Home Recording's Dirty Little Secret

What were your home recording expectations vs commercial high end studio recordings?

  • I was not expecting from the get go I could make high end commercial studio recordings.

    Votes: 529 40.1%

  • I had not considered the question of home recording quality vs commercial quality when I started.

    Votes: 287 21.8%

  • I expected I could reasonably equal the quality of commercial recordings.

    Votes: 502 38.1%
  • Total voters
    1,318
I was drawn in by the fact there was an influx of artists who were so called "bedroom musicians"... what I failed to realize was that these people were creating electronic music and didn't have to think about mic placement and all that stuff....

It's been a few years now and I can finally create something I'm happy with but it's a long long way off anything commercial sounding.
 
prolificlee said:
I was drawn in by the fact there was an influx of artists who were so called "bedroom musicians"... what I failed to realize was that these people were creating electronic music and didn't have to think about mic placement and all that stuff....

It's been a few years now and I can finally create something I'm happy with but it's a long long way off anything commercial sounding.
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yes it would be much easier to lay down tracks without microphones and vocalists.
you still have to mix it and have a decent room to eq the audio and all the rest, but yes, if I just record a drum machine playing samples, it would be easier.

I never learned MIDI so Im amazed how people can even laydown such complex drums with the samples.... weird. auto-tuners on vocals, drum samples on MIDI quantized beats, that's a different approach.

some still do the old school stuff, maybe its the music that drives it, you know if you're Punk you probably don't do the computer DIsco Dance Club HipHop scene.

I was listening to some oldies station and they played Boston (long hair rock) and Rod Stewart(disco-ish) stuff and I recall them being so big and on the charts, and now some it seems strange in hindsight, like the poofy hairsprayed hair and sparkle spandex and I guess children of Glam Rock or something.

but the point is someone likes it....theres like a crowd for all the music, and one music never pleases everyone....well except for Englbert Humperdink, but besides his music no one else won over every music crowd.
 
I think anyone can record a commercial CD, just about everyone has the capability. Hank Williams III recorded his "Straight To Hell" album using a Korg D1600 . Basically with the exemption of Mics and preamps anything you have is better than what The Beatles had to work with. My band has released 4 albums , most recorded on a Korg D3200, take a listen to McCartneys Band On The Run again, a very primitive album by today's standards, drums way in the back , but still sounds better than the over compressed crap of today. So get some great mics and start making music, and leave the compressor alone,dynamics is a good thing. I wonder if anyone will see this on page 95? ( Go then, there are other worlds than these.)
 
slug said:
I think anyone can record a commercial CD, just about everyone has the capability. Hank Williams III recorded his "Straight To Hell" album using a Korg D1600 . Basically with the exemption of Mics and preamps anything you have is better than what The Beatles had to work with. My band has released 4 albums , most recorded on a Korg D3200, take a listen to McCartneys Band On The Run again, a very primitive album by today's standards, drums way in the back , but still sounds better than the over compressed crap of today. So get some great mics and start making music, and leave the compressor alone,dynamics is a good thing. I wonder if anyone will see this on page 95? ( Go then, there are other worlds than these.)
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You are right dude
 
I think that yes, it is possible, and that one in the home environment can achieve as good as if not better recordings than commercially available.

That being said it comes down to skill, planning, and doing everything right, every step of the way.

Some of the better guys I have seen started with a 4 track RR, and some with cassette based 4 tracks.

What this does, is it forces pre-planning, it forces pre-production, and forces excellent musicianship. A four track is a logistical nightmare. Listen to some of the isolated Beatles tracks, and listen for how well thought out it all was.

Moving on to today, that decision making and planning process can go out the window.....no need. Unlimited tracks and plug ins at ones disposal. This makes for sloppy work ethics, and breeds the erroneous fix it in the mix mentality. So you get a lot of crap both sonically and in the songwriting production department.

In closing, Someone earlier said that the Who's Tommy was a horrible record. There was also criticism of Led Zeppelin and Hendrix.While sonically some LZ stuff may not measure up to today's standards, musically it is light years ahead of a lot of stuff. And Jimi's Electric Ladyland is a masterpiece in every aspect. let me see them ( the critics) do better.

An artist paints a scene with the tools available to them. Better tools may make the job easier or faster, but a true artist will always pull off a vision.

One of my favorite sig lines comes from forum member Beck. It is my favorite because it is so true.

