So how did this all get started?
This time last year my business partner, Dan Starr and I started discussing the creation a website to teach piano lessons to adult students. Dan’s a really good piano teacher and I’m pretty competent with design and marketing. It seemed like a good fit.
My idea was this: let’s gather all of the posts that Dan had been doing over the past three years and combine them to create the basis for the site. I’d build the site and, in the meantime, Dan would resurrect a number of books he had written or started to write and get them finished. Pretty soon we had a site and product to sell.
The next step would be to create a podcast specific to the site. That’s where Planet Piano came into being.
Let me reiterate, Dan and I are both musicians. Dan was still making a living teaching piano and playing occasional solo gigs. In my case, the last time I had strapped on my bass and played live was about 20 years ago.
I conceived the idea that I would purchase a portable recorder, place it on a table between Dan and myself, and we’d have a 20 minute conversation regarding the lessons. I’d mix the conversation down in Garageband and viola, we’d have a podcast.
Sounded good on paper.
After days on the net reading reviews and comparing specs sheets, I decided on the Zoom H2 portable recorder (I’ll post a review on the H2 a little bit later). I found a great deal on it at B&H Photo and within five days had the little unit in hand.
This thing is awesome. I immediately saw the potential for other uses. Note to the reader: you’re going to find that I’m a staunch proponent for multi-use items.
If you read my About page you’ll know that I also enjoy shooting video. I’ve always hated the built-in mics on the camera. An Azden SGM-X shotgun mic was a nicer upgrade to the camera but I still wasn’t satisfied. That is until I started running it into the H2 and getting it away from the camera. Needless to say, the H2 has become a main part of my camera rig.
We’re now into the beginning of 2010. The site is up and running. We’re getting subscribers to the blog and we’re also starting to sell some books. But, no podcast.
Did I mention I like to play poker?
March saw me cash in a couple of small tournaments. Enough that I had a few extra bucks to spend and decided that we could do a little better than the H2 (and due to the fact that I’d rather keep the H2 with my camera rig).
Back to the internet! Searches and comparisons and reviews, oh my. In no time I had decided on a couple of Behringer C3 condenser mics, and Alesis Multimix 8 USB 2.0 mixer and a Behringer Pro-XL MDX1600 compressor/limiter/expander/automatic dog polisher.
Three days of clearing out my office and emptying out the walk-in closet plus $100 of Aurelex foam (in same closet) and we had a mini-podcast recording studio. And it worked pretty good. Dan and I would cram into the closet, record the shows into Garageband and I’d mix them down later. The only drawback was that after recording a half hour show in a closed 4×9 closet, we were about to pass out.
There had to be a better way.
Now, mind you, the mics and mixer weren’t just getting used for the podcasts. I had rediscovered my passion for playing and recording my music. No, being jammed in the closet would no longer do.
After some careful planning, more reviews, searches and comparisons online (and with some more poker winnings) the studio began to grow and take shape into what it is today.
I’ll talk about all of the gear and what I’m using it for in upcoming posts. I’ll also be talking about surviving G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome), missteps along the way and the benefits of good studio planning and budgeting before spending a dime.
Until then, be careful with that first portable recorder you buy to play guitar and sing into. You have no idea what kind of a tree that little seed will blossom into.
