Pro Tools is a software program that replaces the old infrastructure of recording – huge analog mixing boards, rolls of two-inch-wide magnetic tape – with a computer. Many musicians now cut tracks straight to a hard drive, which means that lots of expensive tape machines are now collecting dust. “We have analog at our studio in Minneapolis, yet we rarely turn those machines on anymore,” says R&B producer Jimmy Jam. Some estimate that four out of five current pop albums employ Pro Tools or one of its competitors. While Digidesign, the maker of Pro Tools, took in $136 million last year, many older studios are feeling the financial pinch. New York’s Greene Street Studios, where Public Enemy recorded many classic tracks, shut down in 2001. Other studios are finding that the only way to stay in business is to make sure they have Pro Tools workstations for their clients.

Since Pro Tools can run with just a moderately powerful laptop and a few accessories, musicians can get professional sound just about anywhere. “The traditional studio is a windowless place on a back alley somewhere,” says Brandon Boyd, lead singer of Incubus. “You can get horrible cabin fever, like being in a dentist’s office twelve hours a day.” So to make last year’s Morning View, Incubus used a Pro Tools setup in the living room of a Malibu house with an ocean view.

For established musicians, escaping the studio means better vibes; for acts that are just beginning, it means they can afford a professional-sounding demo or album without having to sell a kidney. It’s already happening: Dirty Vegas’ home recording of “Days Go By” became a club hit. The group could experiment with different sounds and vocal filters because the clock wasn’t running in a thousand-dollar-a-day studio.

Read the rest at RollingStone.com.