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FreeSpirit2000
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25 Oct 2013, 4:16 pm

Apparently, I have decided to look into getting a degree in Music Recording and give it a shot. I am looking into this because I know how to play a few music instruments and thought, maybe doing something fun for a living would be interesting to look into, actually speaking. Possibly even running a studio where you can invite bands to record music with. But I have been hearing that some musicians have their own home recording studios they spend a couple of thousand dollars building on their own and now everything is becoming more digital, big music studios tend to go out of business (in some cases). Should I pursue this still. One person was suggesting to me to look into sound recording for film, TV and video games. I also play music instruments as well so I was thinking, should I look into writing music for films or TV instead. Or look into learning how to DJ.



Willard
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25 Oct 2013, 5:23 pm

A lot of musicians I've known do tinker with their own recording equipment at home and have done so for years - in the 80s I knew several who used four-track cassette recorders to dub multilayer tracks, playing several instruments themselves to get a specific sound down. However, when it came time to actually put a record together, they still went to professional studios where they could concentrate on being musicians, while letting somebody else do the mechanical mixing.

With digital technology, it's true you can do a lot of things on the computer that used to take a whole room full of equipment, but some of that software is rather pricey and a lot of musicians live hand-to-mouth and what money they have, they spend on new guitars rather than mixing software, so I wouldn't give up on the studio idea just yet. I live in a smallish town, next door to a mid-size metro area and there's a local recording studio just a few blocks from me that's been in business for two decades now. The owner is himself a musician and he's never gotten rich at either gig, but the studio is still in operation.

If you know enough musicians, singers and songwriters, you can make some money recording commercial jingles for local business and things like that.

If you can make a bare bones living at it, it's worth pursuing. I dunno about you, but I'd rather survive on pennies doing something I cared about, than get filthy rich doing something that bored me to suicide. Of course, I could never keep a job doing something I hated, because I couldn't stay focused on it and they'd fire me post haste (I know, I've tried it). Hard enough keeping the jobs I did like. :roll:



FreeSpirit2000
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26 Oct 2013, 3:02 am

Well, you are right, it is definitely a good idea to make an okay salary in what you enjoy, versus then make a lot of money in a job that burns you out. I have to say that as a kid, I would use to attempt to write a lot of songs and I found a lot of enjoyment in doing that. You said that you live in a small town close to a mid-sized metropolitan area. Well not to be cocky or anything, I live in Southern California, which is practically the entertainment mecca, so I would potentially have lots of good opportunities in this case versus people living in other areas of the country. I always loved playing music, listening to music and anything which involves it. Infact, I am starting to slowly learn how to Use Logic Pro editing software, where I have edited the beats and mixed them together and tested the mastering of the volume/sound as well. Hopefully I can translate this into using the actual sound equipment for Recording, Mixing and Mastering. All I need to do is complete some set of classes for this Recording Program I want to get into and I will start learning how to use the actual sound equipment for such things as Recording, Mixing and Mastering. You are totally right about doing something you enjoy too by the way. This is the main thing that counts too, by the way. Because if you don't do anything you enjoy, your royally screwed.

Also, I have heard that the market has expanded for recording. You can work in the television industry or the film industry doing post-production, you can also record orchestras, marching bands and choirs even, which can command more $$$. But idk about the $$$, but learning in what I do, actually speaking.