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Recording studios take hit
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Photo: NAMM
Ten years ago, Pro Tools and GarageBand would have been foreign terms - even in the music industry. Today, the average Joe not only knows what both of those are, but probably also owns and uses one on his PC or MacBook. These personal recording software programs by Avid Technology and Apple, respectively, and others like Steinberg Media Technologies' Cubase and Apple's Logic Studio are being used - and mastered - by the average computer owner. People with little tech or music knowledge are able to record, mix and edit songs fairly easily on their home computers or notebooks. This recent trend, while good for the creators, has negatively impacted commercial recording studios nationwide. Where five to 10 years ago artists - both aspiring and chart-topping - sought producers and recording studios to create their tracks, artists can either do it on their own with the help of recording software or look to less costly producers using software on their desktops and out of their garages.
Home to a large percentage of recording studios and an even larger number of musicians and entertainers, Los Angeles is especially taking a hit. Industry experts estimate that as many as half the city's commercial studios have been closed or sold to artists for private use. And this is all in addition to the pressure the industry has been feeling from falling CD sales in recent years. Studios have had to cut costs or risk closure; resorting to inexpensive computer software and moving operations to an in-home studio or garage is one way to do that. The average commercial studio can cost upwards of a couple million dollars to build; home studios can cost 100 times less and don't have the overhead. According to NAMM, the International Music Products Association, the computer music market hit nearly a half-billion dollars last year, up from $140 million in 1999.
As the music industry continues to see hard times left and right due to the advent of new, advanced technologies, musicians, producers and the like are doing what they can to stay afloat. Different from years past, producers and recording studio owners have had to adjust - a remix, if you will - from making house calls to adopting the "Pro Tools" language to moving operations to garages. As Bob Dylan puts it best: "The times they are a-changin'."
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