How do you choose a recording studio?

Answer 1

There are a lot of things to look at when choosing a studio. Price should be one of the first things you look at. Prices can start really low for a home studio, up to hundreds of dollars and hour at the top studios. A home studio is something to look into if you are on a budget and/or have a small project. Home studios are often wayyyyy cheaper than a professional studios and usually a lot smaller with less gear. Sometimes the engineer of a home studio doesn't have a lot of experience in how to actually do recording, so make sure you talk to someone in depth about what they can do for you and your project.

The gear that the studio uses should be a big factor. I personally wouldn't go to a studio that doesn't run ProTools. That's just a personal opinion of mine. The program probably wont make or break your recording, but having quality gear is a huge part of a recording. If you go to a home studio with a guy that doesn't spend much money investing in gear and everything is the cheap stuff you find then chances are the quality isn't going to be great. At the end of the day really the sound is the only thing that matters. If you can get a good sound out of cheap stuff, more power to you.

Location plays a little bit of a role in selection. If you are booking time for more than a day, you want something somewhat close so that you aren't wasting a lot of gas money in transport or have to book a hotel for longer sessions. There's nothing wrong with recording away from home, just know that you will be adding more to what you spend if you have to do a lot of traveling or hotel staying.

Lastly I would look at the staff and the building itself. If you're a weed smoking rapper, you don't want to go to a studio that records mostly christian bands and gospel chiors. You want the atmosphere to be condusive to you and your project. I want to record with people I feel comfortable with, that I trust with my music. If you work with someone that is just a total a-hole it makes for a lot of tension in the studio. Tension like that can cause low morale with a band and start to cause problems

One last thing to think about is if the studio is only recording the album, or are they going to mix and maybe even master it as well. Mixing an album can take a very long time depending on the project. Talk to the studios about if they mix, and how much they charge. Often times it will be the same price per hour as recording, some will offer discounts for doing it all at that studio.

Really at the end of the day, it doesn't matter where the record is recorded as long as you are happy with it. You can make a good record at home or at a low budget studio.