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My BFF's grandson is 11 yrs old. What I'm told is that he's had some lessons. Mostly guitar. He likes to play and make up instrumental songs on his guitar, can also play some piano and drums. He has a mic and an amp. He's written six original instrumental songs and has been recording himself on his phone with an app. He can read music but considers himself a slow sight reader. He can sing (sang in the choir) but is more into playing. He and some friends who play want someday to have their own band. He wants to go to a music college when he grows up and have a career in music.
Right now though he has his heart set on making a CD of six of his original instrumental songs. His desire is to record them in a real professional studio. His Grandma doesn't think he should use his money he's saved up on making an instrumental CD in a professional studio - at least not yet - and neither do I. We are not sure the learning experience - if there is one - would be worth it in the long run. We think that money could be better spent.
Since he's been recording himself with a phone app should he be getting into learning a real DAW with an interface or learning to record on something like a hardware Tascam Digital 8 track? Should he get a Mac and learn Garageband? He's into pop and rock (remember he's only 11) so would BIAB be something he should get?
He lives in another state so I haven't heard his songs or seen him perform. And I'm unsure what advice to offer for an 11yr old with all that's out there to choose from these days.
If he were your 11yr old grandson, what advice would you give Keegan?
Thank you in advance for your thoughtful reply! I'm going to forward a link to this thread for him and his family to read.
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Wow Josie, he sounds like he is abounding with enthusiasm.
I'm not sure, I think it's a difficult balance, but I think young people ought to be rewarded for enthusiasm and well deserved achievements, but not so much for just showing that they want something.
In your case, this young fellow sounds like he is really enthusiastic and is putting in a real effort.
Why not look towards helping him build and use a basic home studio?
If he's already got access to a computer, a good DAW such as Reaper or GarageBand is cost effective. A set of headphones, and a reasonable microphone can be obtained for much, much less than the cost of studio hire, and it will also allow him to learn mixing, levels, over dubbing and much more. There's a plethora of guidance and tutorials available on the Internet.
I think let him start by learning what's involved to do it himself, rather than just splashing out hard earned dollars on studio time.
Good luck to him. I truly hope his enthusiasm continues to take him great places.
BIAB & RB2026 Win.(Audiophile), Windows 10 Pro & Windows 11, Cakewalk Bandlab, Izotope Prod.Bundle, Roland RD-1000, Synthogy Ivory, Session Keys Grand S & Electric R, Kontakt, Focusrite 18i20, KetronSD2, NS40M, Pioneer Active Monitors.
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Sounds like you need to do a road trip to visit the grandkids. Take your laptop with BB/RB installed.... pack your interface and monitors too, and bring a good mic.
See what he can do and then bring out your rig. A laptop rig takes 5 minutes to set up. Ask him what song is his favorite.... give the rest of the family movie tickets and send them out while you and Keegan work up his song in BB and then record him.
I would not have him spend the money on a "professional studio session" to record 6 songs just yet. You should help him with that in BB. With the internet, you can work like he's right there. If he's not able to spend the money to get BB, you can help him out by doing some backing tracks for him.
A good DAW like Cakewalk's Music Creator 7 for $50 and an interface for the laptop for $200 or so, with a good mic is all he needs to test the waters. Essentially, that's what my studio consits of and you hear the music I write and record here. There's lots of folks on the Cakewalk Music Forums to help with technical issues and recording tips..... plus, if he can get a copy of BB/RB from grandma for Christmas......He doesn't have to spend a wad to record in a "professional studio" and he can easily learn the software and how it all works. Kids tend to get this kind of stuff really easily.
Anyway, that's my advice for an 11 year old aspiring musician.
