Commercially Satisfactory Quality at Home?

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Hello everybody, I'm new here. :)

After reading tons of articles and threads, and thinking about the possibilities, I've decided to ask someone who actually has the knowledge and experience to give a thorough answer.

My question in a nutshell: Is it possible to record a full album at home (or at rehearsal room) and get that Big World Sound?

Some background info: our band (in which I'm playing drums and am one of the founding members) is going to get signed soon and, naturally, record an album for world-wide distribution. The thing is, we're on quite a limited recording budget (we pay the studio costs with the advances) so I, being a gadget freak, thought of the possibility of purchasing the recording equipment and recording everything ourselves in peace and with as much time as we possibly need. Is this idea way far-fetched, with all the modelling amps (by Line6, for example) and drum triggers & modules available today?
 
I forgot to add that we're not planning to master the album ourselves. ;)

Just to record the "raw" takes and then go to a proper studio for mixing & mastering.
 
Yes it is possible if you have the proper equipment and know how to use it.

Have you or your bandmembers ever done any recording before?

I think if you are being signed, I'd concentrate on the music and leave the recording to the engineers and producer.
 
Sennheiser said:
Have you or your bandmembers ever done any recording before?

I think if you are being signed, I'd concentrate on the music and leave the recording to the engineers and producer.
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Yes, we have experience on recording and mixing, and friends and acquantances who have worked in the music industry who could help.

We don't have a producer. :) Our music isn't very mainstream-friendly (melodic death metal) and hence the recording company isn't very excited about granting us a $100,000 budget. ;)
 
In that case you might want to think about synching two ADAT's for 16 tracks and buying a nice 16 0r 24 channel board to get you started.

Someone else will recommend the mic's.

If you are just going to track I guess you won't need any effects, but you should think about compression. The RNC has had great reviews though I have not used one myself.
 
Totally possible, especially if you have experienced peeps to help you out :)
 
I think it can be done. But you tell me. Click on the www button here below my post and check the tunes I did here in my basement with relatively inexpensive mics and preamps on to Type II ADATs.
 
-I always advocate keeping things in perspective: you can do pretty good at home, even with cheap equipment, but it's not going to sound as clean as a real studio recording. The room that you record in has a huge influence on the end sound: cheap mics in a sound-dead room can sound pretty good, great mics in a lousy-sounding room won't.
~
 
In your position I would recomend having somebody else record it. Now is the time to worry about the music not the engineering.

Buying equipment vs. studio time is not a good investment unless you are looking to record yourself for years to come. With the right engineer you could record a great sounding album for $2-5K and that amount would barely get you started with your own studio.

If you still prefer to do a home recording for the sake of taking your time I would reccomend teaming up with a good home reccer who believes in your music and can do the project justice.
 
Yes, it is possible. Track Rat does some great stuff, as do a LOT of guys around here. Go directly to the MP3 clinic and check out what people are doing here.

HOWEVER:
( Man, I hope Bruce chimes in soon):

I have a small rig, my recordings are OK. Someone like Blue Bear ( a Pro) could make better recordings on my gear than I can. I have learned that 2 people of different talents can make recordings with the same gear: one sounds like crap, one sounds great.

I would agree with Tex: rent a pro studio, and be very prepared to lay down tunes FAST. Good Luck, and welcome.
 
I agree that hiring an experienced engineer in a nice facility is wise. Pratice pratice pratice your butt off so that you can track fast and you will save a lot of money. Use the home gear to listen to how the songs are coming along and to listen for tightness of the band, intonation problems, arrangement, etc. But for the "real" sound, go to a place with good rooms (control AND tracking) and work with an engineer with experience in your genre of music. If you are tight as a band, that studio will allow you to track guitar, bass, and drums all at the same time. If you are tight, you won't spend that much time getting good takes that a few punch in's and/or editing couldn't make really good takes into.

The engineer, if they are worth their fee will know how to get the right sounds for you. If indeed it is a "label" release, they will not want the recording going out sounding like crap, unless the band starts getting in the way and trying to tell him how they want everything to sound. A good engineer offers ton's of experience in what works and what doesn't, and knows his gear and rooms quite well, and if they have experience (preferrably on "label" recordings) they will be able to get your sound up to snuff very quickly if you leave them to their job.

Hire a freakin' producer! They are going to tell you the same thing. Again, having a producer with experience in your genre means that you get more quality for the money, and they are yet another perspective in the overall sound that can be invaluable if you work in good faith with them. God knows, I have recorded my share of bands that fancied themselves "producers" and it is usually a mess dealing with them because usually they cannot agree amongst themselves what they should ultimately sound like and I get as many conflicting opinions on the sounds and mix as there are people in the band. It sucks to work that way, and it is very unproductive, and usually, it creates strife within the band, and it becomes very hard for me to do my job.

There is no reason why you cannot record a pretty decent CD for about $15,000 total IF you are tight and have worked with the producer closely before hitting the studio. The dollar total buys you a very good sounding product. You would have to invest about that on your own gear and spend a lot of time working on it before you could come close to the same sound, and you still would not have the benefit of great sounding rooms buying the stuff yourself. Basically, you would be guessing a lot. The studio I work at has a mic collection that is worth more than $15,000 and it is far from enough mics to really get all the sounds we want!

Good luck with your new CD.

Creepy
 
Thanks to everyone for making good points!

I guess I got carried away with my enthusiasm to be independent (happens every time I browse music hardware catalogues and such). :) I better pipe down, go buy a metronome and lock myself into the rehearsing room for a few weeks. ;)
 
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