Home Recording Basics: Stand Alone or Computer Based

Before you can start recording, you need something to record with. No brainer, right? Yeah, it is a no brainer, but there are a few different options with a lot of different recording products vying for your attention.

I would think that it all could be confusing for someone just getting started with home recording. Actually, I know it is.

I’ve been doing this stuff for awhile and may have forgotten what it’s like to be starting out, but I get reminded when I have friends ask for help setting up a home studio.

I will then proceed to babble on about recording and have them look at me like I’m speaking another language. The funny thing is I just might be speaking another language.

What to Use?

It can be rough getting started. It wasn’t so bad when I started with home recording. Though, there was a learning curve.

The only options I had, at the time, were multi-track tape recorders. My budget didn’t allow for a reel to reel tape machine, so I started with a 4-track tape cassette recorder.

While I did have to learn how to use the 4-track recorder, it really wasn’t that complicated.

Now, there a few different options for recording. You can still use tape recorders, but you can also use stand alone digital multi-track machines, and recording setups based around a computer.

Tape recorders are still fairly easy to get started with, but digital and computers can be a little tougher. Though, the concepts are basically the same.

Is Computer Based Better than Stand Alone

Personally, I use a computer based recording setup, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best. It’s just what works best for me. Though, I would use whatever I could to record, because I love doing it.

Yeah I know, way to take a stand. There’s no safer place than the neutral position, right? While this may be true, I really believe it doesn’t matter what you use.

Computer based recording is kind of the staple right now in pro and home studios – a lot of great music has been made on computers. Though, some analog purists argue that digital doesn’t sound as good as tape, but that’s an different post.

There are also artists that have used stand alone digital multi-trackers and made great music. Seriously, great songs, arrangements and musicianship will trump gear any day.

It all comes down to budget, how comfortable you are with using computers and what you want to accomplish with your music.

It’s About the Music

Don’t have a ton of money to buy “proper” recording gear? So what – use what you can.

Justin Vernon of Bon Iver used an older Pro Tools system and minimal gear in a remote Wisconsin cabin to record his album For Emma, Forever Ago. Personally, I love the songs and while there is a lo-fi sound to the album, it doesn’t detract from the songs at all.

Another artist I like and respect, Sufjan Stevens, used very minimal gear to record his early albums. In a Tape Op (#70) article he talked about using a Roland VS-880EX stand alone multi-track recorder.

He would then dump his recorded tracks into Pro Tools. So, he kind of used the best of both worlds.

The interviewer, Rafter Roberts, has a great quote at the beginning of the Tape Op article:

[Sufjan Stevens made albums]…using ghetto-style techniques that most (if not all) recordists would be crippled by, – doing all your mixing on headphones, tracking an entire record with Shure SM57′s and an AKG C 1000, recording your album at 32 kHz, tracking on a cheap digital 8-track and dumping it into Pro Tools two tracks at a time thru the 1/8″ jack and lining them up by sight…

…there is no right way to record, that the most important things are ideas and songs and performances…you can work with whatever you have and make something incredible, that gear is truly secondary, maybe tertiary.

Oh yeah, Tape Op is a free bi-monthly magazine, so go sign up to receive it for free! Not only is it free, but it is, in my opinion, the best recording mag out there.

Final Thoughts

So, is stand alone or computer based better for home recording? I would say that it all depends on you. I really believe that no matter what you choose to use, you can make great music.

That is, of course, if you have great songs, arrangements and musicianship – something I’m still working on.

Personally, I like and use a computer based setup and I suppose I encourage others to do so, but it doesn’t make it the best. No matter what you use, you’ll be spending time learning how to use it.

Don’t worry if you can’t afford the latest/greatest gear – remember that great albums have been made with minimal gear.

Do some research, weigh the pro’s and con’s of each recording medium, stay within your budget and make the best decision that you can. That’s really all any of us can do.