Last edited by Guitarhacker; 08/13/16 11:42 PM.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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I have a very similar situation with my 12 year old granddaughter. We've been up and down this route since she was about 8 and her little sister who doesn't play any instrument, loves to sing and especially enjoys recording. I'll share some of my experiences. Maddie as taken piano lessons since she was 5 or 6 and plays pretty well and regularly. She has gotten too busy and no longer takes lessons. One of Maddie's other grandfathers gave her a small guitar when she was about 8. She could play the Smoke on the Water riff within the hour. She learned the opening bass line of My Girl from me. Several other riffs but no chords. Thinking it was the quality of the beginers guitar, I got her a better guitar. She would play it at least every other day but didn't want to take lessons or learn chords. Purchased her a Tascam DP008 multitrack recorder. The menus of these small recorders and her lack of understanding multitrack recording too difficult to work for her -- Bottom line, money wasted and closet space filled. She has a love for music and plunks on the guitar. Got to be some natural talent, right? So, Christmas past, took an old laptop, cleaned up the HD, and purchased her BIAB Pro Pak. Registered it in her name and made one more attempt to jump start her -- gave her my Ibanez Semi-hollow $600 guitar so she would actually have something decent and easy to play that would stay in tune. Spent a hour and a half showing her just the easy basics of how to find songs, chord progressions off the internet and load them into BIAB. Then Softball started. Practice, games, tournaments, regular team, travel team, pitching coach - it was everything softball and no BIAB, no guitar lessons her mother promised, no more guitar playing in her room - no time. Fast forward to a few weeks ago. She comes up and said,You know, I appreciate the nice guitar and all, but I'd give it back to you if you got me a Ukelele...... Purchased her a nice ukulele, Some current pop star has a hit that features the instrument. Maddie got on line, learned what the chords of that song were, learned those chords, watched a few YouTube videos and could play the song and sing it in about an hour and half. She plays it every day. Takes the Ukulele nearly everywhere she goes and can play dozens of songs... and gave me back my guitar.. As for little sister Emma - see for yourself - Emma - Burning House
BIAB 2025:RB 2025, Latest builds: Dell Optiplex 7040 Desktop; Windows-10-64 bit, Intel Core i7-6700 3.4GHz CPU and 16 GB Ram Memory.
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My youngest daughter sings. She had an early interest in singing/recording. Didn't want to learn to record, so it became something she and I have done together ever since. Started when she was 8.
She has learned a lot about singing technique, working a mic, etc through the experience.
Whenever she gets the urge she simply asks and we schedule it.
We offered piano lessons, which she jumped at (grandparents paid, as she took them at their music store). So I gave her one of my Roland Pianos, which is still in her room and played regularly.
We offered singing lessons, which she also jumped at for a short time, then became employed and started college, so that fell by the wayside.
I think the best way is to simply encourage their interest, offer what you can, but ultimately let them go at their own pace.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Josie, you have gotten some very good advice already so all I will do is to add my two cents to the conversation.
Although Macs are great computers I would suggest he get, if he already doesn't have a computer, a PC as they cost a lot less. As Herb has pointed out a laptop for around $200, a DAW for around $50 (note there are some free ones out there that look fairly decent), and add some head phones say around $25-100 range and he is all set to rock and roll. As you said he already has a mike and amp. On the PC side there are also some inexpensive and/or free guitar amp simulators, guitar and vocal effects as well as mastering effects, i.e. compressors, EQs etc. If he gets a Tascam now he will eventually have to move to a computer.
One thing for sure, IMHO, I would not drop a lot of money on an 11 year old's dream right now. That dream could change anytime time. My kid's career choices changed many times prior to graduating from high school!
One last thing if he really wants to go to music school have him start piano lessons right now. Piano is the most important instrument to have under your belt when if you plan on going to music school.
I hope this helps and good luck.
Principal: Your child always causes trouble in school.
Me: My child causes trouble at home, do I ever call you?
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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What RHARV said in his last paragraph. That's it
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My two girls were around music and recording from birth. They would plunk on the piano I have in the studio, and they loved singing. I picked up some inexpensive guitars for them one christmas. In school, we got them a flute and a clarinet. They learned to sight read and played in the school orchestra in middle school. When high school came, playing instruments went out the door and they both stayed with the chorus through graduation.
Perhaps they will redevelop an interest or perhaps the musical drive will skip a generation.
