Should You Record Your Own Music At Home And Properly Release It?

[@andypickeringmusic]

I'd like to add I sorta went into two discussions here by accident ... "are you releasing too much music?" was meant to be a separate video 😅 But I went into it a bit. If you are gonna comment just focus on the original question ❤

[@MrPaultheguitar]

I think you should record your own songs how you want with whatever devices you see fit. the business of music does it's best to kill the music ,but art does it's best to bring music back to life

[@JohnBassarcticsoundstudios]

I would say keep recording music on your own you have fun and learn a lot in recording and production . The quality of music production has been covered. A lot of people love to hear something that's not so perfect and has life in it. Growing up I use to like to find the mistakes in major artist releases. Its like the Easter eggs found on games now. Also having your music out there some major label might pick up an artist that has a lot of following that he or she has accumulated over time. I always said that I had more fun recording when I didn't have anything as far as equipment. I would have killed for a 4 track cassette portastudio. But they wasn't out back then in 73. Keep up the great work Andy.

[@timfoyleband250]

Do both. Pick your favs you want to do more production for. Let someone else pay for it with crowd sourcing. Keep the integrity of your vision whilst serving others if they want it. Greetings from New Bern, NC sweet tea!

[@andypickeringmusic]

That's sort of what I was thinking about, rerecording good songs again someday.

[@piggycity]

Great video! I say they it is essential to record at home because it stops the clock and you can be creative and refine ideas and sonic textures without the anxiety of paying for the studio time. This allows you to go for feel and to be creative without the prying eyes of the “professional” studio engineer which allows you to make mistakes and try things.

[@andypickeringmusic]

Absolutely! I wouldn't trade the time /vibe you can get at home for anything.

[@TheHomeRecordingChannel]

Hi Andy, theres nothing wrong with your recordings at all. I remrmber the legendary english independent record producer Joe Meek say, "If it sounds good, then it is good. I have a 24 track digital machine in the studio, but it doesn't have the same charm and warmth that tape offers. So i still record on my little Fostex x-30, and i really enjoy the work flow. Happy recording. Kind regards. Paul. 😎

[@andypickeringmusic]

Thanks Paul! Yes I have always believed if something sounds good it is too

[@DaveZula]

Andy, obviously as your subscribers we're probably biased toward the DIY aesthetic. In fact I found you through a youtube search for analog/cassette recording. I feel your style of music is very well suited to this production style. If you recorded the same songs in a "pro" studio I think they would become something else. Not necessarily better or worse, just different. I guess my point is just that it's hard to decouple the music from the production and workflow. (PS: Sorry for the rambling comment 😅)

[@andypickeringmusic]

Totally makes sense! It's what I've always done

[@johncochrane2707]

Definitely you should, the Cleaners from Venus (Martin Newell) have been doing this since the 80s! I'm a new subscriber btw and I really like your channel and your music.

[@fromthenorthwest]

Interesting discussion Andy. I didn't realize it but I sort of think about this conundrum a lot myself. Like a couple others have mentioned, I think the hybrid model you did on Hangxiety really is a sweet spot. I think it sounds as good or better than some classic records I enjoy, from bands like the Kinks, etc.

[@andypickeringmusic]

Thanks so much! Yes I mean I've been working towards working like I do now for quite some time. I still think potentially I have too many demo like releases out in today's lack of attention world, but that's a video for another day!

[@fromthenorthwest]

@Andy Pickering hey I wish I had that many!

[@fromthenorthwest]

@Andy Pickering as somebody who's written more than I've recorded, I was always worried about doing a disservice to my songs by not recording them well enough. Like others have mentioned, I think you could always go back and re-record some of your 'greatest hits.' One thing I've noticed is while I'm worrying about not recording my songs well, new songs often times come along, eclipsing what I thought was my best stuff to that point. Of course there are some old songs that are very solid and can be hard to top, but I feel like with previous songs there's always lessons learned that make newer stuff even better. I don't know if this applies to geniuses like McCartney or Dylan who wrote incredible stuff at a very young age, but for the average songwriter I think they do get better as they get older, in the same way that a carpenter or doctor gets better as they get more experience, even with that talked about loss of creativity that can come as one ages.

[@urs1714]

I think the way you put your music out is super! It's natural, organic and sounds great! I love messing around at home with analog gear and recording to tape. I'm less distracted without a screen and the internet, letting me focus just on the music.

[@ailoqui2604]

I just recorded the guitar in my room and I only have basic equipment, I don't have any good recording equipment yet

[@sinenkaari5477]

I don't feel like i need that modern studio completely dry acoustics drum sound in my stuff. I get pretty good drum sounds just with 3 mics mixed mono and EQing and Compressing it right. I add some low end in the overhead to boost the fundamental notes of the Tom's and sounds great!

[@andypickeringmusic]

Oh no doubt! I guess I meant let's say that you went to a studio and were super happy with the results. Would more people respond to higher production value vs releasing home recordings

[@sinenkaari5477]

I'm individualist kind of guy so i don't like the idea of my music being done in a way that would be trying to fit in with all the modern crap out there and i've had friends in band that did go to a "proper" studio in my town and they were not happy with how the record sounded, boxy low mids and sizzly tamed high end. I made one remaster of that record my self and they were like "how this can sound so good! What have you done" that was about 1000 or more euro's for the studio/mixing/mastering. I feel like in these industries there are people that are respected and thought to be really good but people don't listen really their work but just praise them couse that's what everyone else is doing so it must be good. Me as a outsider solo artist i'm fully focused on the craft and not the social scenes ect and i have the freedom to do everything like i want according to and trusting my taste. Steve Wilson said in interview that making art is somewhat selfiss act. Make it in the bubble and then put it out on the world and stand behind your vision. After that comes the marketing part and the ones who like it can and will buy it. That way it's your true self you're putting out. There is two industries, the music industry and the entertainment industry. In the first one you make the product to be whats your vision and in the other you ask the audience what they want and make and give it to them. That's the difference of art and entertainment.

