Recording (Without A Studio)

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I urgently need to get to grips with recording my music and putting it places where people can buy it. I've been getting nowhere with this for several years- the process seems to be this endlessly branching maze of things I don't know how to do properly, and can't evaluate how necessary they even are. Meanwhile, my back catalogue is growing. I write 2 to 3 albums worth of new songs and piano pieces a year, but last recorded an actual album in 2015. The current pandemic situation has clarified things a bit- no point in making CDs to sell at gigs right now! Bandcamp and Youtube look like the best bets.

I'm good at the actual music part of being a musician. Terrible at everything else. When I look at musicians I know, the older ones all have money to burn, and can afford to hire out studios for what are essentially vanity projects, with no intention of making that money back. The younger ones tend have a fearsome amount of knowledge about recording, with awesome (and expensive) home studio setups. Meanwhile, I work at a minimum wage job, live in an apartment with paper-thin walls, and use a tiny portable Zoom recorder because anything else is both too expensive and too confusing for me to be able to use. (I did not get the Aspie Computer Skillz. Quite the opposite.)

Conclusion: I can't do this properly, so I need to do it improperly! Time to stop dithering and start making hideously crude recordings. Does anyone else here have experience of putting out music on an absolute shoestring, with a bare minimum of expertise?

What instrument(s) do you play? Is it possible to basically record live, or do you need multiple tracks?
I know there's one person on this forum who works with sound, and may be able to give you advice. If you're just trying to get something that's tolerable to listen to, you may be able to just use a smartphone.
I was able to get decent recordings with a relatively cheap digital camera a while back.

^Just with a digital camera? That's good to hear! Yes, I can basically just do everything as live with voice, harmonica and guitar. Overdubs would be nice for variety, but I won't get too stressed if I can't get them to work. My recorder produces a passable sound quality as-is, but I have a lousy ear for effects, balance, mastering and so on.

my son uses 'garage band' (Garage Band for Mac) and has done some really neat stuff with it.

I'm an example of someone who (in another life, time, or society) I think could be a successful and maybe even celebrated musician. The steps to me getting there in this current world seem rather hopeless, however. I have always loved music of many genres and worked systematically and passionately over time to become a proficient pianist and guitarist. I dabbled in music school and flirted with the idea of being an educator or even trying to be a concert musician. Nevertheless I found it hard to follow through with this given my unusual playing and thinking style. I changed my major two times before settling on Creative Writing and got my MFA in poetry. I seem to be great at acquiring skills and pursuing my creativity in depth but then not being able to apply it in the practical world of achievement and recognition. To give you a sense of the music I make and play, below is a recent YouTube video of me at the piano. You can see also by the number of views I have, I've been very bad at getting people to even look at my work. Also you'll see that the video cuts off mid-piece which reflects my amateurish recording style. I used a cheap microphone and an iPhone. I toyed with the idea of doing something in a recording studio, and I may still, but it would ultimately just be one of those "vanity" projects you mentioned since I don't have any illusions I'd be able to make money or achieve any fame. I guess I play a fusion of classical/jazz which is ultimately improvised, but there is forethought that goes into it, because I practice in the same way all the time and much is committed to memory and muscle memory and then put together impromptu.



I have always loved music from a young age. Before my piano playing had reached an at all accomplished level, I was an obsessive collector of CDs and eventually MP3s. The arrival of YouTube for me was mind-blowing as suddenly so much was all right there that had been previously hard and expensive to find. I started teaching myself electric guitar at 18 due to my love of rock and metal. I also play guitar in a more or less neo-classical style inspired mostly by 80s guitar shredders.

^Wow, that is some spectacular stuff! Your style seems to flick from Ravel to Thelonius Monk in the blink of an eye, yet make it feel completely natural.

I've come to realise that making a career in music is extremely hard, and us lot have an added disadvantage. The more sucessful musicians I've met tend to rely as much on people skills as talent- it's a very schmoozy business. Plus, full of unwritten assumptions about how things reallywork, adding to my feeling of being lost in a maze. When I perform, people generally enjoy my songs if the room is quiet to start with. If it's loud, I have little chance of getting them to shut up and listen. Yet I've watched other performers manage that hundreds of times.

I need to set up a Youtube channel next (well, after finding a way to film!) I'll be sure to connect with you then, and share notes on that whole wierd world.

Thank you! I really appreciate that. Yes there are definitely impressionistic influences as well as Jazz in my playing, and I do morph between different styles and blend them together somewhat like a chemist (with experimental results).

From what I gather, it's really hard to make it as a musician as you mentioned, and you do need to practice a lot in very specific ways, and you need to be a people pleaser at least for a while to get your reputation up (and there is some schmoozy business as you said). Some genres or whatever have their niche. I feel I don't fit into any of them neatly and I wouldn't know how to implement myself as a professional.

People are always impressed when I play and I get good feedback from friends and family...(I mean very positive feedback and I do appreciate it and thrive on it to some degree) but I'm not sure how I could really make money at it. I basically see a lot of different niches and paths to success and I can't see myself conforming to any of them. I'm willing to work hard only if it suits me, and I think that can be problematic in the music industry when you're playing for an audience and they're the customer etc., I just see music as an art-form and I'm trying to create art that appeals to me aesthetically according to what I can do and what I can envision, I don't consider an audience at all...I wouldn't even know where to start and I don't think most pros in the industry would know what to do with me...

That being said I believe you can do it and make it happen if you really want it and can sell yourself...it might be a bit of a challenge, though (as I see it being for me).

Oh yeah definitely try the YouTube thing and I'd be curious to see/hear your music as well. I love many genres from electronic to metal to jazz to hip hop. What I found is that I really benefited myself from recording my playing on video. I basically use it for self-analysis so I can look at what I'm playing a little more objectively than when I'm engaged in it. Other people being able to see it is also cool...but it benefits me mainly because I'm seeing this as a "project" rather than just messing around, and I'm more likely to bring it to a decent level of quality.

I've got Audacity, FL Studio, a Pocket POD, a decent condenser mic and a few cheap mics and have put together what I'd consider to be decent recordings.

https://voca.ro/nUEpTqzxFzx

I don't know s**t about making money from music though.

Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest started out recording by himself in the backseat of his car.