And where are you now?...the analogy only fails unless you are trying to sell him something that still wouldnt have that man closer to finishing his project until he gets past the learning curve of using the software...treating his room...maxing out his credit cards on Neve pre's...Interfaces...Neumann Mics...computers...programs...etc.
Mine had put all those tools in front of him for the $150 with someone who knew what they were doing handling it all for them...he only wanted to do a few tracks after all and wanted pro results...
...some need to be steered in the right direction...this isnt for everybodys situation...and if you figure that out...you would be a better friend to them too.
You're digging those heels in again! For the sake of our home audience, I'll respond yet again:
Where am I now? You wanna know where I am? I'm sitting right in the middle of a room full of gear beyond my wildest imagination. 20 guitars and a half dozen amps (which I play), killer drums & percussion (which I don't play!) 4 or 5 keyboards (which I play half-assed), racks full of preamps and outboard gear, dozens of mics (like at least 60 or 70), and all managed by a healthy dose of nice 703 panels and traps.
GUESS WHAT (drum roll please...) I don't make a nickel off any of it!!! I do it because I love it! I'm a musician first, and I wanted to convey my own musical vision, so I needed to learn to record.
GUESS WHAT ELSE: I wasn't born with all this crap. I started out with a single mic and the pre in my interface. AND I LOVED IT! My recordings were way better than the recordings I made before I had them--which were...oh yeah...nothing! Because I didn't have a mic and an interface.
So I was in heaven. And when I felt I had embraced the learning curve and maxed out the potential of that simple set up, I expanded. Then I repeated the process--over and over. And I got better at recording at each step along the way.
To call it a hobby is a disservice; it's obviously a passion. And it was a passion when all I had was a mic and a cheap interface. I didn't know how expensive it was back then--but that's a good thing. I didn't need to be scared away. I needed to be drawn in, to take baby steps, and spend the money to get to the next level only when my knowledge and skills warranted it.
You're right, $150 won't buy Neve pres and Nuemann mics and a bunch of high end software and a room full of traps and diffusors. But that's not what someone needs to get started. What's so hard to understand about that?
And if that guy took your advice and got what he wanted out of a studio, more power to him--and to you. Hell, I hope he came to your studio!
But I'm here because it's homerecording.com. So you'll have to forgive me if I actually bother to show folks how to do what I've done in the past few years.
EDIT: I'm done listening to you repeat yourself--hell, I'm done listening to me repeat myself. Don't bother replying. I'll be there to intervene when you condescend to and discourage newbs because they don't have Nuemanns and Neves, but I'm done arguing with you.