Quality?

[Snowman999]

I'm going to use an obvious example to hopefully make my point. So, the question I ask will be easier to understand.

Years ago I had a four track cassette recorder. I made some decent demos. But, obviously they couldn't be released as a master album. The quality is demo not master.

I want to create a master album. But, I can't afford to go to a studio and record. I CAN record individual tracks into my early Mac G5 with Pro Tools MBox. I think this is Pro Tools 6. I realize there's two types of track recording -

1. A mic'd instrument or vocals. The quality/sound will depend on the mic/pre amp...

2. Direct record - Drum machine/synths/direct guitar amp which is basically in my case, plug in, get a decent level and hit record.

I understand there's a lot that can go wrong with #1. But, is the "quality" of #2 good enough to give a mixer/master to create a master album?

Again I have an early G5 Mac with MBox Pro Tools. I do not use any plugin effects till I mix the songs. I know my versions are demo.

 

[Steenamaroo]

Hi Snowman,
Unfortunately there are so many variables to what you're asking and so many of them are beyond the computer and hardware.

The bottom line answer is yes - It's entirely possible to create a good quality (subjective) record with a basic interface and modest equipment.

For scenario one, your microphone will matter.
More importantly, the sound of the instrument, the sound of the room, and the quality of the performance will matter.
It's a cliche but a 57 and an mbox in front of Butch Vig's kit in his room with him playing is still going to sound pretty beast.

For scenario two it's easy to think "Great! I'm taking the mic, amps, room etc out of the equation" but to be honest it's probably just as easy to make synth and sims sound weak as it is with anything else.
The quality of the software and the understanding of the operator will make a big difference.

There's a hell of a lot to it all but I suppose my baseline answer is a two parter.
Don't be discouraged; You can do a lot with very little.
Don't expect pro-studio results without and lot of work, skill, talent, knowledge, and patience.



Hope that helps.

 

[Snowman999]

THANK YOU. I completely understand what you're saying. So, I ask one final question, you don't have to listen to the full song. Because you'll hear most of the instrumentation within the first one minute. I know my voice sucks, and in the final product that won't be there. But, as a person who obviously knows what they're talking about: I give someone the following tracks (with a different vocalist) in your opinion could a master recording be made? This mix is very sparse in effects, a little EQ and reverb, that's it. So, it's all very dry (if you can believe it)

https://soundcloud.com/francesfarmermyhero/look-at-me-now

I know it's all subjective. But, in the end it will be part of my "faithful" budget plan.

The reason I'm asking, I've had people listen to songs I've recorded and say "you should have EQ'd this", "If you'd used this when recording it would sound better", and usually they know exactly what I used and how I used it. For the life of me, I can't figure out how.

 

[garww]

for the most part, anything digital can do CD quality. The individual had to decide if that's good enough. But ya, is there some reason a Mastering engineer can't earn their keep. Bruce was able to get his cassette tape recordings (porta studio) to album form

 

[Snowman999]

for the most part, anything digital can do CD quality. The individual had to decide if that's good enough. But ya, is there some reason a Mastering engineer can't earn their keep. Bruce was able to get his cassette tape recordings (porta studio) to album form

If Springsteen spit, it could be in album form. I saw his recorder at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Same as the Beatles, Stones, Zeppelin... Sometimes it isn't the material as much as the name attached to it. If you took Nebraska and had Lucinda Williams recording the same songs, it'd go nowhere. I say that because one of her last albums, there's the master album and a second CD of her demo versions recorded in her kitchen. I think the kitchen version in many cases are better than the master versions, but even I can hear the quality difference.

 

[garww]

I think the general idea is that there can be a performance not easily duplicated in the studio, and, the money bags decide what they want to pay for. Money trying to make cassette sound good, or (money)studio time trying to get a performance ?

Just me, perhaps, but performance goes a long way. Otherwise, I wouldn't buy those crappy Live albums.

 

[Steenamaroo]

THANK YOU. I completely understand what you're saying. So, I ask one final question, you don't have to listen to the full song. Because you'll hear most of the instrumentation within the first one minute. I know my voice sucks, and in the final product that won't be there. But, as a person who obviously knows what they're talking about: I give someone the following tracks (with a different vocalist) in your opinion could a master recording be made? This mix is very sparse in effects, a little EQ and reverb, that's it. So, it's all very dry (if you can believe it)

https://soundcloud.com/francesfarmermyhero/look-at-me-now

I know it's all subjective. But, in the end it will be part of my "faithful" budget plan.

The reason I'm asking, I've had people listen to songs I've recorded and say "you should have EQ'd this", "If you'd used this when recording it would sound better", and usually they know exactly what I used and how I used it. For the life of me, I can't figure out how.

Listening right now.
So much of all of this is subjective but, I admit, I don't like the way the vocals are presented.
I know you said it's coming out anyway but, for the record, I don't dislike the voice at all...Just the processing.

The drums sound really mechanical and synthetic...I guess because they are!
Sometimes that's OK but I think this track would benefit from something more human.

If that's not within your means maybe try different snare sounds and/or maybe adding some human-performed hand percussion for a bit of movement off the grid?
Just some suggestions.

Setting that aside, though, you have some nice sounds in there and I did like the thing overall.
The acoustic from the beginning sounds nice and all the other parts dressing it up work well for me.
You're on the right track anyway.