The Grammy music awards happened a few weeks ago, and Billie Eilish won six of them. Pretty cool feat for a teenager!
Did you read about how she and her brother Finneas recorded her hit album? Not at a fancy recording studio. Instead, they recorded it in Finneas’ bedroom. Billie sang while sitting on big brother’s bed. Using affordable software and equipment.
For example, when they started recording songs, they used an Audio-Technica AT2020 microphone. It costs $99. I have one. My library has them, too – we use them for our library podcast, and we have one in our digital media lab.
They also used … a Mac and some software – very minimal setup. Here’s an article that goes a bit more in-depth on the geeky recording details of Billie Eilish’s record, if you’re interested.
My point – Billie Eilish used pretty much the same equipment that my digital media lab offers to customers. A Mac, some software, an audio interface, and a mic. That’s it. My library’s digital media lab has the same stuff. Yours probably does, too.
No – it’s not a full-fledged music production studio (though some libraries have that). No, the room that it’s in is probably not professionally acoustically balanced (ours is in a large study room). But the bedroom that Billie recorded in? Also not professionally set up with acoustic treatment and pricey equipment.
And guess what? What we have in our digital media labs is enough to actually make music. And do something with it.
I’m not saying that if you have a digital media lab, your customers will start using it and make a hit album (though that would be pretty freakin cool!).
But I am saying that what you have is more than enough to get started. To launch someone’s exploration of music and recording. And learning. And who knows – maybe even someone’s career!
Photo from Wikipedia
