Concept of a Portable Recording Studio

Recording studios have always been thought of as these massive multi-million dollar structures with way more knobs, buttons, and faders than we can possibly count.

Ever since I was a teenager this never appealed to me. I never liked the thought of having to go to the ends of the earth to record an idea. This brings me to my next thought. I've never imagined a recording studio as being anything more than a sketchpad. I mean you can write your lyrics and chords down. You can even write out sheet music or tabs.

However to have audible feedback is an amazing concept. To be able to digitally document all of your musical works is amazing.

So why do we always think of music in such a stringent and sterile environment?

Isn't music suppose to be as imaginative and raw as we are?

Music in my opinion is the epitome of humanity. The absolute best language for conveying anything and everything about, God, love, hate, or any other thing involved in the concept of humanity. It's anything but sterile.

So I always liked the idea of being able to capture that passion and energy at a moments notice.

When I was about 19 I came up with an idea for a portable recording studio solution. The idea was to be able to fit all of the basic requirements of a composing and recording studio in a backpack.

Even if it was a slightly large backpack.

I realized that beyond all the insane outboard gear you can get yourself caught up in, there's not much to a recording studio at it's most primal level.

Computer
Audio Interface
Microphone
Microphone cable

That's it!

So if you want you can get a mic, a mic cable, a buss powered interface and a laptop.

This is super simple and great for doing basic things.

However over time my highly refined concept needed drastic expansion. But my primary requirement remained the same.

I want a recording studio in a backpack.

I like to fancy myself as a composer on top of being a singer/songwriter.

So as a composer I came across virtual instruments. It was  stroke of genius for whoever thought these things up!

Nowadays a virtual instrument is as expansive as you want and much cheaper and more practical than the real thing.

A primary example of this is Native Instruments. They are a company that makes several virtual instruments.

Let's take Battery 3 for example. It's a product designed around drums. Any kind of drum you can imagine they probably have it in there. From electronic and weird, to orchestral, ethnic, rock, jazz, pop you name it they probably have it.

For a good rock drum set you can be set back thousands.

With Battery you are set back a couple hundred and you have access to thousands of drums!


As you can see from the above link it's not terribly expensive.

I use it almost every day in my work.

Now to run those instruments you can use the piano roll on your recording software.

You could also use a midi controller keyboard or pad controller. This is my personal favorite as far as options go, since you still play the instrument.

Neither way is wrong though and doing what ever works for you is perfect.

I have a M-audio keystation keyboard for my home studio.




I also have an M-audio Oxygen 25 for my backpack studio.

I unfortunately don't have a link for the Oxygen 25 but the keystation link is above.

I use the keystation for piano based things where I need to cover a lot of keys very quickly. I personally use the 88 key one.

However if I'm writing orchestra parts or anything other than full keyboard parts I jump for the 25 key.

The key restriction forces me to think about what I'm playing more and actually results in better music.

This 25 key controller fits in my backpack as well.

This means the list is as follows

-Computer
-Interface-
-Microphone
-Mic cable
-2 usb cables
-25 key controller
-Optional mixing headphones (not optional for me)

All fits in my slightly oversized backpack.

People are shocked and amazed when they see me recording from a backpack or coming up with a full orchestral piece with a tiny keyboard and a Macbook laptop.

Mac vs Pc

It doesn't matter leave it at that.

I have a Mac, because I prefer it. Not because one is better than the other.

If you have any other questions regarding portable recording studios feel free to comment! I will answer all questions to the best of my ability!