The First Rule Of Home Studio Recording & Mixing

The 'sophisticated' Tascam cassette recorder (2nd generation)

In our new series of articles, musician, composer and recording engineer Jonny Goode talks us through the process of creating studio quality recordings at home.

Have you heard any of these before?

We're living in a golden age of music production.
Now more than ever is the best time to be a music producer.
Home studio music production possibilities are literally endless!

It's true, we are all very blessed and as much as I loved my old Tascam cassette 4 track, I can't say I'd want to go back to using it on a daily basis!

But, as with all things in life, there has to be balance. So what's the big downside and what can you do to make sure you're aware of it as the talented and astute producer I know you are.

Too much choice can be a bad thing. It actually has a name these days, analysis paralysis. The easiest way to overcome this is to work always with the rule of KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid) in your mind.

I get it, plugins are fun, gear is cool and we want to be smart and use stuff that helps us to make great sounding recordings and mixes but limitations are a good thing.

So many of the recordings we love had big limitations throughout the recording and mixing experience. Sgt Pepper's is a perfect example. Recorded on just 4 tracks, yep 4 tracks.



I have clients send me songs to mix that have more than 4 tracks used just mic'ing up an acoustic guitar!

Sure, there was a lot of bouncing and smart techniques but it was the limitations of the technology that pushed the artists and engineers to make something amazing.

Am I saying the next time you bring up your daw to limit yourself to 4 tracks?

No! Although you can if you want, that would be pretty good fun! What I'm saying is if you find yourself bogged down choosing between 5 different examples, just pick one, do the work and move on.

Nothing beats actually doing stuff and most of the people that spend hours quibbling over technicalities rarely get much done and tend to produce underwhelming mixes.

So yes, we do live in a golden age of music production, things have never been so good, but we must also respect and learn from those before us who through pushing limitations have achieved some of the most revered productions of all time.

I hope you enjoy this series, which will be published on Saturdays.

Happy music making!