In 1953 , a skinny 18 - twelvemonth - onetime with sleek down - back hair walked into Memphis Recording Service . He wanted to make a personal transcription and was look for owner Sam Phillips . Since Phillips was n’t in , the teen talked to secretary Marion Kiesker . When she enquire what style of euphony he act , he respond , " I do n’t sound like nobody . "
Although few people ever heard that first $ 4 recording , Elvis Presley turned his personal style into worldwide fame with the help of Sam Phillips and that recording studio , which became the legendary Sun Studio . The studio was also home to Johnny Cash , Roy Orbison , Jerry Lee Lewis and B.B. King [ generator : Rockabilly Hall of Fame ] .
Sun Studio may be what come to mind when you think of recording studio , or the Beatles ' Abbey Road in London – or maybe even Chess Records in Chicago where artists such as Muddy Waters , Chuck Berry , Buddy Guy , Bo Diddley and Aretha Franklin make recording that usher in the blue angel , jazz and gospel to listener far from the Mississippi Delta [ source : Save America ’s treasure ] .
While recording artist still need some eccentric of euphony studio apartment for cutting and commingle euphony , the digital epoch has simplified the process . Plenty of enceinte studio still exist to supply sophisticated , high - end services , but many musicians have turned to smaller studios using figurer and digital sound equipment .
How did transcription studios start ? And , what ’s involved with putting together a recording studio apartment ? check up on out the next varlet to regain out .
History of Recording Studios
The story of recording studios traces back to the 1800s with Thomas Alva Edison and his invention of the record player . Initially intended to improve the telephone , the record player created a way of life to read and bet back auditory sensation . Edison apply for a patent in 1877 for his talking machine , which used transparency cylinders .
Ten years later , Emile Berliner found a way to etch the sound - carry vallecula on a horizontal saucer ’s control surface along with a mode to aggregated produce recorded disks .
Coin - in - slot , sound - reproduce boxes became pop in colonnade in 1889 , and the New York Phonograph Company open up the first recording studio a year later . By 1902 , recording were being reproduced on loggerheaded wax saucer , and opera singer Enrico Caruso had fill out his first recording . Then , in 1904 , Lee de Forest ’s invention of the triode presage the demise of the hired man - cranked Victrola in the twenties and the beginning of electronically show music [ generator : History of Rock ] .
Western Electric made electronic transcription using microphones and amplifiers possible in 1925 . Before that , performers in a medicine studio apartment had to seat very tight to the gong of a French horn to record . This could mean crowding a enceinte stripe or orchestra into a small space without a way to balance the volume produce by the various performer . profound waves traveled through a membrane and onto a wax - surface magnetic disc .
Using the unexampled technology , large radical could sit in their usual formations and sound volume could be modify , but larger halls were needed to bring forth the acoustics for a innate sound . Until the late 1940s , though , recordings could not be edited . That ’s because records continued to be produced by send sound verbatim to disk and then creating a metal master to expend in making copies [ root : London : A Musical Gazetter ] .
That changed when the transcription manufacture began using magnetic - coated profound transcription tape measure . A German company , I.G. Farben , had ameliorate the tape - coating appendage during the 1930s , but the tape did n’t become available to the United States and other Allied nation until after World War II .
The arrival of multi - track record-keeper in the 1950s allowed studios to take cutting and mixing music a footstep further by taping and then combining separate tracks record at different times . The move to two - channel two-channel auditory sensation in the previous sixties extended phone mixing even further by allowing studio apartment engineers to try out with effect like echo and reverb .
The 1970s assure long - playing phonograph recording ( LPs ) replaced by cassette tapes , which made euphony portable and offered technological onward motion like Dolby B noise reduction . However , the compact disc and digital tapeline fipple pipe had supercede cassettes by the mid-1990s . The digital tape recorder appropriate studio apartment taping to be re - recorded onto digital mag tape , which is then used to cauterise master laser disc . From these , aluminum - coated charge card transcript , or CDs , are made [ source : History of Tape Recording ] .
The move to digital engineering has extended beyond just tape measure product . Using digital devices and sometimes little more than a computing gadget , musicians can easily and inexpensively combine composing , execute , recording and mixing functions .
Are you see the choice of building your own recording studio ? Let ’s look next at what you ’d demand .
Building a Recording Studio
If you ’re building a recording studio apartment , you have plenty to consider , depart with the digital equipment you ’ll take for recording , redaction , cutting and mixing euphony . To learn about some of the equipment you ’ll take for a functioning studio , readHow Recording Sessions Work . Beyond that , you ’ll have soundproofing and acoustical concerns . And , depending on how much you ’re doing , you may require to consider construction or remodeling of the literal space .
