Getting Free Studio Time

To do this:  GET YOUR OWN STUDIO.  Seriously though, you have to cut costs and think of you art as a business.  Everyone has a computer, so everyone can record their own stuff.  It is only people well above the age of 30 that will tell you that you have to "track everything properly and only a serious engineer in a serious studio can do this".  The same losers will tell you that "you can't be a producer without being an engineer".  These same fools usually are washed up producers and want your money.  I somehow doubt Dr. Dre was much of an engineer... he paid people with those skills.  So do I.

If you are a guitarist or a bassist, you probably have a multi effects unit, probably a newer one - and it's a 50/50 cahnce it's a line 6 pod of some sort.  That's what i use.  It connects to the computer with USB, and does a great job.  The only thing that will usually trump this in quality is a 100,000 recording rig, with at least 10 guitar amp configurations to choose from.  At that point, it also depends on the engineer recording it, and the producer understanding guitar sounds...etc.  Too many variables controlled by people you are paying too much who probably don't understand in any way what you are trying to accomplish.  That's how stupid people end up losing 50,000 dollars on albums that don't make any sales.  Now, if you are recording drums... it's probably worth investing some money in a proper space... it doesn't have to cost too much though.  More about this in a minute.

Here's my thesis.  Record everything in your song/album from home - then PAY AN ENGINEER TO MIX IT AFTER THE FACT.  If there's anything you recorded that didn't come out well enough, then you can re-record it.  This is how you make stellar tracks on a low budget.

Think about it from a business perspective other than music.  A software company has two or three guys (usually the owners - unless it's a huge company liek adobe or something) that develop the idea.  When they need to build on it more, they usually outsource in modules to India, Russia, Romania, etc.

Same thing with a large clothing company.  A designer designs a lot of the clothing, then pays a other people to stitch it together in quantity.  Then eventually they scale up the operation, hired other designers under them, working on what was generally their idea of how clothing should be made.  The production is eventually outsourced to a factory in China or Bangladesh.

An Architect, same thing - a team of people put together the 3d mockups, and then someone else applies for the permits.

You see where I am going with this.

If you record everything yourself, and only pay for what needs to be re-recorded, the only money you stand to lose when you find your idea doesn't work like you thought is the cost of a couple of hours of mixing.

Now, if you are recording drums or a grand piano - where experience, proper equipment and recording knowledge will make the difference, try this:

Record it in your basement with a crappy mic, put the song together.  Redo the drums in a big studio, but only book blocks of 2-3 hours of time at once.  Lightning rounds of solid 3 day recording never work out.  If your drummer has an off day, all you lost is like $300 instead of 2000.  Also, if the drum part doesn't work, or the feel is wrong for how the song develops... same thing applies.

Again, do it yourself, put it all together, even mix some of it.  Do all of this before paying for a big studio, and avoid the big studio alltogether if you possibly can.

If you are in Toronto and have a budget for studio time, and would like to get the most bang for your buck, check out www.sleptonstudios.com