"If you can’t make a hit record with a Tascam or a Fostex,
then you’re not going to able to do it with a Studer or Otari!" -David Mellor
 
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This topic makes me think of Todd Rundgren's Something/Anything? album, when he shows us a game he made up, called "Sounds of the Studio." :) "And it can be played with any record, including this one. You can play it, uh, with, you can even play it with your favorite record-- you may be surprised!" I haven't read all of the old posts in this 95-page thread, so I apologize if someone else already mentioned this.
 
Is it a question solely about gear? The biggest problem I have is being relegated to a ten foot by ten foot box to record my drums and not being able to place Mics at will. Studios not only have the gear but they have the room as well. I have seen it in this forum many times, you record the room as well as the instrument. Having a dedicated and conditioned space is a major factor in sound quality and versatility.
 
my thoughts on this are yes you can make a professional recording. Basically the equipment everybody has (outside of mics and mic preamps) is better than what the Beatles had. "Hank Williams the 3rd" recorded his album "Straight to Hell" on a Korg D1600, . And watch your GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) people fall into the rut of they cant record or mix without this piece of gear or plug in. I always found with my band when we recorded our CD's the songs we pour over never come out sounding that great , the filler or throw away songs we didnt spend much time on always end up sounding best, just lay down a good track that sits well in the mix a little eq, try not to boost it ,maybe some reverb, pan it ,mix it and have a pro mastering house master it ,less really is more
 
I thought I could sound like the pro's even though I had no experience. I remember the first time we recorded my drummers kit and sat down to listen back to it. Hit play and within about 2 seconds we both looked at each other and did that thing that you do when can't believe your ears.. We were expecting to hear Steven Adlers kit from AFD :laughings::laughings:
 
Yes we can get very close. It takes a good sounding room, great players and a good song/arrangement. And skill. :)
 
We have the necessary tools to compete in the pro arena today. The playing field is level in every technical respect. However, music composition, recording, engineering and production skills take time and experience. You can't buy them or achieve them on a forum kiosk like this. The question is moot.:facepalm:
 
I'm quite new to this forum (I joined sometime back but have not participated much in the past). My "studio" consists of a lot of stuff that has been acquired over the years.

I'm sure that a good sound engineer could take my modest "cubbyhole" studio and do wonderful things. I, on the other-hand could have the complete run of Abby Road Studios and produce a dreadful t*rd.

I don't care, I'm doing what I want to do. One of these days I will trip over the right combination and I will die happy.
 
Well, I've been recording for 3 years now, and of course when I started I was horrible.

I just think a lot of recordings in my country (brazil) sounds horribly compressed and edited.

So I decided to record my band myself and this year I'm studying a lot so then I could open up a little homestudio commercially aswell.

:)
 
This thread is hilarious. Commercial studios, at least modern ones, make recordings that sound like polished turds. Who would spend thousands to recreate that? Also, who really thinks they are going to make it in the music business with their home recordings? It happens, but it's rare as hen's teeth. I'd hope most people get into it to record a song or sound they came up with in a way that sounded good to them. I mean anything besides that is pretty sad.
 
When I started I knew nothing about electronics or sound theory or even anything practical like how to hook up a PA. I bought a single microphone and a "prosumer" sound card with a line level input and expected to be making a lo-fi masterpiece.

Of course that didn't work and I ended up going down the gear rabbit hole until I settled on a nice pre, a couple decent condensers, and a nice portastudio. Much happier nowadays, I feel like I can make a better recording with the portastudio than I could with my pricey PC setup. I also got better as a musician though so that may have a lot more to do with my satisfaction than anything else.
 
I don't see any reason why you couldn't create at least the foundations of a commercial quality recording in a home studio. Part of that sheen in commercial recordings comes from the mixing and mastering stage, and some of it doesn't sound good anyway (i.e., excessive compression and hard limiting). If you want that, you can always pay someone to do it.

As far as tracking goes, provided you have space, equipment, skills and knowledge, why not? I'd imagine drums would be the most difficult because of the space and equipment you need, followed by vocals and acoustic instruments. Recording electrics guitar, bass, and keyboards is a piece of cake.

At the end of the day, what holds most of us back is the limitations of our own talent, skills, and experience, not our gear.
 
It's definitely possible to match and even better some commercial recordings.

With the right combination of skill, a good live room and a properly treated control room anything is possible.

(skill is no doubt the most important factor)
 
I expect perfection and I will settle for nothing less. The idea is to not realease it until it sounds like it was done in a professional studio. I believe it is difficult but not impossible. If I was going to pay a recording engineer to begin with I would not have gone broke spending everything I ever had on equipment to record my own stuff. So thats how I like to look at it. I am thinking a lot more like a business man these days. If my recordings are professional they are marketable. If my recordings sound raw im totally full of shit and you deserve to whip me.
 
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