TOP 22 LIST: BIGGEST TECH INNOVATIONS FOR HOME STUDIOS
[Music] hi there today a top 22 list the biggest Tech Innovations for the home studio here I'm talking about 40 to 50 years of tech Innovation that got us to where we are today with the home studio before we had all this great technology most of us would have had to have paid for studio time at a commercial Studio as technology Advanced Home Studios became a reality starting in the late '70s but more in the early 80s it was a small number of folks that could save up enough cash for a multi-track analog tape machine and build their Studio around that machine and a console today all you need to get started is a personal computer an audio interface and a micro an instrument the bar has never been lower to telling people you have a home studio this is a big list I developed it using my experiences including experiences of friends I observed some of whom own commercial recording studios I've probably forgotten a few key moments along the way so you can tell me in the comments if you think there was something Earth shattering that I missed one last thing the gloves are off for this list so strap yourself in for a bumpy ride number 22 console mixing automation this originally wasn't going to be on the list but I changed my mind control of multiple channel faders in real time and I mean motorized faders essentially what we call ghosting programmable EQ punchin and punch out was a big deal for professional Studios where the recording process was still focused around recording analog signals to analog tape on many SSL consoles of the 80s you had total recall I'm pretty sure it started in the 80s with the E Series and later the G Series folks that have lunch boxes and other holders for racking up classic fader channels from yester Year love Neeve and SSL Channel EQ essentially Total Recall with fader ghosting was the domain of large commercial Studios like I just said but by the late 80s motorized faders were starting to appear on more budget priced gear here the Yamaha dm7 included motorized faders and this unit was released in 1987 at least I think it was 1987 which probably was one of the first widely available mixers with fader automation other manufacturers quickly jumped into the market originally it was the domain of large commercial Studios on massive consoles costing hundreds of thousands of dollars now I've said that a couple of times but it Bears mentioning interestingly Yamaha and several other manufacturers still make mixing consoles and they include automation like motorized faders number 21 flat screen video monitors this is a notable Innovation for several reasons LED screens aren't affected by magnetic fields they are large lighter and have better resolution when I started out with sequencing in the 80s on my Atari computer using a 17in CRT monitor I was using TOA me 265 studio nearfield monitors because they are shielded monitors you can use them in close proximity to a CRT video monitor without affecting the video monitor having a large amount of screen space is probably the biggest benefit and it's without having a massive CRT Cube taking up a ton of space I use four video monitors with my system I can't even imagine how I may do with only two lines by 20 characters of text on the Roland mc50 Mark I I used for about a month before saying no way the only downside to LED screens that I see is that you have to buy a reputable brand some off-brands can have a fuzzy picture quality and may not last very long like a lot of people I use a TV as my Center monitor monor as it is value priced for its size number 20 virtual analog Hardware synthesis VA synthesizers were and are a way for folks to enjoy analog synthesis without high prices some of the more affordable options are the blofeld and maybe a used micro que some folks May argue that it doesn't sound as good as the real thing I would disagree where it do full short is the editing experience which is to be expected because it's parameter based on most of these machines some machines have a lot of controls like the elisis Andromeda and the Waldorf q but these machines are expensive number 19 patch memory personally I hate it when synthesizers don't have patch memory I love the sound of the mini MOG but starting Circa 1978 models could have included patch memory it was 1978 when patch memory became available on the first device and that was the profit 5 I suppose the only downside was that some of the scents didn't get very much patch memory at first the cs80 has a whopping 22 presets and a tiny four user presets the Juno 106 that was released in 1984 has 128 patches 129 if you include the manual mode mode I suppose if you look at the DX7 the DX7 only had 32 patches but it did have a cartridge slot number 18 analog Hardware effects chorus delay flanging phasing EQ affordable rack mount units started to appear in the80s people strapped for cash like me were using guitar pedal effects the downside was that at the affordable prices you don't get the best quality or control also analog units can be noisy still some people swear by the warmth number 17 Adat digital bus I thought this needed to be mentioned it's a significant Innovation and perhaps it should be higher on the list even eight channels through one small cable this was at a time when most digital signals were stereo such as AES evu and spedi originally on Alisa's gear and then eventually it found its way onto other manufacturers gear today is hard to find a rack audio interface