things in the physical media that they can't get by streaming/downloading, like additional artwork that ties the album together. I understand that things like Spotify are the way of the future, but I still like having my music on as many formats as I can. Hell if I could have tapes and vinyl with my music I would be one happy dude.
Yeah I got a home studio, artists stealing stuff from my house while I'm recording vocals of their friends.
If you have to have friends of artists or bands hanging around just make sure you put up some home videocameras and place it in a place everybody can see it as to avert them from doing stupid stuff, stealing or destroying gear.
Hey Glen video idea how about things to avoid and best practices for rehearsals, how bands should handle and manage music creation, how to avoid wasting time. Can't count the amount of rehearsals where we just play pointlessly without coming up with anything.
The real winners in this are those who have a home studio only to record themselves or their own band. You get a lot less of the downsides that way. My opinion. Puck you Glenn!!
Hi Glenn thanks for the video, it was very helpful! To answer your question, I burn CDs with my band and they sell pretty well (we sell them cheap because we use those cardboard cases instead of plastic). I think sometimes people like to have a small piece of merch even if they're going to listen to the songs on spotify. Also, I live in spain and lots of working class young people drive early 2000s used cars with CD players and no bluetooth, so we do listen to cds in the car
Really transparent stuff. Gear obsession for the sake of a better quality or an upgrade is just the way the journey goes. The trick is to trade, sell. or rent out your old stuff. It prevents the hoarding aspect as well.
Excellent!!! These types of summary videos are my favourite!!
With the exception of MR TAMBOURINE MAN (Which McGuinn still plays 12-string on...), The Byrds played their own parts on recordings.
I was in a band some time ago where we did a demo, which the guy charged a flat rate for. One member took this to insane levels, constantly spending hours upon hours redoing everything. Myself and the others in the band had to put insane amounts of pressure on that person to a) stop constantly redoing everything b) chip in to a nice, expensive present we bought the guy as a thank you for giving us loads of extra studio time
Some people are so frigging entitled, it's sickening
Thanks for those wonderful words of wisdom and encouragement.
But seriously, I can see where you would want to lay down the law right from the get go, work first party later, after you're paid.
Great video as always!
Having a tremor, I still have yet to enter a booked studio because I don’t want to waste anyone’s time. I’ve had understanding discussions with some very kind producers regarding this, but when I do, I intend to come fucking correct. Go in, execute, don’t let myself sprawl out.
The most valuable lesson I learned, is if you don’t value your time or talent, no one else will.
This is a new video but I feel like you’ve already done this one? Deja vu 😮. Good content nonetheless!
“ … then the drummer gets a girlfriend … “
Come on, that’s stretching the imagination a little …
I swear it REALLY HAPPENED!
Love the insight on pet sounds and the wrecking crew.
Everything you said is so true. I spent a lot of money to do a studio and it was just a no starter. I got a simple Tascam 16 track and do my own and it is quite peaceful.
Thank you, sir! This video is eye-opening. Much respect for your content!
I'm glad this is my hobby. I might not make money or be the best mix engineer, but at least I'm having writing and recording my own songs. Sure no one hears them, but I'm still in my happy place.
Gleeeeeeenn! You still haven't scared me off! I wanna be able to record or even a full band. Gonna need a lot of inputs... Any gear advice to start out with? And also how to jack these things up, there seem to be very few videos on this subject around. Thanks in advance!
Glennnnnnnnn I love your videos. I’m a guitarist so you know I’m not able to do what you do but I take what you say to heart. I play death metal and metal in a couple bands , and my set up went from a peavy valve king half stack with a 6506 cab to a line 6 helix either plugged in direct or plugged into a headrush speaker , it’s funny watching the bands with older musicians look at the stage wondering where the half stacks are. It’s quite hilarious. I just want to say my wallet and my back thank you for all the insights over the years. Cheers for South Florida.
This is great advice, sometimes reality is hard to swallow, lol I’ve been through each of those scenarios in past studios, I am lucky enough now to pick and choose my clients, and Lucky is the word, thanks for the chat I always get a chuckle
The Mamas and the Papas were a vocal quartet, no one expected them to play any instruments 🤷♂️. Besides that, I WISH I could play half as good as any of those Wrecking Crew players, the second I hit record my musical abilities crumble away. I will be forever in debt to digital editing software.
My band and I once had an interview with a local paper. During the interview the interviewer already mixed up our stories. Then, when the story came out, she got names wrong and about 50% of the story was wrong…
One trick I learned years ago working on both sides of the desk at a small studio in regards to random band members making volume/eq requests: hold your hand over the fader/knob and move your hand slightly w/o touching the fader/knob and ask "how about that?". 9/10 times they'll nod and say "yeah! that sounds great!" and high five themselves for their golden ears and you don't have to go back and fix it later.
Home recording is worth it for the individual musician. I will submitt some mixes once I figure out how to do the computer stuff.
Any industry that involves molding or shaping someone else's creative expressions into a mass-consumable format is rough. You will never please everybody with the end result.
These experience-share vids are the best, thank you for sharing and your persistence to get to this point 🤘🏼🤘🏼
Interesting take, but there are great musicians everywhere and not all of them are session players. One of the best groups of musicians from the 60s and 70s was the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, who were really just local guys that grooved well together. And take The Edge, not a great musician by any stretch, but he created some amazing guitar parts. And what about the Beatles? The problem with using people like Larry Carlton, Jay Graydon, or Jeff Pocaro on everything is that the music ends up being homogenized. And if you ask Graydon, he'll tell you they were the lucky ones. There were plenty of great musicians who just couldn't break into the L.A. session scene, but not for lack of talent. Don't forget that Carlos Rios got his break by accident. And btw, not every great rhythm track has to be quantized... cue up James Brown. Music speeds up and slows down.
GLEN recently burned a mix cd for a road trip. Last time had to 10yrs ago and was a first for my computer. My teenage computer was always burning cds lol.
the glaring error thing works for EVERYTHING. had a band that were "electronics experts". so we would intentionally set up the stage gear wrong on one thing. "UH THIS IS WHRONG!" yep got it thanks what would we do without you..... give them something to focus on and think they are heros. we called it the golden doorknob to set everything up right and then intentionally break something that the loudest know-it-all will see right away.