What Does The Future Hold For The Recording Industry?

Brian Hood (0:00)

This is the Six Figure Home Studio Podcast, episode 34

SPEAKER_2 (0:06)

You're listening to the Six Figure Owned Studio Podcast. The number one resource for running a profitable home recording studio.

Brian Hood (0:22)

Now your hosts, Brian Hood and Chris Graham. Welcome back to another episode of the 6 Figure Home Studio Podcast. I am your host, Brian Hood. I'm with my podcast co-host, Mr. Chris Graham. How are you doing today, Chris?

Chris Graham (0:27)

Man, I'm doing great because it's been like a week and a half since we've recorded.

Brian Hood (0:31)

You got a little time off. Away from me.

Chris Graham (0:33)

I missed it. I missed you.

Brian Hood (0:35)

Oh, you missed it. Oh, I thought you were so stoked to have some time away.

Chris Graham (0:39)

Well, I used every minute of it, I assure you, but this is a part of my week that I enjoy.

Brian Hood (0:45)

You've been working on your secret project, which we're not going to talk about here.

Chris Graham (0:48)

Shh, don't tell anyone.

Brian Hood (0:49)

Okay, so today's episode, I love that.

Today's episode is a conversation that Chris and I are going to have. And the only pre-discussion we've had on it was me pitching the idea to him for this episode.

And he immediately said, stop talking, we're going to record right now.

And today's episode topic, which you could probably tell by the episode title, if we wrote a good one, is all about where do we think the recording industry is going to be in the next five to 10, even 15 or 20 years? Where do we see things going? What does that mean for you? What does it mean for the industry as a whole? Where does that mean you should perhaps shift to? What does that mean for some of you that refuse to shift to different areas? I think we're gonna have a good lively discussion today, but again, this is a non-outlined, non-prediscussed episode. It could go anywhere. We don't know. All right, so Chris, I'm just gonna ask the question to you, and you're gonna answer it, and then we're gonna cut the episode off, and it's gonna be a three-minute episode, and that's that. No, I'm just joking. Where do you think the industry's going? Let's just say for the average home studio owner.

Chris Graham (1:48)

Well, I think the important first thing to consider there is what has happened over the past 20 years.

Brian Hood (1:56)

So much.

Chris Graham (1:57)

So much. I would say the biggest revolution, man, when I started recording, it was right at the very beginning of the digital audio revolution, and my first studio that I worked at used ADATs. And for those of you youngins who, thank God, don't know what an ADAT is, an ADAT's basically a VCR tape. You probably don't know what that is either.

It's like the precursor to the DVD. You'd pop it in this crazy VCR, and you could record eight tracks on each VCR tape. And it was awful.

Brian Hood (2:29)

I hate everything that you're saying right now.

Chris Graham (2:31)

I know. It was a miserable chapter.

Brian Hood (2:33)

This is a bit different than tape, though. It was like a...

Chris Graham (2:36)

Well, yeah, but so...

Brian Hood (2:38)

Was it easier?

Chris Graham (2:39)

No.

It was cheaper. It was just cheaper.

Brian Hood (2:42)

Got it.

Chris Graham (2:43)

So, but the big thing that's happened since ADATs is computers, obviously, are the thing that you use to record with now.

And I remember when I got my first Mac, and I started recording with that, it was impossible to find any decent sounding compressor plug-in. And I remember when the Waves Renaissance Compressor came out, and the first time I used it, and was like, oh my gosh, that actually doesn't sound terrible. And now, like, the Wave Renaissance Compressor is completely obsolete. Nobody uses that thing anymore. So, we've seen better and better and better processors come out, better and better plug-ins, better and better microphones.

Brian Hood (3:19)

Better and better emulations for the real thing.

Chris Graham (3:22)

Yeah, I'm going to get like 17 gear sled alerts today. But you look at like a microphone like the Studio Project C1, it's like 200 bucks. It's not that bad.

Or, you know, there's a whole other number of those that have come out, and we continue to see better and better microphones for less money, and plug-ins that sound better and better. And you look at, like, you think about five years ago, how many people did you know that had an Apollo, a Universal Audio Apollo, five years ago?