Set Yourself Apart

I'm worried about the current state of how people are learning recording. When I first started tracking myself (and others) out of my home studio, learning how to record on a budget was a difficult process. I scoured the library, reading every book I could find. I bought all the magazines out there that were available to me at the time. I picked up books at Powell's Books, here in downtown Portland, Oregon. I asked other home recordists about equipment choices and what worked best for them. I even started this magazine so that I could ask questions of experienced producers, engineers, and musicians. Every question would usually yield different answers, depending on who I spoke with. One person would tell me a mic "sucked," while the next would extoll its virtues. But these were simply gear and equipment questions. I remember being unsure of how to find proper mic preamp levels, or how to set and use a compressor – things I now do without much thought. Learning recording techniques turned out to be much harder than learning how to simply pick out and purchase the gear.