What is location recording, and why is it changing everything?

The first time we had to load up our van with expensive gear and drive off to a client's house felt somewhat strange. The equipment belonged to the studio, not on the road. As soon as we had set up the gear in the small rehearsal room of a local music school, it started to feel just right: musicians were very comfortable and familiar with the space, and it was a pleasant new challenge for us to quickly learn the room to set up like we would in our studio.

After only a few projects, we realized the complete potential of these recordings. Indeed, not every room is suitable for recording, but with modern tools at our disposal, most rooms are. This might sound sacrilegious for sound engineers who are reading this blog, but it has been our experience. Let's get the negatives out of the way: which rooms are out of the question?

Tiny rooms are challenging to record in. Not only are they difficult to navigate, comfortably set up, and play, but they also have lots of reflections from the walls and ceilings, resulting in unwanted comb filtering in the recorded signal. We don't have a minimum room sizer requirement for location recording projects, but remember that the results will vary from room to room. In short, higher ceilings and bigger rooms are better.

Another problem with many rooms is that the parallel walls result in more unwanted reflections. We DIY this issue using couch cushions, blankets (both household and moving blankets), and sometimes by bringing acoustic treatment. In a studio environment, these reflections are dealt with by hanging 3-4 inches thick acoustic treatments on the walls – usually made from mineral fibers. While we are on this topic, let's get something out of the way: those thin "acoustic foams" sold on Amazon do not work. If you want more information on this topic, please read our article on acoustic treatments.

One thing to remember is that many studios do not sound great. This might come as a surprise, but there are only a handful of studios built specifically for classical music – in short, to sound amazing. It is much easier to build a room that sounds "dead" and "dry" rather than lush and beautiful. Most vocals you hear on your favorite records are tracked in extremely dry isolation booths. You can simulate a similar environment in a living room. Is it easy? Not really. But it costs ten times less than renting a full-fledged studio.

Many chart-topping, Grammy-winning singer-songwriters record their whole albums in their bedrooms. Then why is it so difficult to get the same results as them when recording at home? A common question from clients pertains to our role in improving these recordings. Is it just our gear? Is it our knowledge? It is a combination of both. Not only do we carry lots of relevant equipment so you don't have to buy/rent them, but we are also knowledgeable on mic placements, room reflections, recording techniques, and solutions to many of the most common problems faced during such projects.

Once you realize that you can record your music in a very affordable way, without leaving your home, get it mixed and mastered, and distribute it in less than a week, it becomes a desirable option. This is why, in our experience, location recording is seeing an uptick in the recording world. A decade ago, location recording was the choice of choirs and baroque ensembles performing at churches or small chamber orchestras wanting to record their performances. It was and still is common in film production to hire location recording professionals to capture the actors' dialogues. Today, location recording is so much more than that. It is in every aspect of music production. As a production company, it brings us great joy to see musicians starting their recording careers after dreaming about it for so long.