The music studio online. Online music production

In this article I want to talk about great advantage that internet has brought to the music bands. I refer to the possibility for today’s musicians to create music and get a professional recording without having to go to an audio studio.

Thanks to technological advances, it is now possible to record at home (or in the rehearsal room) with few resources (just a computer with a sound card or a multitrack recorder and a microphone) and closer to the quality standards of studio audio.

Of course quality of these recordings is not only dependent on the equipment used, but also on the ability of those who make it. There are musicians able to get a rough diamond with very few, but usually the equipment, knowledge and experience of a music studio will be able to carry the sound to a higher level.

A decade ago, moving to that level entailed a significant investment of time and/or money, but thanks to Internet and technology today the improvement is available to everyone.

The process, broadly speaking, is simple and consists of two parts:
First part: the band or singer in question record at home or in the rehearsal with a multitrack recorder or a computer, a process where they can go less or more far depending on whether they want to record more instruments or mix tracks on their own.
Second part: the band sends the resulting files to a sound recording studio to improve their sound.

As I said, the band or artist can go more or less far during the recording process, and then ask for less or more (respectively) work to the professional recording studio. With some examples you will better understand what I mean:
-At the edge of simplicity is the singer who records his voice accompanied by a guitar and asks the studio to add some instruments, and then mix the tracks and masterize the mix.
-In between are the bands and artists that record various instruments and voices, asking to the studio the mixing and mastering.
-At the other extreme are those who record and mix their music, and that only ask the studio to masterize the result to achieve a professional sound (audio postproduction)

Between the two extremes are many other possibilities, as can be add instruments or arrangements, getting a particular sound or style, removing noise, correcting performance errores, request tracks to record a voice, etc.. Each of these additional jobs can be done whether the mix is done in the studio or if it’s done in the artist house (in the second case it is sufficient to send a simple mix or the tracks to rectify to the audio studio to do the work and return).

It should be mentioned that the process I’m naming “single”, can be get as complicated as you want, as there will be an exchange of files and points of views between the musician and the studio, as iterations to seek the best possible sound.

This way of working was already possible before the advent of internet and the last recording technology, but this advent has brought about some important changes that I will discuss below.

On the one hand, aforetime there were no internet advantages as: you do not mind living in an area where there are no cheap recording studio, the convenience of working with your music from home, or the possibility of a rapid response and continuous contact with the studio to provide answers to the musician may arise during the recording process.

On the other hand, the improvements in recording technology make possible to obtain audio files of high quality compared to those of yesteryear, allowing to get a better and faster result.

Famous recording studios have realized it and some, like Abbey Road, Metropolis or Hansa Studios, offer their services through the internet, although at fairly high prices since they offer it to leading artists. But there are also countless of smaller recording studios that offer professional recording services with a range of more affordable rates and with exceptional results.

In short, nowadays and thanks to internet and technology, musicians achieve in their recordings a better sound than they ever imagined, and a price that fits their budget, sending them to a cheap recording studio.