There are a lot of things that I could talk about for my very first post, but there is one thing that is probably more important than all the rest - the song.
If you don’t have a great song, you can’t make a great record. Um yeah…it doesn’t take a genius to figure that out, right? Well, you’d be surprised at how many people forget this.
I’m no exception to the rule. Yes, I have gotten caught up in the world of recording gear - thinking that if I only had a certain piece of gear, my songs would be a lot better.
Well, I will be the first to tell you that better gear didn’t do anything for my songwriting.
I’m learning that you can’t make a great recording without a great song. For all the time I spent pining over the things I don’t have, I could have been working on writing better songs.
A great song will be a great song no matter how it was recorded.
Bon Iver - A Home Recording Success Story
Some examples of what I’m talking about are artists such as Bon Iver and Sufjan Stevens. While you may not like their music, they have made some very good albums with minimal gear.
They’ve also found niche audiences for their music, but that’s a different post.
Personally, I happen to like both of these artists and am impressed by what they’ve been able to do with their music.
I’m especially impressed with Bon Iver and the album For Emma, Forever Ago.
The album was recorded in a remote Northern Wisconsin cabin using the minimum of gear. According to an interview with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver -
I basically had an early Pro Tools setup with a really old Macintosh that I’d kind of spliced together, fixed up and sort of fixed and broke a billion times.
So when I was up there, I mean, I always sort of have it with me. I didn’t mean to make a record. So I sort of learned some things because all I had was a Shure SM57 and the preamps that are built into this old Pro Tools hardware I have.
It’s not like the best thing in the world at all, but I think since that’s all I had, I worked really, really extra hard and thought extra carefully about the mix and the spatial relations on the album and making sure that it didn’t sound too digital
I’m unable to find the original article that the quote came from, but here is where I found the info that I quoted: Bon Iver CD Recording Details.
I’m not saying that ‘For Emma…’ is the best sounding album, because it’s not. You can tell that it has a lo-fi quality, but that doesn’t take anything away from the songs. Actually, I think the lo-fi sound really fits the songs.
In Closing
I guess the point that I want to get across is - it doesn’t matter if you record in a cabin with a small Pro Tools LE setup or a huge professional studio, as long as you have great songs, arrangements and musicianship you can have a great record.
Of course, you need to know something about recording and mixing, but I was hoping that was a given. I don’t mean to make light of these things, they are very important. They can also have a steep learning curve.
Though, I’m hoping this site can help you with the learning curve.
I hope this inspires you a little bit. I know I’m inspired by artists like Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.
Don’t worry that you can’t afford the most expensive gear. Talent and a great song will always trump gear.
Now all I have to do is work on being a better musician and songwriter…
