Make Money From Your Home Recording

For musicians and singers how to make money long-term is always a concern. Because there are so many music enthusiasts turned "Artist", be it singer or rapper and the internet making distribution of music easier, you have to know what you're doing if you want to earn from your music.

First off, let me start by saying if you intend to pursue a music career you have to be prepared to spend some money and that's before you're even in a position to make money. For those that don't know this, the majority of what you will pay for are other peoples' contacts and/or resources.

Many of these people have been in the music business for decades and at one time may have been major industry heavy weights and as such they know the business, have lot of contacts and favors they can call in if necessary.

The aspiring "Indie Artist" is in abundance and so, there's money to be made and it's a booming business for those with the knowledge and deep contacts. The aspiring Indie artist looking for advancement can be convinced to pay for and/or subscribe to some form of music based service. Don't forget the ever-increasing use of mobile apps.being used for music 'transmission.' I ventured into the app. world in January, 2013 and here I am in July with a much broader fanbase and fatter wallet thanks to my apps.

Now, having said that, I'll begin to talk about what  an artist should be doing to earn from their music. Besides getting listeners to buy their songs from their  website, iTunes or Amazon, you should be looking to get your music licensed. Music licensing is giving someone else permission to use your music in their work for a period of time without giving up your ownership of the music being licensed. This will generate long-term income which will be paid to you from whatever performing rights Organizations or P.R.O, you belong to (BMI, ASCAP, SESAC).The 1st thing you need to do is have music that can be licensed which is to say, your songs should sound like a finished product ready for market. That doesn't mean that you need to go out and get your songs professionally mixed and mastered, though that's not a bad idea if you can afford it, high quality home recordings are acceptable. It should be well produced, clear and available in (wav.) format even if it in mp3 format.

 I believe many artists get caught up in the glitz of music making and focus only on making what they hear on the radio or music videos and for the indie artist that will not earn you anything much. Urban styles and music set the trends for what pop and fashion follow and like it or not the urban styles and music are being used to market to teens and young adults. So make the adjustment to include songs in your catalog that can earn money for you while in route to your other dream. That's just smart business in my opinion.

Having music placements to your credit can have a twofold effect, the 1st being, if you a promoting yourself effectively, it can be a good talking point to include in your bio and it will show potential investors or A and R rep that may consider signing you that your music has proven value based on the placements it's received in various other formats (e.g. tv, movies, games, advertising campaign etc). And the 2nd, it shows that you are earning from your music and you're cable of putting a song together that can be marketed to the public.

In closing, don't take your eye of the lesser-know music sites. Thay can (and have) turn out to be very lucrative.

Home Recording Equipment

Music studio equipment can get really expensive really fast. I'm differentiating here between just any home recording studio, and one that specifically is set up for recording and producing music. If you are a voice over actor or podcaster exclusively, you can get by with quite a bit less in the way of studio gear. Musicians will almost certainly be needing, and hence, paying, more.

But that doesn't mean you have to go broke. Remember my goal in writing these articles has been to help you create the best quality audio for the lowest amount of money, and that is still true for the folks recording music in their home studio.

In order to make this article optimally applicable to the most folks, my example will be one or two people creating music on a computer using multitrack recording and audio editing tools. Things get pretty variable and different when you start talking about full bands or orchestras. I'm also going to assume for this example that the musicians already possess the musical instruments that will be on the recordings. Oh, and I also assume the person recording has a computer...pretty much any computer made in the last 10 years will do.

Okay, so the basics are these: you play the music, which goes through a microphone and then into a computer, which converts the sound into computer files that can be heard and manipulated by your audio software. See?! How hard is that? Alright, yes. It might be helpful to have a bit more information.

Let's start with the first piece of music studio equipment you may not already have, the microphone. Let's also say you are a guitarist and singer. Ultimately I would recommend two different kinds of microphones here, one for your guitar (acoustic for our example) and one for your voice. But let's talk minimums here. We'll go with one microphone, a large diaphragm condenser (side-address) of the USB ilk. At this fabulous point in time probably the most bang-for-the-buck you can get in audio recording is a USB microphone. They cost much less than their traditional cousins, plus they don't require a special computer interface or microphone preamplifier. Just plug it into your computer and go. You can use the same mic for your guitar as for your voice, as we are going to be recording one part at a time. Guitar first, then singing, etc. You only need one mic for that.

So what other hardware do you need? Uh, well let's see. Something to hold your mic while you play guitar is about the only other thing you'll need. If your USB mic didn't already come with one, you can a mic stand from your local music store for cheap. Heck, if you need to you could duct-tape your mic to a desk or just set one on a pillow on a chair or something.

So if we're done with hardware, what next? Yup, software. You'll need software that can record multiple tracks and mix them together, which we'll call tracking and mixing. You'll also need audio editing capability. Luckily there are recording software programs out there that do both functions, the lowest cost of which is free. "Audacity" is a program that is open-source freeware that can record, mix multiple tracks together AND edit audio. In fact Audacity is the most incredible value on the face of the planet. But since it is free, there are limitations, especially where musicians are concerned, such as in MIDI functionality. So you might want something with a bit more capability. There are so many choices out there for so many different prices, that it can make your head spin. Personally I use a program called Reaper, by Cockos for tracking and mixing, and Adobe Audition for editing (no affiliations), though in truth, Audition is one of those programs that can do it all. I just prefer the ease and work flow in Reaper.

And that's it! Yup, a computer, a USB mic and some software you can get you started with a very small budget (starting at about $25 for the USB mic). You'll want a pair of headphones too, though you could get by with a regular old pair of ear-buds if you have to. Then all you need to do is record that guitar part, hit "save", add another track next to the guitar track, record your voice on that 2nd track while you listen to the first track on your headphones. Boom. You'll probably want to add another guitar or another voice or two for harmonies, etc. No problem; just rinse and repeat, adding tracks as you go. When you have everything recorded, use your mixing software to pan the instruments and voices left, right, and/or in the middle like a group would be on stage. This also creates a nice stereo sound. Then make sure nobody is too loud or soft in the blend, hit "Save" again, and you've got a song. Now just open the song in your editing program, snip off any extra sound from the beginning (a count-in or a cough, etc.) of the recording. Fade the end out, make sure the whole thing is loud enough, save it, and you've got yourself a song that you recorded on your own home music studio.