that claims double digit IO and doesn't provide some of that connectivity through light pipe some cons are not as universal as we might have hoped also there's been no innovation in light pipe that I'm aware of Alisa could have taken it to 16 32 64 channels and Beyond we have Maddie and I've investigated Maddie for my studio because I have dozens of signals to route but Maddie is prohibitively expensive Adat is an inexpensive interface it's not too late elisis number 16 digital multi-track recorders before the move for most folks to digital audio workstation software digital multi-track recorders had their day in the sun I believe there was a peak for this between the heavy use of adats and the total acceptance of Daws there had been versions of these devices but dedicated machines from Tascam Roland and others seem to peek around the early 2000s A friend gave me a shiny new Tascam 2488 Circa 2004 I wasn't going to abandon qbase but I've been helping out engineering some life plays and I thought it would be cool to record them ultimately it sat in its box brand new for the last 20 plus years kind of a shame they can be very small devices and kind of portable many have onboard effects a CD burner so you can create a Final Mix the cons are a lack of flexibility compared to a doll but great for their time number 15 tablet technology plus by plus I mean other small helper devices like stream dag and devices to control a doll so folks can go mixer L with these devices you can control practically every function of a doll some keyboards and often your audio interface too it can be as simple as a control surface that triggers shortcut commands or significantly more complex protocols for controlling music technology the s are you really need to be techsavvy some folks can have a hard time setting up a number of parameters and getting devices to interact over a wireless connection number 14 digital Hardware effects I already talked about analog effects digital effects brought better and more effects more control and Superior sound quality the biggest advancement was probably digital Reverb Studios didn't have to Spring pun intended for a physical plate Reverb anymore some people will argue that digital doesn't have that certain jeniqua that is present in analog effects everyone is entitled to an opinion number 13 Hardware sequencers these were a central midi hub for recording instruments like keyboards drum Mach machines Samplers Etc if you synced a hardware sequencer to an analog multitape machine you had a potent Studio Production Tool perhaps you only had eight tracks of analog audio and one you might have to lose in order to sync to tape but now you had additional Tracks Of Music via midi the cons were the use of two independent systems connected through tape sync which could be finicky or Rock Solid depending on how Loki the god of Mischief in the studio was feeling that day I made it work for about four years before moving to adets number 12 nearfield monitors nearfields were a significant advancement prior to near Fields most folks use massive speaker cabinets most of the studios I frequented in the80s had large jbls built flush into the wall surrounded by egg crates and foam nearfields brought highquality compact audio monitoring to home Studios essentially large cabinets were shrunk to shelf size while maintaining a relatively flat frequency response and they can also be used at low volume levels the con here is that low frequency response can suffer base response can be augmented with a subwoofer it's an option that costs money and subwoof woofers can also be large and take up a lot of space I'm sticking with my mackys and I'm fine with that number 11 Hardware digital Samplers these brought real acoustic sounds to home Studios playable from a keyboard prior to this if you wanted the sound of an orchestra you had to hire an orchestra a large space and everything that goes with that Han Zimmer is well known for being a pioneer of mocking up orchestral score with racks of Roland s760 Samplers the cons are that realism can be highly dependent on the skill of the player early Samplers didn't have the best quality or an expansive Library also the good stuff was still expensive in the mid 80s you could spend the money for say an s760 or save some bucks and get creative with a used Mar I'm also including sample-based drum machines in this category cuz they're essentially the same technology number 10 analog synthesizers this added a new pallette of sounds for keyboardist and what was available at the time which was really piano electric piano pianet organ e and harpsicord in this I wanted to include analog drum Machin like the tr808 since it's an analog device cons are tuning issues and early quality of construction issues although an expansion of the sound pallet it became limited as other Tech was released and analog sense can sound dated number nine digital synthesizers once again a new palette of sounds to add to what was available FM Vector synthesis wave table synthesis modeling and more this has spanned a long period of time from the 70s through today generally Always In Tune which is a blessing if you've ever had to deal with classic instruments and gear that is constantly going out of tune Crystal Clear highly programmable though in some cases difficult to program some folks argue that it can sound harsh or that it's not warm sounding but that assumes that you don't want it to sound harsh or cold sounding and that may just not be the