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Reasons to Record At Home

"Must record in a studio. Must record in a studio" - it's a mantra that has been drummed into bands for years and years by... well, mostly by people who own studios. These shady men with bad hair seek to control the arcane knowledge of the 'mixer', the 'desk' and other things that would cause mere mortals/band members to go insane if they were to try and understand them. The Engineer won't explain and we are all too scared to ask.

Well, bollocks to that. Sergeant Pepper was recorded on a four track - yes, a four track! - as was Jimi Hendrix. These 4 track machines made the PortaStudios of today look like space stations. And how do these records sound? Do they sound crap and 'home recorded'? I think we all know the answer to that one.

Studios aren't the only place you can commit your genius to tape. DIY recording can be easier, cheaper, and the results can be amazing, whether you're a bedroom techno overlord or Bruce Springsteen, battering out Nebraska on a Tascam 244.

I realised that studios could be a very expensive waste of time when I was about 17, doing a recording course at my sixth form college. Along with remixing a song the teacher had written in the 70s (sort of Jingle Bell Rock without the bells, or the rock), I had my first chance to use a creaking Tascam Porta One. Sitting at home with my guitar plugged straight into the input, trying to make a version of With Or Without You while my parents watched TV at the other end of the room, I felt much more relaxed than when I'd used the college studio. I still have the tape of With Or Without You, and it still sounds pretty cool.

The next time I was in a studio (in a band called Sandhopper) I'd forgotten my experience with the four track. When the band decided to capture its sound, we headed straight to Sound Station One in Birmingham. We'd already made an eight-track demo in the drummer's bedroom, but we figured that we'd need a "proper" demo in order to get signed - a big priority back then. After several hours and a couple of hundred quid, the labels we sent the tapes to said that they preferred the sound of the dodgy eight track stuff.

Listening to the tapes now, I can see why. The eight-track recording was rough and a bit muffled, but it sounded like us. The studio recording was us being made to sound like the engineer's band (they were called Electraglide, and they were Not Very Good). The next demo was recorded two months later on a Porta One, was slightly less muffled, and sounded like us - it got demo of the month in Brum Beat magazine.

When I went to University, the Student Loan Company very kindly bought me a Tascam 424, a Fender Jazzmaster and a car. Suddenly I was annoying my housemates by recording channels of screaming feedback while they tried to sleep. And then the solo tapes began. I was in a band, but now I was a solo artist as well! I could record whenever I wanted, and it was ace.

The best thing was the freedom. I wasn't watching the clock, worrying about how much everything was costing me. This gave me the opportunity to explore sounds and ways of recording that I would never even tried in a studio: overloading channels, recording with the tape the wrong way to get things sounding backwards, putting vocals through effects pedals, changing the speed to pitch-shift a guitar into a bass... I learned all of these because I wasn't paying for the privilege.

Last year the trusty Tascam was finally retired, and I embraced the world of digital by buying a Roland VS840EX. Now I have studio-quality recording whenever and wherever I want - and I have no intention of ever using a studio again. I'll never have to explain what I want something to sound like to an engineer, because I am the engineer. When I hear a sound in my head, I know how to get it down on tape (or hard disk, as it is now) because I've been fannying around with home studios for the best part of a decade.

And if anyone ever tells you home recordings aren't broadcast quality, the tracks of mine played by John Peel were both recorded on a Tascam in my front room.

DIY Recording: How to do it

Recording at home affords you the luxury or taking your time and trying out things that the costs of a full studio might prevent. Over the last five or six years I have learned a few tricks that are probably worth sharing……

1. Multi track recording without a multitrack

You don't even need a 4 track to start multitrack recording at home. Before I bought my Tascam I used to record onto one tape deck and then play that and overdub onto another cassette deck….the best way to describe this is to show you the little illustration I made a couple of years ago -

It's kind of primitive but you can get some really nice warm sounds from this technique…(Note - this method was actually used on The Need)

2. Thrashing the levels….

There is no point recording a beautiful acoustic guitar if you can't hear it on the mix down. When you're recording, push the levels as far into the red as you can - don't assume it will distort, just turn your headphones up to ear damaging levels and if that isn't distorting then the signal on tape won't be distorting either. Obvious but worth noting…

3. Guitar effects aren't just for guitars

Plug your vocal mic/drum mic/ acoustic guitar mic into your fuzz pedal or delay or whatever before plugging into the multi track - it can sound horrible but it can sound great, with vocals sounding like another instrument.

4. Flip the tape over for instant psychedelia

You don't have to have a huge studio to do what the great psych bands of the past (and the Beatles and Stone Roses) did - just turn your tape over and remember that track one becomes track four, 2 becomes 3, 3 becomes 2, and 4 becomes 1. Backwards guitar suddenly is within your grasp! Also helpful if a song sounds less than godlike - turn the tape over, and it will probably sound better backwards.

5. Cheaper pop shields

No need to spend £50+ on a pop shield: just get a coat hanger, bend it into a circle and then stretch the foot end of a pair of tights over it - ét voila!

6. Record vocals without a microphone

You don't need a microphone to record vocals and you can sometimes get really cool results by using other things. Headphones are really just microphones in reverse (though I have never tried using a microphone as a speaker - perhaps I should...) - turn your gain up as far as you can go and sing into them, to hear what it sounds like. Likewise a humbucker pickup:plug your guitar into a fuzz pedal and then plug it straight into the 4 track then sing into the pick up - it works!

7. Evil fuzz

To get a really really vicious fuzz plug the guitar via a distortion pedal straight into the 4 track or (this doesn't work with digital gear) and then turn all the levels up till the recorder itself distorts…evil sounding!

8. Record a whole band with stereo drums and 2 vocals WITHOUT bouncing down!

Yup, you can do this on a normal 4 track and here is how….

9. Big amp sound without a big amp

Want a loud guitar sound without annoying the neighbours? Simple. Plug in that practice amp you haven't used in years, stick a mic right in front of the speaker, turn it up and then throw a duvet over the whole thing. It will sound ace.

10. Want female backing vocals? No female friends? No problem!

Simply use the pitch control to slow the tape down by about 4 or 5% and then sing your backing vocals - when the tape goes back to normal speed you will notice your voice is a higher and kind of girlie sounding. Warning, slowing the tape down too much will make you sound like a chipmunk.

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