I made the decision to produce this album without really thinking through how many dollars it would cost me, and this week has been a process of coming to terms with just how many dollars I will be parting with over the next few weeks as I piece together this studio.
Last week I finally settled the Logic vs. Protools debate, coming down eventually on the side of Logic. There are long lists of pros and cons for each program. Logic is just a better program, more updatable, better sound quality, more versatile, amazing midi, but it only runs on mac, which means that I have to spend a lot of money on a computer only half as good as the computer I could build if I went with a pc. Protools would run on the awesome pc I would build, but protools is the biggest capitalist scam in the recording industry, tying their software to their own hardware, which is monstrously overpriced and poor quality. Plus the cheep version of Protools only supports 32 tracks. 32 tracks???!!!
So now my bank account is $3,000 lighter and I have the highest end 15 inch Macbook Pro (along with my free ipod), the Firestudio Tube 16 channel audio interface, a new 23 inch monitor, all on the way to my doorstep. Right now this money is coming out of the college savings I didn’t end up spending on my education because I went to the oh so quirky public liberal arts college in Florida and my now being a Florida resident. What?
The truth is that I don’t know how someone could possibly try to produce their own album without some kind of significant savings like this. This process is extremely time-consuming and working as a musician (which is my only other job at the moment) pays next to nothing. Adele and the Matts had their first show of the season last Friday at Arsaga’s on Crossover and made $200 whole dollars, which got evenly distributed in $67 portions. Great money for a show at a small coffee shop but only covering the cost of...maybe the cheapest metal windscreen for a condenser mic? It just doesn’t cut it.
Today my dad is helping me enclose part of the new Adele and the Matt’s practice room to create the recording isolation chamber. Looks like it is going to end up being a 7X6X8 foot space, partially outlined by the existing walls and partially outlined with the makeshift 2X4 walls we are putting up today. Yesterday we bought an enormous package of acoustic foam and are probably going to do the rest of the job with insulated fiberglass and wool blankets.
I still have to research and buy mics and new monitor speakers, some new XLR cables, and a package of drum mics, but other than that things are really coming together and I’m excited. It will the realization of a dream I’ve had for many years to finally be able to get out of bed at any hour of the night and walk into my very own recording studio in the next room.
Other than this project I have been trying to get out to see other local bands play. So far my favs have been Opal Fly and the Swatters, The Rox, and The Good Fear. Some pretty awesome local music going down in Fayettenam these days. Tomorrow Matt and I are going to distribute our press kit to more local venues. Given the awesome turnout to our first show I have confidence that we can develop a pretty good local following.
