6D = THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OFFTHE HILL
MONDAY,AUGUST 18,2003
Skip the studio; bands are staying home to record
Musicians take advantage of inexpensive computers recording software; disseminate music over Internet
By Eddie Yang eyang@kansan.com kansas staff writer
In the extra room of his home on Tennessee Street, Matt Davis follows his rock 'n' roll dreams without leaving his computer.
Next to his computer is a drum set, a bass amp, two guitar amps, two keyboards and various percussion instruments. Microphones and cords litter the floor, and a Pink Floyd tapestry hangs on the wall.
Davis records his music using a software program called Pro Tools.
"I got this set-up because it's almost cheaper to get the software than recording a demo," Davis said. "The software is cheap and lets me work on things as long as I want."
DigiDesign's Pro Tools is the market leader in audio recording software in the United States. In 2002, DigiDesign made $104.7 million off of Pro Tools.
The combination of sophisticated tools and plummeting computer prices allows anyone with the time and know-how to make CDs with sound quality comparable to those produced at a major studio. Today, more unsigned musicians like Davis are independently releasing their music. Some of them are starting record labels, and professional studios are losing business.
Today's recording software is not hard to learn and lets artists record hundreds of tracks at the click of a button. Bands can play multiple takes of a song and then piece together a composite track.
Studios
Underground Sound, the local recording studio pictured above, runs out of a backyard building and independent of a record label. Tom Wagner, Lawrence resident, owns the studio and produces the music of his band, Conner. Home recording studios,independent record labels and the Internet have offered outlets for do-it-yourself musicians of Lawrence.
"If it sounds too perfect, you take away some of the soul of making music. No one actually sounds like they do on records when they play live."
Luke Stone Drummer for Space Pocket
"The program is very similar to a word processing program where you can cut and paste different sections of music," said Chuck Chapman, owner of Chapman Studios in Kansas City, Mo. "Before, if you made a mistake you had to rerecord it in perfect time. Now you can just use another take."
Chapman said that most studios use a professional version of Pro Tools or a similar program called Nenuendo.
Pro Tools can even cover up musical shortcomings.
"There are various plug-ins that you can get that will adjust the pitch of a vocal or instrument to correct out-of-tune singing or playing," Chapman said. "You'd be surprised at how many CDs use this feature."
use the Luke Stone, drummer for Space Pocket, does not think Pro Tools is a good thing.
"If it sounds too perfect, you take away some of the soul of making music." Stone said. "No one actually sounds like they do on records when they play live."
Homegrown music
With amateur musicians able to produce pristine records, a
MP3.com has more than 200,000 artists and 1.3 million songs. About 95 percent were not signed to major labels, said MP3.com owner Derrick Oien.
number of outlets have emerged for musicians to share their music on the Internet.
Lawrence bands such as Kelpie, Proudentall, The Band that Saved the World, Salt the Earth and Java Men and songwriters such as Luke Stone are featured on the Web site.
"I work on my albums for a couple of months before they are finished,"Stone said."I just want to spread my music as far as it will go."
Another Web site, CDBaby.com, allows musicians to sell CDs. CD Baby has been operating since March 1998 and is the second-largest seller of independent CDs on the Web. Amazon.com is first.
CD Baby artists make $6 to $12 per CD and get paid weekly. Visitors to the site can listen to album tracks and read musicians' biographies. According to CDBaby.com, 35,425 artists have sold 429,503 CDs though the Web site, earning a total of $3.4 million.
Keith Loneker, owner of Lawrence's Lock-N-Load record label, warned about the quality of the recording a band is trying to sell.
"You got to realize who the competition is," Loneker-said. "If a band spends $50 on the production of a CD, it isn't going to compete well against a CD that had a budget of one million dollars."
Miles Bonny, creator of LawrenceHipHop.com, said that selling music over the Internet is not that easy.
"Before, if you made a mistake you had to rerecord it in perfect time. Now you can just use another take."
Chuck Chapman
Owner of Chapman Studios
in Kansas City, Mo.
"You can sell your CD on the Internet, but the hard part is getting people to your Web site," Bonny said. "People are skeptical about giving you $10 for anything, let alone a CD. It needs to stand out."
Independent Labels
The digital recording revolution is helping smaller independent labels emerge.
Lawrence area rapper Approach started his record label. Datura, two years ago to get his music out and attract the
attention of a major label.
"I had boxes of my CDs and thought 'I really have to do this now,'" he said.
Shawn Murphy, Midwest representative for the American Society of Composers and Authors, said there were some advantages to being on an independent label.
"At a major label one in five artists don't break even with the production costs," Murphy said. "An indie artist could sell a disc for $15 at a concert. If they make a $5 profit a disc on 5,000 discs, they pocket $25,000."
"Independent labels don't have to pay $400,000 to get a song on the air," he said. "They are able to turn a profit quicker and share more of those profits with their artists."
Murphy said it was not easy to start an independent label.
your CD to all your friends, family, people you went to school with, people you work with, you still won't sell 500 CDs."
The entry-level version of Pro Tools costs $995 and allows users to record up to 24 tracks of audio and another 128 of data, called Midi.
Pro Tools began in the late 1980s as a rudimentary editing program. It has evolved into a full-functioning studio on the screen.
Murphy said the software has drawbacks.
"It's going to be harder to find the good music with all the bad music that is out there," Murphy said. "But at the same time, you might find an independent band that you like on the Internet."
"Ten years ago, that wasn't even possible."
"To sell 500 CDs is very difficult," Murphy said. "If you sell — Edited by Richard Gintowt
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