“If a Studio Doesn’t Fly a Flag, They’re Dead.”

This post is by Hypebot intern Hisham Dahud. His Twitter: @HishamDahud.

It goes without saying that today’s music space is hypercompetitive – mainly as a result from the near zero barriers to entry. Virtually anyone can record an album, distribute, tour, and sell product directly to fans. 

“I don’t think there’s anything negative about that,” says John Vanderslice, founder of Tiny Telephone, a professional recording studio in San Francisco.

“It’s like saying you miss the old days of the Republic when only the landholders could vote – pure democracy is better. However, I do believe that it’s much harder to earn a lower-middle-class living in music these days, and that’s based purely on competition.”

Back when a recording contract was the Holy Grail to stardom, part of that deal was an elaborate recording budget that spanned anywhere from $100,000-$300,000+ to record an album. 

But as consumer-grade recording technology becomes more powerful and more affordable, amateur musicians can produce sounds on par with what a high-priced studio would just a few years ago – all from the comfort of their bedroom. 

Caught between a troubled recording industry and rapidly developing technology, are professional recording studios in danger of becoming obsolete?

“If a studio doesn’t fly a flag, they’re dead,” says Vanderslice. “They cannot just be one of the 4,000 ProTools studios in a six-mile radius; no one cares.”

He advises studios to establish a recognizable and editorial position in their approach to the recording process to avoid directly competing with everyone else. Vanderslice and his Tiny Telephone studio carry a “flag” that represents their undying devotion to analog recording. 

“Personally, I have an ethical and philosophical responsibility to keep tape machines functioning as they were when they were manufactured,” he says. “The medium is the message. Music content sounds different on analog tape.”

While many musicians may have the necessary tools to record music, professional recording studios continue to offer one invaluable resource to that cannot be purchased from any store or catalog, and that's experience.

“I would say that cheap digital recording is a net gain, but as a guy who owns a studio and charges a lot of money, I have to advise clients of what sounds better than something else. That’s why they’re coming to a studio. It really matters because it adds up to a completely different experience.”

Digital recording technology may certainly be a step forward musicians and even for music itself, but speaking as a musician who’s recorded in a professional studio before, there's something truly unique about working in a professional recording environment. 

Your mindset is completely different. You’re allowed to fully immerse yourself in your art by handing over all the logistics of the recordings process to experienced engineers. That sort of freedom, along with having an experienced (and unbiased) ear with you during the recording process is worth the price of admission alone. 

The studio has long been known to be the place where “the magic happens.” But in order to survive in today’s music space, studios need differentiate themselves by offering a piece of magic that only they can provide.