Trial-by-fire: A case study of the musician–engineer hybrid role in the home studio

Historically there has been a literal and figurative divide between the roles of musicians and audio engineers in the recording studio. The emergence of the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) enabled the home recording studio to rival the sonic results of the professional studio, encouraging musicians to develop skills traditionally associated with audio engineering. A non-intrusive video-based method for conducting a qualitative case study in a private home studio is outlined and was used to document the music-making processes incorporating modern recording technologies by a 26-year-old male singer-songwriter based in New York City. Findings reveal that once the participant was engaged in the practice of recording his pre-composed songs, a reflexive approach to recording was adopted, integrating improvisation, rewriting and re-recording of song elements. The participant’s hybrid approach is demonstrative of how the musician–engineer barrier is challenged in the DAW home studio paradigm.