The Guitar Player’s Home Recording Checklist

The music recording industry either suffered a great upset, or was given an enormous boost, depending on your point of view, when the home recording revolution took hold over the past 15 or so years. The big studios and engineers are hurting for work, and prices for studio time have plummeted at all but the most exclusive, specialized, or revered studios. This is because the ability to record extremely high quality sounds at home, mix them inside the box, and skip the studio altogether.

So there’s a strong chance that as a guitarist, you are recording parts for your band’s next release at home onto your computer. At this point in time it is extremely cheap and simple to do, and with a little practice, you can be well on your way to making great sounding recordings.

This is, of course, assuming you have a single fucking clue what it is that you’re doing. As I talked about in my editorial Does Gear Matter?, the problem isn’t usually one of access – it’s a problem of knowing how to use the resources you have. I have a friend who is a pro session guitarist who likes to use budget instruments because when he sets them up right, tunes it correctly, dials in a killer tone, and plays his part the right way, it doesn’t fucking matter if it’s a cheap axe or not.

It’s possible that you do know what you’re doing, and always do all the things on this checklist. If so, disregard this article and continue on your merry way. But, if by some chance you maybe don’t, or are worried that you aren’t….. you might wanna check this out.