Yo Ill! Of course you can record an album on your own, and I agree with the statement that your mic locker is missing some important tools. The Duet also limits the number of tracks you can record simultaneously. I recorded my first album, starting with less gear and less knowledge than you have right now.This is the best I can tell you- Recording your own album is the slowest, most difficult, most expensive way to do it. And- the quality of recording will suffer from your inexperience. However, it is also the most rewarding, most educational, and most fun way to do it. You can go to the studio and let the wizards stick their magic wands in front of you, if you want. In the end, you will own nothing, and you will learn nothing. Or- you can do it the hard way and keep all the toys. Note that if you do it right, it will take long enough that by the time you are done, a bunch of your gear will most likely be obsolete. The good mics will stay. With your limited number of tracks available, the rest of your band, and you, will need to learn the skill set of recording artists, which is not the same as the skill set of a performing band member. To do overdubs well with headphone mixes and click tracks takes time and practice. But at least- you won't be paying by the hour for the learning curve. I outsourced the mixing and mastering on my first, to pros right here at Homerec. It was enough in 2 1/2 years to try to become a tracking engineer and producer.
My other best advice- if you produce yourself, You need to have a realistic view of your strengths and weaknesses. Don't do what you can't do. Find people who can, if you need to. Knowing what your best is= knowing when to quit, and when to track it- again. It also means knowing when to delete a song from the program because it just doesn't work. If you think you are a superstar, that's when you need a real producer to tell you that you're not. Best of luck. We'll be there for you.
Hey, Richard! Thank you for the wisdom! I went for the duet because of the high end converters and figured, short of tracking drums, it would be enough to get a quality recording. When my band was still a band, in high school we went to record with my long-time drumming instructor who tours extensively. Needless to say, we got screwed over on the price to the point of paying $2,000 (about $1,000 more than the agreed price, we were 17 year old kids who took him by his word. He held our tracks hostage) for three tracks which if I posted the mixes and recording quality (they had all the 'tools' including the MTV Unplugged Soundboard, but didn't know how to use them clearly) the mixes my friends and I have done are superior. I've probably spent a little more of that on all my gear, software, and hardware, so I most definitely agree with you on the difference.
Control is a big thing for me. "I'd rather die than give you control" is one of my favorite lyrics. I can't tell you how many times I have recorded at a studio or with a friend and the mix has been unsatisfactory and it has been a pain to get the tracks. I love having everything under my control so if I want to change the mix or re-do something, I don't have to start from scratch. Like you said, at least I won't be paying by the hour to learn and make mistakes as I did in the past. I also get quite self-conscious vocally so doing it on my own allows me to get a better performance when I don't have an engineer yelling at me haha.
Wow, you've got some great responses in this thread. And they all resonate with the same theme; do it yourself and learn from the process, don't expect your first attempt to yield the results you want.
I think, like most others, your first album isn't going to be great. Mine sucked horribly. So, put songs on it that you don't mind walking away from. Save you better songs for your 2nd album. Use the first one just as a learning tool. Make it an EP or something, 5 songs you don't really care about. Then go for it big time with all the newly acquired knowledge and make your 2nd album awesome.
That makes a lot of sense. I'm such a perfectionist and I believe all the songs I have, although some are better than others, deserve to be presented in the best way possible. I've definitely seen bands who have been on smaller labels or done it DIY and some of the earlier albums/EPs have lower quality, but I guess people still enjoy the songs and take it as a snapshot of a moment in time.
Or- as I did it. I spec'd gear for a year, then spent 8 months laying down the guide tracks. Then another 6 months of overdub sessions, followed by mixing, mastering, original cover art, artistic design, and duplication. Ha! Want to drag it out further? Do just one cover, and figure out how to pay the mechanical royalties to the Harry Fox agency. Register the recording and manuscript copyright for every song. Join ASCAP. Figure out the work-for-hire agreements for the overdub staff, and how to pay their residuals. It's a Royal pain in the arse, but it will teach you what you need to know to record other people. And when you discover that you've now got the price of a new Lexus in instruments and gear, you'll need to record other people to cut your losses on all that gear. I said I started with less than the OP. I didn't say I finished the album that way. There was a fair amount of Neumann, Avalon, and Digidesign between point A and point B. Enjoy, Ill! Your path to Hell has begun, paved with good intentions, an SM7b, and a 2-channel interface.
Ha! I try to be no fool about what to expect. I most definitely try not be naive and I'm actually very interested in the business side and have done my best to educate myself since high school and here in college. I don't know how I'd ever encompass gear that adds up to the price of a Lexus! Would be nice ha!
Another vote for "give it a shot." Understand, though, that production is half art and half science, meaning just having the tools and knowing how to use them isn't enough. Still, there's no reason at all why you shouldn't give it a try, particularly as you're willing to learn. Two words of warning: 1. Whatever you want to do is going to take much longer than you think. 2. You'll never be satisfied with the gear that you have.
Thanks! My gear is most definitely not enough and I'm pretty much relegating myself to software instruments for stuff that I just can't afford to do (tons of guitar amps = Guitar Rig, Absynth for synths, and all that other NI stuff for strings, orchestral stuff, drums, etc.). From what all of you have been saying, the mixing process is going to be where I need the most help, as I've pretty much expected. And, I'm sure that's going to be the most expensive portion, costing several thousand dollars to mix a whole album at least.
My mentality up to this point has been to learn as much as I can while I go along, and record as well as I can with the tools I have, get a rough mix, and then pass it off to an experienced engineer who can do what it necessary for the songs much more quickly and efficiently than I would be. That is my most definite weakness at this point: mixing. Musically, since I'm a 'one-man-band' I can get by on pretty much any instrument to do what I need to do short of tracking actually string instruments and quirkier instruments.
I guess my remaining questions for all of you guys are:
1. What extra equipment or microphones do you think I need to get?
2. Realistically, what do you think it would cost to mix and master a 10-12 track album?
3. Is it worth it to try and find a producer?
My biggest issue at this point is motivation. It's hard to be motivated when you're doing it all on your own with no producer, no engineer, and no band. I'm doing this out of necessity and because I believe in what I want to do, even if others may not. I have TONS to learn and no doubt this album will not be perfect musically or mixing wise. But, I'm not one who thinks waiting around playing clubs and hoping someone will 'discover' them is the right way to go. You have to make your own luck, for sure.
Also, someone suggested getting some advice on some mixes along the way. I have three that I was hoping you all would be kind enough to give me some feedback on what I could do to make them better when I re-record them.
https://homerecording.com/bbs/general-discussions/mp3-mixing-clinic/mix-advice-tips-3-tracks-357964/
Thanks so much again for all the comments, insight, and inspiration. It means more than you guys know.
