Thought I would spin off a new thread, rather than hijacking the musicians roster one.
How many of us here compose and record original music? Do you have a home studio, and if so, what gear do you use?
In my case I’ve been recording original songs on and off for most of my life. These days I use Reaper as my DAW, with just a basic audio interface; it’s very much a home studio, nothing with pretentions to being professional. Though I do have a EE degree and a lot of studio experience and would count myself as an experienced recording engineer.
My own material is mostly sort of classic rock and pop, though I branch out into blues, country, folk etc, especially if I’m collaborating with other musicians.
Some of my stuff can be found at
Also a collaborative album with an old University friend at
I’m pretty low-tech: I stick my Canon camera on a tripod and record video, often simply using the audio that the camera records, although I sometimes bring my laptop in and attach a decently good (Blue Snowflake) external USB microphone and record audio separately. Singing while playing the piano, and doing so with adequate volume and projection, is a challenge, and sometimes I’ve dealt with that by recording the vocals later (standing up, where I can more fully support the sound) while playing the recorded piano track in my headphones. But on other tracks I just sang while seated and playing and made it work.
I make sounds in my studio - not all of them are musical Currently running a hodge-podge rig that includes a HP gaming machine (need the GPU for local AI stuff), a second box for file serving/Linux experiments, my trusty Alesis M1 Active near-fields I’ve used for over 20 years, and various DAWs/NLEs, depending on what I’m doing. The mainstays, software-wise, are StudioOne, Reaper, VCV Rack, DaVinci Resolve, OBS Studio and whatever VST plugs I’m playing with, testing or improving at the moment.
I’m currently working on a custom MIDI controller; some custom mixed-media performance software (trying to turn a room into a passive interactive sensory experience) and working on some more audio models for a company I collaborate with (non-commercially, just nerds loving our chosen subject). I’m always experimenting with new sounds and techniques, and I cheerfully use AI to help me vibe-code my tools or explore the intersection of control and chaos. I have YouTube and Spotify channels, but don’t post on a regular basis, or anything like that - they’re just places to stash experiments for others to experience, if they choose to.
I wear several hats when it comes to music and technology.
As a longtime programmer and engineer I am interested in the tools, and in another life might have had a career in the field of music equipment hardware and software design.
On the other hand as a musician and songwriter, I want something that ‘Just Works’ so it doesn’t get in the way of the creative process.
Of course there is quite a bit of overlap between the two…
These days my recoding is limited to several dozen YouTube videos of my wife and I playing sacred music as a piano/bass combo.
Since it’s just piano and bass, most of the hard work is getting good quality sound, without much beyond that.
I use a Tascam DR40X linear PCM recorder with a Rhode NT1 mic on the piano and DI from a Phil Jones “Bass Buddy” box for the bass. I have a compressor for the bass.
I avoid Audacity unless something was seriously messed up. Otherwise, all post is done in Final Cut Pro, using the basic audio tools to add compression and change levels as needed. And since the bass and piano are isolated, I cheat the timing of my bass notes wherever necessary–my wife often plays rubato and when she’s feeling it, I often can’t hit the notes exactly when she does, but that’s all fixable in post!
We also often do multiple takes, so I’ll use “take 1 verse 1” with “take 3 verse 2” as well as shamelessly copying and pasting an occasional measure of audio from one take onto a goofed up section on the finished edit.
That’s about it. Just a bunch of YouTube videos, nothing more.
Interesting. I switched to software recording quite a few years ago, first with Cakewalk Sonar and more recently Reaper. Just seems to be easier to have the work directly in a DAW where you have a lot more tools.
Of course. Unless one is a ‘live sound performance’ purist, I think we all do that!
Well, the “recording studio” is wherever her baby grand piano lives, which means I need to bring everything to the living room when we shoot a video. Hence using a PCM recorder vs. software.
Agreed, there is a lot of overlap between the two. I find just as much art in figuring out the solution to a problem, or a more efficient method as there is in surfing the minor scale (which is just an algorithm/formula, anyways). For me, personally, it’s much more about method and process than it is result.
Have you done any research into the current tools? Since you can code, I’m sure you know you way around github, there are also a plethora of Collab notebooks or huggingface spaces around for experimenting.
I notice you both seem to be reading from sheet music. Is that how you normally work?
Alas, my reading skills are poor. I know all the notes and can work things out, but not in real time. I really wish I’d had piano lessons as a kid to drill that muscle memory into my fingers.
As a self-taught musician I get by… I seem to have a good ear and would claim to have a clear understanding of theory and harmony. Wish I could sight-read though.
Yep. She’s a classically trained pianist who taught piano for over forty years.
And I originally studied classical guitar for years, until I discovered I was really a bassist.
We both are well on the “can’t get away from the sheet music” side of the great Sheet Music Divide.
No matter which side of that fence you are, the grass looks very green on the other side.
My wife has been working on improvisation for many years but she still regrets that she doesn’t have the intuitive background in chordal technique that jazz musicians have.
I’ve been writing music and working in recording studios since I was 14. My first session was at The Boogie Hotel, a studio on Long Island that was owned by the band, Foghat. When I was 17, I got my first Fostex 4 Track recorder and used it to write and record hundreds of songs at home. Today, I primarily use a Roland FA-07 workstation in conjunction with a Cakewalk DAW, although I’m about ready to upgrade to Logic. Besides writing and recording at home, I think I’ve worked at just about every studio within a 50 mile radius from my home in Southern California as a session musician.
My “home studio” (if you want to call it that). It’s just a room in by basement with some music and computer stuff in it.
Recording equipment is just a Tascam 16 track digital recorder/mixer. There are a couple of other mixing boards, effects boxes, etc. that aren’t in the picture. It’s a fairly minimal setup but it does what I need it to do.
I have often been the sound/tech guy for small bands I’ve been in (often comes with the territory of keyboard player), and have all the equipment to manage small recordings. I’ve always struggled with arranging my thoughts into completed song form so have very few actual completed pieces. I mostly record stuff for musical rehearsals (piano tracks), and/or backing tracks for vocalists who might be performing without a live accompanist.
The most involved project I ever did was, during COVID, I ended up music directing and doing all audio production for a filmed version of a musical. Folks got together to film but we didn’t want people singing unmasked in a room together. So, all cast members and instrumentalists recorded themselves with whatever device they had on hand, singing along to piano guide tracks prepared by me. I then mixed it all together. They then filmed, lip-syncing to themselves. For about an hour and a half’s worth of music.
It wasn’t perfect by a long shot, but came out pretty well. It was the sort of project that started out as a “well, theoretically I kinda know how I might do this”, and by the end I had some skill at it. And many many hours sunk.
My “studio” at home these days is a mac mini running Logic, a MOTU interface, a pair of Event 20/20 monitors from the 90s, some Sony headphones, and a small collection of microphones.
Currently running a hodge-podge rig that includes a HP gaming machine (need the GPU for local AI stuff), a second box for file serving/Linux experiments, my trusty Alesis M1 Active near-fields I’ve used for over 20 years, and various DAWs/NLEs, depending on what I’m doing. The mainstays, software-wise, are StudioOne, Reaper, VCV Rack, DaVinci Resolve, OBS Studio and whatever VST plugs I’m playing with, testing or improving at the moment.