I know for me, it wasn't just something to do when I was bored. Music was an obsession and a passion and I had a drive to play. My mom had to tell me to stop playing. Seriously! I would spend hours with my piano and guitar back in the day. I was also in the school band up through HS and took music theory 1 & 2 in HS. I started with piano lessons at age 7 when the Beatles were starting to get airplay in the US around that same time. Drums in school came next and at 14 I started guitar and fell in love with it.
I've seen lots of parents and grand parents drop a bunch of money hoping little Jr would be the next big thing in the music biz.... but 99% stop playing in a year or two. SO my advice stands.... spend a couple hundred to get some basic gear for a starter studio. When it comes to instruments, buy good ones for 2 reasons....
1. They are easier to play and sound good. 2. they keep their resale value better
If Jr is going to grab hold and do this music thing, you will know it. Then you can encourage him to bigger and better things but like the old "horse to water" thing... you can't force the love and passion. It has to be there on it's own, then you can guide it.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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I think learning to record yourself is a great asset for any songwriter or aspiring musician and he might as well start learning on proper gear. If he's really interested in music then it's almost inevitable he'll end up buying an audio interface and a DAW at some point, why not get started now? I know Focusrite make a great little studio package that comes with an interface, headphones, a nice condenser mic, 2 different DAWs (Ableton and Pro Tools I believe) and a host of plugins.
Alternatively I've seen a lot of people get great mileage out of those Zoom handy recorders. They have built in mics, can record multi-track and can double as an audio interface. If he's only recording a solo guitar that would probably get the job done, plus you can use them anywhere so you're not tied to a computer. I used one to record college lectures and a few concerts and the sound quality is more than useable.
If he's really excited about going into a real studio, it might be fun to find a small local studio and set up one day where he can go in and demo a single track. Even if he's going to learn to record himself, seeing how a real studio is set up and how the pros get things done is hugely helpful and with just one tune he'll probably walk away with a decent sounding track. My parents did that for my birthday one year and I remember it really pushed me to polish one of my songs, and working with a producer just for one day taught me so many things that had never occurred to me before, even though at that point I'd been recording in my bedroom for a few years. It also remains one of my fondest birthday memories, right up there with our spontaneous road trip down to Columbus to see a hockey game!
Just a few thoughts from someone who walked this same road not too long ago, hope that helps.
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Pro studio could be jumping ahead at this point. But, I believe in supporting the dreamer and the dreamers dream. To me that's the most important part of this whole story. Dreamers are often not practical and that's okay. In fact that's a good thing. If Keegan has worked to save money for a certain goal then he is learning to set goals and support those goals financially, creatively and otherwise. If he spends all he has on this and gets it done he is way ahead of many others who don't take chances. A 6 tune instrumental CD of any kind just might be the thing that encourages him to go deeper, dream bigger, be better. It would certainly be something to be proud of. Especially at a young age. If he spends all he has, goes broke and the whole thing flops; I, for one, would be extremely proud of him for going for it. And, if he stays encouraged and presses on he will be all the wiser and that much closer to his dream. He can and will recover financially. Let the dreamer dream and let him go for it.
That said; it would be wise for him to listen to some good, practical and encouraging advice. Dreamers need some balance from family, teachers, roll models, other musicians, etc... But, we don't want those people who care so much to squash our dreams.
If DIYS studio gets in the ways of creativity then I'd minimize it or get it completely out of the way. Let him focus on writing, playing, collaborating, performing, studying...
Perhaps a semi pro studio like many of us on this forum and others could help take a first step to cutting a few demoes. Or, find someone local to him, pro or semi-pro, that will let him take a walk through or a few hours in the studio. A real pro studio IS going to take his money and he and his bandmates might not be ready for a hard pus on their skills level at such a young age. A good home studio semi-pro can get very Youtube worthy tracks for him along with CD, MP3 and even video.
On the practical side think of a NASCAR driver going 200 miles per hour. He probably started out racing Go Carts as a little kid.
Keegan, you go man! Be encouraged by any advice you get. Never get discouraged no matter what the adults tell you. If you want to go full studio big right from the start then go full studio BIG! If you don't you can always do later and then you'll have even more experience and more songs.
Does the noise in your head bother me ?
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