What does your home studio look like?

[SteveB]

Oh, yeah. Finally got the kernel of my studio back in place, and almost ready to rumble. 

[Bluesberry]

Go steve go.  What is the blankets for, noise dampening? And why is everything set on piles of books.  I am Curious.

[Greeny]

Nice set-up Steve! All of you have a proper recording space it seems, whereas I'm a Boss 'nomad' lol. You look like quite an organised person judging from the symmetry of the books, lol.

[SteveB]

BB & GNY - Yep, that's the recording homestead, as it were. You'll know yourselves that, over the years, from the parental home to the one with the live-in girlfriend (boyfriend should anyone be female, or that-way inclined), the number of battles you have to fight to make anyone understand that this is not a hobby! The French writer Gustave Flaubert said that every word he wrote was like a piece of his skin being torn off, well, in a similar but probably diluted way, that's how I feel (and I guess some of you will too), about music. It is quite simply my life. That's the space I've now got, and I'll fight to the death (not literally, I'm still essentially a coward), to keep it.

The blankets are just improv sound-deadening articles. I can actually twist one set around into a semi-circle to help with trying to get a better acoustic guitar sound when recording by mike. For a Christmas present from a Brother for well over 20 years, I was given the Guinness Book Of Records, they've come in very handy, as you can see. I live over-looking a bus route, and have neighbours beneath, so anything I can do to control the sound I do. I try to go by the old recordists' saying: When It Sounds Right, It Is. Thanks for your interest, Guys. Meeting you lot comes pretty high-up in the list of pleasurable experiences in my life. 

[Ted]

Here is mine

0J0,

I like how the cable coiled between your toes looks like a treble clef:

Word of the day: Pareidolia

[Bluesberry]

...the number of battles you have to fight to make anyone understand that this is not a hobby! ... that's how I feel (and I guess some of you will too), about music. It is quite simply my life. That's the space I've now got, and I'll fight to the death (not literally, I'm still essentially a coward), to keep it.

Yes sir, thats how It feels for sure.  Why is is so hard to make the non-musical folks around us understand this.  I didn't even realize it myself until 3 years ago when I dragged my brothers cheap Yamaha acoustic out from under the bed and started slowly to learn some Wilco songs (after I learned how to tune it).  It took off from there, it is definately not a hobby as you say.  Without music life is not worth living (or something like that).  I still can't convince my wife that it is so much more than a hobby, at least she humors me and hasn't stopped me from getting the gear I feel I need.  I guess that is good enough.  I just wish there were more time in the run of a week to indulge.  I am glad to see you have your space set up Steve, lets get some more music now.

[Oldrottenhead]

as mr miles once sang "music is my first love and it will be my last"

[SteveB]

as mr miles once sang "music is my first love and it will be my last"

ORH - Yes, it was very eloquently phrased. I wonder if Mr Miles knew how many lives his terminal perception would encompass?

[Bosko Schwartz]

...the number of battles you have to fight to make anyone understand that this is not a hobby! ... that's how I feel (and I guess some of you will too), about music. It is quite simply my life. That's the space I've now got, and I'll fight to the death (not literally, I'm still essentially a coward), to keep it.

Yes sir, thats how It feels for sure.  Why is is so hard to make the non-musical folks around us understand this.  I didn't even realize it myself until 3 years ago when I dragged my brothers cheap Yamaha acoustic out from under the bed and started slowly to learn some Wilco songs (after I learned how to tune it).  It took off from there, it is definately not a hobby as you say.  Without music life is not worth living (or something like that).  I still can't convince my wife that it is so much more than a hobby, at least she humors me and hasn't stopped me from getting the gear I feel I need.  I guess that is good enough.  I just wish there were more time in the run of a week to indulge.  I am glad to see you have your space set up Steve, lets get some more music now.

I wholeheartedly agree, guys; definitely NOT a hobby.  However, I'm curious as to what everyone's musical aspirations are.  I have made mine fairly clear, although I know it's a pipe dream to try and make money with music without touring and without a proper record label.  But I have heard so much talk in this forum regarding musicians who wouldn't try to sell their music, which is absurd IMHO, because there are so many talented musicians here that are 1000 times better than anything on the radio.  Not sure if you two are in the not-for-sale group or not (I hope not), but if so, then what exactly makes it more than a hobby?  I am just curious as to the different mindsets, hopes, dreams, aspirations, etc., of everyone here.

[SteveB]

I wholeheartedly agree, guys; definitely NOT a hobby.  However, I'm curious as to what everyone's musical aspirations are...I am just curious as to the different mindsets, hopes, dreams, aspirations, etc., of everyone here.

BSZ - I have written elsewhere in other posts, that I have never, ever, bought into this 'Artist-who-doesn't-care-what-people-think-of-their-work' stance. Everybody cares. We may be driven by personal compulsion which emanates from a place within ourselves which we have difficulty in describing to someone else, but nevertheless, it is what pushes us on. Think of the sleepless nights, the long walks, the coffee, the cigarettes, the looking at the sky, the sitting by the lake, or in the park, the reading newspapers or books, the endless practicing to find the right chord or sound, the frayed relationships with loved-ones, the missed dates, and on and on and on...

It is when we finally let our babies go, that is when we are at our most vunerable.
And what do we get in return? Usually obscurity and penury. But ask yourself, would you really give-up your talent and driving force just to become a Listener?

We shouldn't really laugh at this, because we've all done it to some degree, but we get few enough laughs as it is. But, the sight of the 'Air Guitarist' with his cardboard Fender or Gibson or Jackson duelling in front of a stage with someone who actually paid the dues and sweated and practiced and went-without and is playing what someone in front is imitating. Curious behaviour, no?
I think it was GNY who said in one of his enlightened posts about the instant-gratification of want these days, well, it's just like the 'Air-Guitarist' and his/her cardboard guitar. In the end, the Life and Work of an Artist is better than the alternative.
Thank God I found this incorrupted Forum.