A professional transcription studio apartment usually has a elbow room where the musician execute , sometimes itself called a studio apartment ; a ascendancy room containing the equipment for recording , redaction and mingle euphony ; and possibly a automobile room and small room , or isolation booths , where high - mass instruments like drum are played to separate their sounds from those the microphones in the main room are pick up .
These room are carefully constructed to promote sound quality . That ’s been a fear for tenner in the recording industriousness . Chess Studiosin Chicago , for example , was one of the first in the fifties to plan a music studio apartment with none of its four wall parallel ( and several nip in topographic point ) to let desired vibrations .
You ’ll want to study how you ’ll subdivide and soundproof your space . At the very least , you want to ply performers with a soundproofed space disjoined from the control way . And you ’ll require to ascertain local zone ordinances to make certain you follow with any anti - noise preparation .
You do n’t need a muckle of equipment for a home base transcription studio apartment . Here are two suggestions for putting together an economical digital system , one for under $ 1,000 and the other for $ 4,000 :
$ 950 Basic Digital Studio
[ beginning : The Deli Magazine ] .
$ 4,000 Digital Studio
[ source : USA Today ] .
Along with home recording studios , what are some of the other type of recording studios ? Let ’s look at some of them next .
Types of Recording Studios
Recording studio vary by type – set out from a small studio apartment tuck into a basement box all the way to high - end music recording studio . In between the two extremes are midway - of - the - road labor studio which are typically used for voice - over transcription .
The coming of cheap digital recorders and music computer software programs has made it easygoing than ever for anyone to record . In most instances , all it takes to record is a desk with a digital recorder or a computer with a MIDI computer set - up . For more on MIDI , learn out our article onHow MIDI Works . Often , home studios are a hobby for the owner . These studios can be very minimum or more sophisticated calculate on the owner ’s experience . The recording can depart in tone as well [ source : Richard Cleaver ] .
unremarkably more sophisticated domicile studios can be found in the home of a manufacturer or railroad engineer , and they often form the in-between level of recording studio . They ’re known as project studios . Besides being used for voice over recording , they can also be used by dance band to record demo albums to confront to prospective producers , to record commercial doggerel verse or to bring forth wakeless effect for a picture show .
And , at the very top are the high - end transcription studios used for music , which can be more than $ 100 an hour . These have an acoustical control elbow room , several performance areas and high - quality equipment . immortalize at a high - end studio allows performer to fuse various instruments , using professional equipment such as microphones , synthesizers and mixers .
No matter what eccentric of studio it is , a studio apartment must be able to capture , criminal record , fuse , re - record and edit sounds . And , the studio must extend a good - protected environment . It also must reserve technologist and musicians the power to listen to playback . [ root : Audio Training Consultants ] .
Not quick to start your own recording studio ? you may rent instead . But what should you look for when charter a studio apartment ? Check out the next page to detect out .
Renting a Recording Studio
If you ’re renting a recording studio , you ’ll regain that no one transcription studio is right-hand for every musician . unlike types of memorialize studios specialize in unlike military service , ranging from those for in high spirits - level professional transcription artist and other musicians to those at a in-between level for voice - over professionals and others who do n’t want such high - level sound – and even inexpensive music studios catering to amateurs .
Remember Elvis ’s first $ 4 recording ? You wo n’t find anything that inexpensive , but you should be able to find something to match your penury and your budget . plausibly the fundamental questions to expect are : What service do I need , and what ’s my budget ?
High - level recording studios charge $ 100 per 60 minutes and more , while mid - level studios may array from $ 45 to $ 65 per hour . But an hourly Leontyne Price probably should n’t be your main consideration . Here are other factors to look at in select a transcription studio :
profound engineers- This is the most important factor , says Brian Kozelman ofBack at the Ranch Studionear Waco , Texas . An experient engineer not only has more acquirement , but can also work faster . This save time and money . Look for an engineer skilled in working with your eccentric of product , such as a medicine record album , song demo or commercial .
Equipment- Do n’t be misled by a lengthy list of equipment , Kozelman says . Look for high - end microphone preamps , a selection of major name microphones and classic and eminent - remainder outboard gear .
Acoustics- Does the facility cope with your group ’s needs ? You ’d want a large live room for an orchestra , but a small room for a solo performing artist or quadruplet . bet into the heavy calibre of the control elbow room and monitoring system to make your last ware sound like it did in the medicine studio . You ’ll also desire to check whether the studio apartment has an isolation way , if you require it for a loud pawn like barrel .
preceding work- Ask for a past project leaning , as well as denotation from past substance abuser with like needs to your own . Check to see what they cogitate of the studio apartment ’s workplace .
Finally , think about discussing your project with the transcription studio and then settling on a project rate alternatively of an hourly one . Studios variegate on how long they take to finish a job , and the low hourly rate may not in reality be the dependable value .
For lots more information about recording studios and related theme , check out the link on the next Sir Frederick Handley Page .
