Stepping Outside The Studio

Apr 10, 2023

Kim: Some people don’t like that musicians are making records in their own houses now. But if you do it right, it's the best place to make a record, because the atmosphere is so relaxed. It does not always have to be in an official studio. Think back to Joe Bahari (one of the founders of Modern Records) and Ike Turner riding in a car with a tape machine all over the south to find promising new musicians. (Modern released recordings by BB King, Elmore James, John Lee Hooker, etc., 1945 - 1967) Years ago, I talked with Joe Bahari. He told me he would cut nine #1 songs in one day… at the YMCA in Memphis. You could still hear the cars driving by.

Learn more about Joe Bahari in this obituary from 2013.

You can make great records at people's houses… if they have the right gear. All of it has to be old. Equipment from the 50s, 60s. Tape recorders. Analog. You also have to play through the right gear. Use the right microphones and amps.

But a lot of people don't care about sound anymore. There are whole generations of kids who have never heard a drum kit on a record. They have only heard programmed drums.

Sometimes I go back and forth… on my soapbox, not on my soapbox.

I just want to play music and move people with it.