2018 was a great year for my music. I returned to playing live. I wrote more than ever and remained focused on recording. It began with inquiries to different studios in my area. Now before I go any further let me say you get what you pay for. If you want a total professional recording with little effort from you. By all means book a studio, pay the man. But me being poor and very frugal I just couldn’t allow myself to do that. I mean 10 songs would run close to $6000 for 100 discs. I would never see a positive return on my invest. This is after all a business I’m working here, not a hobby. So I did what all tight wad poor creative types do. I bought some equipment and began the process of learning how to record properly. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a gear junky. I buy used almost always and love cheap vintage gear, so I had a fair amount of toys already. Here’s a breakdown to date of what I added.
1) Used Tascam interface 14 channel $100
2) Used Behringer 6 chan. Headphone amp $50
3) New Makie CR3 monitors $20 coupon $80
4) Reaper DAW $60 one time fee
5) Used Audio-Technica ATH40 headphones $30
Total $320
Guitars, Basses, Keys, Harmonicas, Amps, Microphones, Cables I already had plenty.
So on to YouTube, lucky for me there are several channels dedicated just to Reaper that will teach you everything you need to know on recording, mixing, and even mastering your entire project. Within 6 months I had an album. “ This old guitar & me” released August of 2018. Is it perfect? No not even close. But it’s all me and it was within my budget.
Since then I’ve added a drum set and a drum program Ez-drummer that has opened up a whole new world. I’ve just released my newest single “Hes Just Cool” exclusivly on my new website. www.donovanhowardmusic.com which is another Blog all together. Lesson is don’t settle for “I just can’t afford to make an album“ or “I don’t have the skills.” Bull if I can, you can.
Hang in the guys we’re all in this together and 2019 is looking to be a good one.
Peace
Big D