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Instruments for the Recording Studio
Do you need a variety of instruments in your studio?
A lot of studios like to keep a bunch of instruments available and ready for use, such as a drum kit, and a small army of guitars and amplifiers.
Generally, when artists come to record, they will bring their own instrument. It’s what they’re used to, and it’s their sound. That part, about it being their sound, might not be important to you, because you know it won’t make any difference in the final song, but it is of utmost importance to the artist. It doesn’t matter what it sounds like after the microphone picks it up, it absolutely must be “their sound” leaving the instrument.
There’s usually not much need to have a bunch of guitars, and every other instrument under the sun decorating your studio, with the exception of a drum kit. The reason a drum kit is great to have is because you can leave it set up and ready to be recorded. This saves a lot of time, and if you have people paying by the hour, saving time is important.
If you are going to have studio instruments, make sure they are very high quality. You want your studio gear to be better than what most people bring, you want it to be an upgrade. Sometimes artists will come to the studio unprepared, or inspiration will strike, and all of a sudden they want to record guitar parts, but they didn’t bring their guitar. It can certainly be handy to have a few guitars available, and when the client plays it, they are impressed with the quality of the instrument. The quality of the instrument will also effect the quality of your recordings, because as we discussed in lesson 20, it all starts with the source.
A really nice high powered tube guitar amp is also useful to have. Often people will bring low quality amps into the studio, and they just don’t sound good. Also, having your own amp gives you the ability to record the dry output from the guitar, plugged in DI, and re-amp later. This gives you the ability to take your time and tweak with the tone.
Some smaller instruments can be handy from time to time as well, such as a cajon, a shaker, cowbell. Every song needs cowbell…. So go out and get one. If you have a girlfriend, don’t give it to her as a gift.
A nice 88 key, weighted action, midi keyboard is great to have for piano players. They usually don’t bring their own instrument, and it will feel cheesy for them playing on a small keyboard with spring loaded keys. A real piano is quite useful as well, though requires a lot of maintenance, and a lot of space. The nice part about a real piano is during recording, you can quickly and easily use it to help a vocalist find a note, find the key of a song, or play a melody. It’s always ready to go.
