Just Jamming? Not Anymore

With a Tech Backbeat, Basements Become Recording Studios

Teenagers Reed Wilson, from left, Max Coll, Andrew Berger and David Schumacher make up Butterscotch Moses. The band practices in Berger's Bethesda basement and records its music on the program GarageBand. (Michael Williamson - The Washington Post)

In a back room in his Accokeek house, Parris Morgan is directing a jazz band. A single clarinet begins, a bass guitar picks up the beat, followed by a woman's croon. A saxophone wafts in.

The musicians had actually packed up and left a while ago. This afternoon, it is just Morgan and his dog BB sitting amid a web of wires, instruments and electronic clutter, mixing the musical elements on a computer.

Not long ago, Morgan said, it would have been impossible for him to record and arrange a song in a single room of his house. But advances in computer equipment have made it easier to set up a high-quality music studio with a relatively small budget -- for teenagers with a couple of guitars and a drum set as well as entrepreneurs with professional aspirations.

"It wasn't until the '80s, when computers were getting more powerful and cheaper, that you could have a large studio with less budget," said Morgan, a broadcast and recording technician at National Public Radio. That trend has only accelerated.

"Computers have gotten so cheap and fast, and the software is pretty cheap," he said, adding that this means anybody can mix and produce music without a lot of musical training.

The range of prices for equipment is wide. People can spend thousands for the top-of-the-line computer programs, soundproofing and equipment or buy an $80 program for a laptop. And the need for live musicians has been minimized with programs that supply synthesized instruments.

Morgan was quick to note that all of his music is made by live musicians, but that isn't where the industry seems to be headed. "A lot of songs you hear now on the radio are not created or produced by musicians," he said. "They are created by someone with a computer."

The son of a hi-fi salesman, Morgan, 55, grew up on Long Island, N.Y., around music and electronics, so it surprised no one when he started composing after college and later built his own studio.

"I was constantly buying gear, buying all kinds of cables and cords and boxes that would make the guitar sound this way, you know, tweak the voice," Morgan said. "Gradually over the years I have gotten to this point."

This point is about $20,000 worth of equipment crammed into one bedroom of his house in Prince George's County. With four computers, two keyboards and a drum set, band mates are forced to set up in the kitchen next door. BB, his boxer, has to tiptoe around the tangled cords.

"It is really strange how when you first start off you have two wires, three wires and when all is said and done you have got spaghetti everywhere," Morgan said.

But the space crunch and the jumble of equipment are well worth it, said Morgan, who uses the studio mostly for his own hobby and work but occasionally helps a friend with a recording. "I can come home and just start doing what I want to do anytime I want. Sometimes creativity doesn't happen while you are at work."

Sean Mather runs his recording company, Mystro Studios, out of the professional-quality studio he built in his Germantown basement. "Whatever can be done in a bigger studio can be done here," he said. "I think that goes partly to how far the equipment has come and how long I have been doing it."

Unlike Morgan, Mather, 39, doesn't consider himself a musician by "any stretch of the imagination." Instead, he learned computer programming in high school and became a DJ for WPGC in 1989. When record producers came to the station and listened to his mixes, Mather began getting bigger breaks, culminating in the building of his home studio in 1999. He has made a full-time job out of renting his studio to musicians and helping produce their music.

"Once I realized that I could make music on a computer and could manipulate sounds the way I want to . . . I was basically hooked right there," Mather said.

The basement of Mather's split-level house proved an ideal setting for a studio. The 33-by-13-foot space offered plenty of room and already had another room within it. Mather installed a hardwood floor, raised about six inches off the ground to add a layer of soundproofing and allow wires to run underneath. He put in recessed lighting and more soundproofing along the walls. The room-within-the-room became the vocal booth, with soundproofing, a microphone and a window looking out over the playing area. Finishing touches included hanging awards from the projects he is most proud of.

"My goal when I built this was to take everything that the million-dollar studios have as far as the looks . . . and make it into a room so that when you walk into it, you are like, 'Wow,' " Mather said.

He certainly has the gear for the wow factor. He estimated that he has invested $35,000 in the studio. Most important are the two computers on which he runs software called Pro Tools 7.1 that allows him to record and mix music. His computers are connected to every piece of equipment he owns, from his Akai 2000 Midi Production Center to Mackie HR824 monitors. Mather said the most important thing in any studio is the quality of the microphones.

"I don't care how good your system is. It is only as good as what you put in it," he said. While top microphones can cost more than $15,000, Mather said a sufficient mike can cost as little as $100.

"I am just comfortable in my home," Mather said. "I get from my clients a lot that they come into the house and they feel like they are at home. A lot have said that they couldn't perform in a big, huge studio, but here they will open up."

Morgan and Mather pointed out that spending upward of $35,000 is not necessary for a novice. Andrew Berger is a good example of that. A 17-year-old senior at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, he and three friends have a band called Butterscotch Moses. Berger plays drums, and the basement of his family's split-level is the group's regular practice space.

When it comes time to record music with his band, Berger uses GarageBand, a program that came with his Apple laptop and costs about $80, depending on the version. GarageBand 3 includes sound effects and allows users to create podcasts. And Berger isn't the only techie member of the band. Three of the four use GarageBand to edit their music at home.

The basement modifications have been minimal. Berger's parents sold some furniture to create room for a platform, which was later removed for more space. For cheap soundproofing, Berger stuffs pillows behind his bass drum and around the door. For the sake of family and neighbors, the band usually practices without amplifiers.

"I like the fact that my child is in the house with his peers," Marcy Berger said. "He can actually play around without a huge investment of money."