room couch playing either an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar ( not even plugged in ). Several times a week for years we have done this . I have found my one music fan in Judy ( that is all I need :) and I play to unwind from a work day full of activity and earn my supper with a guitar in hand by entertaining her . This arrangement works well for the both of us .
So , my personal motivation is to record for Judy some of my instrumental music and also fulfill a long-delayed desire to add other instrumentation to those little guitar moments .
BUDGET : A LIFELONG AFFAIR
When it comes to budgets and the gear you have on hand , this is another area that everyone is on a different page with . Personal finances , friends who have gear you can borrow and also musicians that will either come to your home studio to play for you or who will remotely send you different tracks all come into play here .
A good example of this is on one of my songs I sent Mark Shelton ( our premier [ WM ] percussion columnist ). I sent the digital files ( music stems ) to Mark so he could add his amble percussionist skills to the song . Why would I lay down an awkward percussion part myself , when I know nothing about percussion and I have a professional I can ask a favor of ? He was gracious and played great as I knew he would .
So , when you are thinking in terms of what you may need gear wise for your own home recording studio also take inventory of your available talent assets as well . I don ’ t need to buy a set of congas when Mark has not only congas , but more different percussion instruments than you can shake a didgeridoo at . Plus , he can play each one of them skillfully .
CREATING THE SPACE : NO ROOM AT THE INN ?
In my case I have a home office that I have worked out of for years ( long before it was cool to work out of the home ). So , I took a good look