Recording Demystified

Recording for Songwriters

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I started home recording many years ago for a fairly simple reason. I was writing songs and needed a method of getting the music out of my head and into the world.

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Setting up a home recording studio was the obvious answer, but I wasn’t prepared for how complicated and difficult it can be. By trade, I’m a research scientist, so the IT was relatively easy to fathom but the music production side was completely new and much harder.

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So, I did what anyone would do, I searched for books and online resources to help demystify the process. I found loads of stuff, and bought a couple of books, one of them was even for dummies! They helped a bit but didn’t really get me where I wanted to be.

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The problem was, most of the books seemed to be written for aspiring recording engineers. I have a lot of respect for recording engineers but to be honest, what they do doesn't hold more than a passing interest for me. I’m a musician and songwriter and need the technical side of the recording process to be transparent. I want to be able to concentrate on the songs themselves. That’s the bit I like and that’s what I find interesting.

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After many years and a lot of effort, I’m finally making the type of music I always imagined I could. The songs in my head are finally getting out into the world. Looking back, I’ve often wished there was a book called “Music Production for Songwriters”, that would identify the most important bits and explain them in easy to understand language.

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Arguably, I should write the book, but to be honest, I can’t be arsed. As I said earlier, what I really want to do is write songs and play music. However, I thought I could write a few short articles in this vein and publish them on my website.

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So, that’s what the following articles are about: recording for songwriters. I’ll look at the whole process, from soup to nuts, and identify the bits I think are important and share the multitude of tips, tricks and hacks I’ve learnt along the way. I’ll cover a lot of the technical stuff but also more esoteric areas, like which instruments are best to learn and how to listen critically.

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Whether you’re just starting out, or have been doing it a while, I hope you find them useful. If I can stop just one person re-inventing the wheel then Grasshopper, my work here is done!