case also a lot of them can sound warm sounding number eight virtual effects plugins I'm talking about what we commonly refer to as VST plugins an incredible step forward integrates with the doll Total Recall no physical space required no repairs or maintenance easy automation is many inst stations as you want cons are arguably not optimal for some effects like Reverb and a lack of physical controls still an amazing invention number seven virtual instruments integrate with a doll Superior Sound especially for sample-based instruments no physical space required no repairs or maintenance easy automation as many instant as you want cons putting musicians out of work some functionality just doesn't work well with a mouse and a keyboard and it's not always the best sounding option number six lower prices less barriers for folks to engage in music production it makes the biggest hurdle the limit of a person's imagination and skill conss inflation is killing us all in the used and new market there's some amazing new tech at low prices but quality is suffering on the super budget priced gear number five analog multi-track tape recorders this was a major advancement which is why it is number five remember we are talking about all the advancements that got us to where we are today like all technology firsts it was expensive when it became available now you could individually process process tracks all the musicians and singers didn't have to be recorded at the same time how the Beatles managed to record a Hit album with so few tracks it's amazing apparently all you need is love and a for track it also helps a lot to have good musicianship great songs and vocals cons linear recording has its limitations especially with editing and there are significant expense beyond the initial purchase like maintenance and tape costs the art of scrubbing I just wanted to talk about this I remember the first time I saw somebody do this when I saw them rocking the reels backwards and forwards to erase just just a little ding that we had in there it was just pretty cool anyway number four digital audio workstation software a central software hub for music production this is the course software that most of us use today we have the integration of VST Instruments and VST effects syncing video to audio now is Trivial editing can be down to the millisecond cons Hardware requirements skill requirements that has also a financial and a Time cost number three personal computers a Central Hardware hub for music production Mac or IBM PC compatibles it doesn't matter whichever you like without the advancements we've had in CPU speed Ram size mass storage size and gpus we'd probably still be using some type of dedicated Hardware device probably one of the ones I've already mentioned PCS and Associated software have given us incredible amounts of power to produce music cons cost hardware and software obsolesence like OS and doll related plus maintenance and learning often you need to be your own tech support in my case I'm many of my friends tech support it can be a domino effect of cost you might want to just up update one item for $50 but it means adding a changing maybe your operating system and once you do that maybe a whole bunch of other things don't work that can be a crazy thing to happen and it's happened to me maybe it's happened to you too number two on our list midi musical instrument digital interface this was a huge advancement it allowed the hybrid analog tape and sequencer systems I've already talked about enabled orchestration V many mid devices through key sync and controller information patch saving loading editing it's been a robust standard since being invented it's really fared very well over time with only a few major additions to the specification cons early lack of correct implementation SL full implementation by some companies notably Yamaha with the velocity on the original DX7 and some other manufacturers that had their devices only receive an omni mode or they would only re receive or transmit on a single Channel no current state-of-the-art version that is backwards compatible like USB what I'm talking about here is something that just is like super midy we don't have that yet number one digital audio the de facto technology that enables most of the other Tech we use today it was a new paradigm of sound sound quality flexibility for editing at an unprecedented level it became a part of so many things CDs DVDs Blu-rays MP3s wave files and other formats it's how we create deliver and listen to music today I see you out there hands up who remembers Tower Records and Camelot music okay there's a bunch of you I can recall walking down to carnaby Street London Soho district and traing through one far trap record store after another browsing through record bins hoping to find something on sale that I liked and could afford I still have most of that vinyl actually digital audio killed those stores digital audio and video killed Blockbuster Video and most Mom and Pop video rental stores across the planet it's been truly an amazing advancement but not without Carnage unfortunately with AI becoming mainstream we're all doomed only James Cameron will survive this was a long list and one I thought deeply about before making this episode I try to read and reply to as many comments as I can so feel free to tell me about something Earth shattering that I missed hopefully I haven't wasted your time take care and I'll be back in another episode soon
2024-06-09 22:52
