> What would pass as a high-quality studio in the 1980s is now home hobbyist accessible, with bits and pieces state of the art for even the current decade like the digital processing.
The gear is accessible - but the acoustics of a studio certainly is not.
True, but there's still a whole lot you can do with virtual instruments, synthesizers, direct-recorded guitars, and minimal (or even no) good room acoustics.
That does leave some niches open for the value of recording live instruments in a sonically good space, so surely some professional studios will persist, of course.
And just for recording larger groups, regardless of the acoustics. Many home studios are fine for one person, or two, or three, but if you want to record a band or a choir or whatever you may just need more space.
Indeed, virtual instruments open up a whole lot of creative space. And not having to record everything in reverse order of importance while burning the previous version is a substantial benefit vs even professional recording gear of the past!
Sure they are. People put together well-equipped car garages, woodworking shops, broadcast studios, all sorts of things all the time. Tens of thousands of dollars can get you where you need to be and people do that for their hobbies all the time.
Heck, "home recording studio" is now a minor industry of its own, post-COVID. A lot of voice actors have their own home studios set up now, doing top end TV work, because it was easier to do that then to travel.
The acoustics of a studio isn't important anymore and I don't think was necessarily a good thing. Make your space completely dead and load the Abbey Road studio A impulses. Now we have infinite options.
You can record the standard rock band setup with minimal hardware. Direct input guitar and bass, processed with amp simulation. Electronic drum kit with some good samples (most modern recordings use drum replacement anyway even if they're recording real drums). A single close mic for the vocals, and maybe some basic room treatment, which is relatively easy in the vocal range. Convolution reverb with impulse responses for the acoustics. Most listeners won't be able to tell the difference.
Only if you insist on real drums does it become difficult and expensive.
The gear is accessible - but the acoustics of a studio certainly is not.