In our recent article Are We Over-engineering Our Audio Productions we considered how sometimes you don't need to do things in the most sophisticated way available to achieve your goals. Just because you have the equipment and skills to do something in a particular way, it doesn't necessarily follow that that way is the most appropriate for the task at hand. With this in mind, we thought it might be interesting to categorise what we see as the hierarchy of ways to record. They are all valid and they all meet the needs of the people using them. Here's how we see it breaks down:

Minimal Recording - No Studio

Many people need to capture a recording in as quick and straightforward a way as possible. Lots of us use voice notes on our phones to capture ideas. If you have an idea for a melody then singing it into your phone really is all it needs. You could go to the studio, set up a mic and launch your DAW but ultimately why would you do that if all you want is a record of that melodic idea before you forget it? This method quickly runs out of usefulness when it's used inappropriately though. The most common example in music recording has to be people trying to capture audio or video footage of a live performance. Unless steps are taken to mitigate them, the things which make recording onto a smart phone so convenient and unobtrusive for instant recordings start to become a problem. Particularly the lack of an input pad and the use of automatic gain compensation.

If fidelity is a priority but so is the need for an instant recording with the minimum of gear then handheld portable recorders become invaluable. With models anywhere from pocket-sized recorders smaller than a smartphone to fully professional models, or even dedicated phone apps and/or additional peripherals to enable performance similar to a dedicated recorder while still using a phone.

Bedroom Studio

By this we are referring to the ‘table with a laptop and interface’ variety of home studio. We are aware that plenty of very well specified studios exist in peoples homes. Those will be coming later. The capabilities of this style of studio are remarkable, when we consider exactly how little a reasonably capable laptop and a USB interface can cost for production, and for mixing duties these kinds of studios are limited only by the speed of the computer and the quality of the monitoring. But when it comes to recording there is often a degree of compromise involved.

Limited IO, combined with limited space typically means that these setups oh well suited for sing a song writers, vocal production, hip-hop and any style which relies on creating by overdubbing. Bands a larger ensembles are typically beyond what is practical.

Usually based around native DAWs, latency and the strategy is necessary to manage the impact of latency in native workflows have to be negotiated. While lots of experience uses favour this type of set up. It's also the one which is most popular with inexperienced users and for them managing latency can be a significant hurdle to a satisfying experience.

Well Equipped Home Studio

This is the category of studio which, space permitting, can get really interesting these days. Things which used to be expensive and difficult are significantly cheaper and easier these days. Everything that is apart from having a suitable space. While gear gets cheaper and computers get faster, real estate has got much, much more expensive. That being said all it takes is a reasonably powerful laptop and a flight case full of interfaces and preamps and it's more practical than ever too, bring the studio to a suitable space rather than bring the musicians to the studio. An Apple Silicon MacBook Pro and a Pro Tools Carbon with suitable additional mic preamps is a solution,which gives a seamless, latency-free tracking solution for band recording in a package which, while not cheap, is significantly more achievable than what went before it.

Another area which has benefited greatly from advances in technology is the amount of cable required in a well-equipped studio. Whereas previously even a relatively modest, 16 or 24 track project studio would produce extraordinary amounts of cabling when stripped down, the various flavours of audio over IP can hugely simplify cabling which otherwise would have been bulky, complex and expensive. If you've got the clients and a suitable space there's never been a better time to build a home studio.

Local/Regional Studio

While an awful lot of local studios have disappeared, replaced by the various flavours of home set up owned by the musicians who formerly relied on their local studio for their recording needs, for those who have survived there is still a significant need to be served by the many musicians out there who have tried recording at home, or getting a friend to do it on their set up for free, but have come to realise that to get top quality results take more than access to equipment which is sufficient to do the job.

Visiting a proper studio, which is set up to do the job and is staffed by people who understand how to get the best from musicians in the minimum time, provides the things which are missing from a home studio. While it's true that in a home studio you can stop watching the clock and take time to experiment, actually if you already know what you need to record then a bit of focus can be exactly what is needed. Combine that with a sense of occasion, great gear, confident direction from an experienced professional and limited time, and the need to pay for studio time might not be the disincentive many might think.

‘Name’ Studios

If you just look at the specs of professional studios, you might not be seeing the whole picture. If you visit Capitol, Abbey Road, Air Studios or any of the other historically significant studios for the first time, you understand that the studios are a bit special. These studios have something extra, and that extra ingredient is provenance. They have a cultural role as well as a business function. If you go into studio two on Abbey Road, there's only going to be one band you're thinking about while you're in there. That is something which can't be replicated.

Beyond the historic studios are the truly pro studios, which might not have the historical or cultural; aspect but which offer the same level of service while unencumbered by their histories. While there is a great deal of overlap between the Local/Regional studio but the difference is largely the calibre of work which is attracted by these studios. Name Studios often attract clients because of who they are as much as what they can do. It might be a need for a really big recording space, it might be desire to record through a Neve console or it might be buying the peace of mind where you know that everything will be just as it should be. Whichever it is, in spite of the pressures, the closures and the upheaval in the record business, there will always be a place for the Big Studio.

Formulating a hierarchy like this gives food for thought. All are legitimate. All have a role. The interesting part is thinking about which is appropriate for the task you have or what your studio is best suited for. There’s no such thing as the wrong setup. But there is such a thing as the wrong setup up for this particular project. Like Alfred Wainwright said: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing”.

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