[@andypickeringmusic]

Great answer! There is no right and wrong in terms of what you put out and I can feel a ton of other discussion vids coming here

[@ladycoulson4315]

We love release lofi stuff that we record at home. There are many other options if you want fame and success, but we prefer to enjoy "the doing ourselves way" without thinking about what people expect. This is the (our) way!

[@andypickeringmusic]

That's what I've always done too ♥

[@peterkiefel4324]

Hi Andy, You know I love what you do, and being the geek I am, I love the combination of the actual songs (writing, arrangement, performance) AND gaining insight into your recordings via your YT channel. That is what I love about your niche, but I understand you want to expand, so I wont try and tell you to “do nothing” and not change what you do! My thinking is that you already have a bit of a hybrid approach in using the drummers studio to capture a band performance and then add to that at home. To me, the Hangxiety is a step forward in production value - but is that enough? I also think the Telmos LP you recorded at Toe Rag is entirely consistent with your all-analog purity that you champion and that LP sits really nicely amongst your collection. I don’t envy you in how daunting it must be to break out commercially in what is such a hard and fragmented market. Ultimately, it probably boils down to marketing and where to invest money, which is something I’ve never tried to do. Do you get the band back together and start gigging? Maybe you should think about what “better quality” means? Back in the day, plenty of amazing records were recorded on gear similar to what you have, but with the main difference being interplay between musicians performing together in a nice sounding room. I think you were able to capture some of that with Hangxiety, so maybe focus on that approach and see if that helps move you forward? Good luck mate!

[@andypickeringmusic]

Thanks Peter, I'm certainly gonna keep doing what I'm doing and I use Toerag as a blueprint to try and get close to. So that experience in itself led me to where I am now! As for gigging, I don't think that's a way forward at the moment. I feel like I wish I could get some paid writing gigs and use my talents to make money then just have my "babies" which I can make sound however I want.

[@peterkiefel4324]

Happy to hear you want to keep on doing what you do! So with that said, getting back to one of the questions you pose, which is do you need to get out of your home studio to get a better quality/better sounding recording? I think the answer is “it depends”. I think quality is both quantitative and subjective. Quantitative can be measured for analog via tape speed/tape width (tape surface area) and for digital in sampling rate and bit depth. Clearly you have been climbing upwards in terms of tape surface area and the quality is great! The subjective part of quality is more difficult to measure, but there are attributes you can make decisions on. First and foremost I think is in terms of arranging what you hear in your head. If you hear a full band and try and build up the performance one instrument at a time, it wont sound as good as a band performance in a nice sounding room. Over the years on my home recording journey I’ve come at that from a few angles, starting with using an external mixer and a bunch of mics and submixing a band performance down to 1 or 2 tracks on a 4 track, through to going out to a “real” studio and bringing home the digital wave files of each instrument captured as the band performs. I’ve had a lot of fun with those digital files by re-recording them through my outboard analog gear to give them more warmth and girth. I think what you did with hangxiety at the drummers studio is almost the optimal arrangement, as you are outsourcing the room and the equipment to record multiple instruments simultaneously, but with a great “plug an play” approach of receiving all of that information on your 8-track R2R. I’m jealous!

[@Mark_Bayer]

I don’t think it really matters whether it was recorded at home or in a studio. What matter is the emotionality of the song and how people resonate with the music. Reeching a wider audience has much more to do with the manner in which you release and market your music as well as the connections you build within the industry.

[@andypickeringmusic]

Good shout! There's no right answer in this stuff just trying to give my view on it

[@aliasname602]

Hard to say, highly produced material may give you a better opportunity in the moment, but probably has a limited shelf before it sounds dated by the production fads of when it was made. There have been many bands that have payed for a professional production, and still not had success. I'm just a hobbyist, but I've known or heard of bands that spent several hundred thousand on an album, and it completely bombed. It's a saturated market competing for shrinking attention spans, so lack of success will be the norm regardless off production choices.I was at a record store and the clerk told me, he doesn't care how well an album is produced or even if they're good musicians, but do they have good songs? He may be unusual, but if you're just trying to make the next Wonderwall, you might as well be making tik-tok videos since you would have a better chance of being successful.

[@aliasname602]

I'v also known a band that spent nothing recording on a 4 track cassette in a bedroom, pressed and sold a 1000 records, and were even paid some money to use a couple of their songs in commercials. I think marketing, networking, and some luck can be more important than production decisions.

[@andypickeringmusic]

Great answer! I mean my point in the video was to say if you recorded in a pro studio let's assume you're happy with it would it serve your career better. I think there's no right answer!

[@adamregan4921]

So true about the short attention span of consumers these days. The whole business model of Spotify is promoting constant singles. They don't want years between albums. Same as KZbin algorithms now. As for the technology, it's given us instant access to global markets but it's now saturated with millions of talented artists. Individuals are easily forgotten. Best to just do what you love and release it when and how you want.