Engineer skills or tracking?

[StudioMxpx]

i have alright recording mics and no compressior going into the mixer to the soundcard. all i pretty much have is a 12 ch mixer and the Delta 44 with okay regular mic..im wondering is it the tracking that makes up the good qualities in the recording or is it a enginner that knows what hes doing during the mix...its probally both but i dont know...since my equipment ant that great im hoping the enginner skills is the key of making a killer recording.

 

[crankz1]

Talent then gear then Engineer. Well .... Engineering falls in with talent also in the aspect of setting up to capture good musicianship.
It's real hard to polish a turd .... meaning, If it don't sound all that good going in ... it'll be real hard getting it to sound good coming out.
The gear will determine the quality of the captured material and how well it plays back.
The Engineer will have the skills and ability to take the material and turn it into a good mix and final master depending on the tools at his disposal. Those tools may even be minimal, given that the performance is done and captured well.

 

[Track Rat]

Talent then engineer then equipment. A professional source then a professional capturing that source hopefully with great equipment. You get deminishing returns as you start taking things away from the bottom of the pile.

 

[xfinsterx]

its best to try to get a good sound right off the bat.
tracking a good initial sound is really important.
Mixing a song that has poor tracking on it dosent usually result in a prefessional sounding product in my experience.

 

[Imaduck]

Talent then engineer then equipment

I'd go with that. Even with crappy equipment, a good sound is achievable with lots of time and patience. All the gear in the world can't make a person who has no idea what a mixer is record well.

 

[Ronan]

Sound Sorce is the most important followed by the engineering. Great musicians and great engineer with crap gear will make a better record than crapp musicians and engineer with the best of gear.

That said getting some nice peices of gear into your recording chain can make the job a lot eaiser.