You Want How Much For What?
Seriously, I could not imagine trying to run my Recording and Rehearsal Studios and have to pay someone to work on and fix computer problems, and do amp maintenance and repair work.
Thanks to over 20 years in the computer industry I gathered some knowledge that is very useful for running my recording studio. Think about it. You need to get a pretty powerful computer. I went with a PC instead of Mac, and got a quad core with 16GB ram and 2 TB disk space. I am going to have to invest in a small SAN (storage area network) within the next year so I can offload some of the stuff on the recording PC's hard disk, because 2 terabytes just is not enough.
On top of that, I have a MOTU PCI express card that I installed on my computer, plus a huge pile of software (DAW, effects, editing, mixing and mastering software, et al). Beyond that, you have the audio drivers that must be setup perfectly for integration with the computer, DAW (digital audio workstations) and Analog/Digital MOTU interface, or else the entire system will come crashing down.
And just when you thought there could not be more, the mixing console must be setup with high quality cabling to interconnect with outboard hardware (e.g. mic preamps, compressors) and the MOTU 24 I/O to the MOTU PCI express card.
You have two choices: (1) learn how to do it all yourself (which takes years and years of experience, or (2) pay someone else to take care of it for you.
If you think that going with (2) is the way to go you must be nuts. Have you tried to hire a computer system expert, who is also skilled with audio analog to digital interconnects and DAWs? They want a lot of money. Way to much money. Way, way, way, too much money.
Lucky for me I have an inner computer geek lurking in the wings who loves to come out and miraculously install, upgrade, maintain and fix everything, and I don't have to pay me for the work either.
While we are at it, you can toss in having to maintain and repair amplifiers and drums kits. Amplifiers need to be re-tubed and biased, so you need to know what tubes to get, how to extract and install tubes, and you need to know what the power tube bias settings are supposed to be.
Finally, we have drum kits. Holy freaking moly. Drummers work hard. Drum kits have zillions of little parts, clamps, clips, felts, cymbals, stands and drum heads. The parts come loose and you have to tighten things back up. Not to mention, every drummer likes the batter heads (skins) tuned differently, and they like different tensions on their kick drum pedals. The fun never ends.
Sadly, the biggest deal is not related to techie stuff. Drummers make wood chips out of their sticks. After about a week there is a sawdust pit around the drum kit that needs to be vacuumed up, along with the little wood chips that get stuck between the rim and snare drum head.
Yep. It is work.
Until next time, enjoy the music!
Jimmy
Thanks to over 20 years in the computer industry I gathered some knowledge that is very useful for running my recording studio. Think about it. You need to get a pretty powerful computer. I went with a PC instead of Mac, and got a quad core with 16GB ram and 2 TB disk space. I am going to have to invest in a small SAN (storage area network) within the next year so I can offload some of the stuff on the recording PC's hard disk, because 2 terabytes just is not enough.
On top of that, I have a MOTU PCI express card that I installed on my computer, plus a huge pile of software (DAW, effects, editing, mixing and mastering software, et al). Beyond that, you have the audio drivers that must be setup perfectly for integration with the computer, DAW (digital audio workstations) and Analog/Digital MOTU interface, or else the entire system will come crashing down.
And just when you thought there could not be more, the mixing console must be setup with high quality cabling to interconnect with outboard hardware (e.g. mic preamps, compressors) and the MOTU 24 I/O to the MOTU PCI express card.
You have two choices: (1) learn how to do it all yourself (which takes years and years of experience, or (2) pay someone else to take care of it for you.
If you think that going with (2) is the way to go you must be nuts. Have you tried to hire a computer system expert, who is also skilled with audio analog to digital interconnects and DAWs? They want a lot of money. Way to much money. Way, way, way, too much money.
Lucky for me I have an inner computer geek lurking in the wings who loves to come out and miraculously install, upgrade, maintain and fix everything, and I don't have to pay me for the work either.
While we are at it, you can toss in having to maintain and repair amplifiers and drums kits. Amplifiers need to be re-tubed and biased, so you need to know what tubes to get, how to extract and install tubes, and you need to know what the power tube bias settings are supposed to be.
Finally, we have drum kits. Holy freaking moly. Drummers work hard. Drum kits have zillions of little parts, clamps, clips, felts, cymbals, stands and drum heads. The parts come loose and you have to tighten things back up. Not to mention, every drummer likes the batter heads (skins) tuned differently, and they like different tensions on their kick drum pedals. The fun never ends.
Sadly, the biggest deal is not related to techie stuff. Drummers make wood chips out of their sticks. After about a week there is a sawdust pit around the drum kit that needs to be vacuumed up, along with the little wood chips that get stuck between the rim and snare drum head.
Yep. It is work.
Until next time, enjoy the music!
Jimmy
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