In one way it should come as little surprise, but in another way the results from our recent poll showing the scale of the exodus from conventional recording studios to home demonstrate why investment in large commercial facilities has declined so greatly.
In our recent survey 'What Kind Of Pro Tools User Are You?' nearly 1700 people responded.
The results are as follows;
Pro Tools Users By Type
Many of those still working in commercial facilities indicated that they were working in post production with only around 13% saying they were now making a living from recording and mixing music in a commercial facility.
This trend perhaps reflects the huge change in budgets available for music and post production, now being a fraction of what they were even a decade ago. Many professionals simply do not have the money to invest in equipment and to maintain the overhead of a large studio.
What started as a recording revolution in the 1980s to encourage hobbyists to record from home and now created an entire new generation of recording professionals who can now start and maintain a career in audio at a fraction of what it used to cost. This is also seen by the amount of people responding as 'semi-pro', who are trying to build a full time career in pro audio whilst augmenting their income in other ways - this would have been largely impossible when the only option was to own or work in a commercial facility.