Home Recording's Dirty Little Secret

[NathanPonzar]

My opinion is that these days, if you are committed to getting good sounding recordings.. if it's something you are passionate about and spend time on, most people have the financial means to do it. As a writer/performer (can't stand the term singer/songwriter), I am very passionate about my music and I want to present it in a way that does justice to the way it sounds in my head. I have found that I can accomplish this much better in a home studio situation.

I guess a lot of it also depends on your idea of good sounding recordings. If you want crystal clean, lacquer finished productions, it may be a little more difficult to do that depending on your situation, but if you want to present your music in a way that does it justice and is easily reachable by your audience, I don't think anyone who spends the time and effort should have a problem doing that with todays gear. Elliot Smith did it 20 years ago when gear wasn't as accessible as it is today. I think that the recording process is a part of the art just like the subject of the recording, and when you are building your songs and you have spent time getting to know the equipment you are working with, it puts the paintbrush in your hands again instead of in a commercial studio's engineer's who may not even like the music that you are making or be open to go after the sound you are going for.

Just my .02

 

[jayheat5mics]

awwready!!

 

[diggy_dude]

I think that the recording process is a part of the art just like the subject of the recording, and when you are building your songs and you have spent time getting to know the equipment you are working with, it puts the paintbrush in your hands again instead of in a commercial studio's engineer's who may not even like the music that you are making or be open to go after the sound you are going for.

Believe it or not, professional engineers don't make crappy sounding records because they want to. They do it because that's what their clients (artists and A&R people) demand.

 

[moman]

I just wanna here my music without having to play it. everything will end up on youtube all squashed or on a blog for others to hear.
Id given up on commercially sounding sounds in my teens, you shoulda heard my old band hah or even our recordings bwah hahah

 

[dlowmoney]

I beleive that with a reasonable budget, a great deal of time and a little talent, there is no reason to believe that most musicians could acheive a sound that is reasonably close to professional quality. I have heard (and been a part of) many recordings done by amature musicians/producers with relativly low end equipment (compared to what is in a multi-million dollar studio). Recording gear is a lot like the musical instruments being recorded, they are only going to perform as well as the person working the equipment knows how to handle the equipment.

 

[jameslondon69]

I think today's basic home studio can compete with commercial studios, in fact, i'll bet that more and more "commercial" recordings you hear are partially recorded in a "home" environment.
IMHO it comes down to the song (is it interesting to listen to musically???), the performance (can this person actually play in time and sing well????) signal path, and DAW plug ins, and producer knowledge. If you brought in a killer producer and studio musicians into my humble home studio they could probaably fake it a lot better than I could and it would result in a product approaching "commercial"

 

[moman]

With music going 8-Bit its gone retro.
Analogue and oldschol gear is being picked up again and a lot of tracks are looking back to go forward. I'm beginning to hear the future is lo-tech. Commercial music is dying.
Viva la revolution!

 

[spiderlandcapt]

The music industry will die soon and if not. It will become a non-music organization that still sells some other product for money. (It already does it with songs and artists anyway, but you can't the artist themselves on store shelves......yet.)

 

[arcadeko]

I don't think the music industry will ever die. It's been an industry for thousands of years. If anything the home recording technology will expand it (while decentralizing it).

 

[soulsonic]

Tons of good-sounding, and even a few commercially successful, albums have been recorded with relatively low-end home equipment over the years. All that's really required to get a great sounding album is skill for using the equipment and talent for making good music.

The whole problem with the music industry is just that; it's treated like an industry of mass-produced products where to make money you're required to sell millions of copies. The consumer base has moved away from that model. Mass-producing cheap music has lowered its value to the point where few people are willing to pay for it anymore. Personally, I think the future may lie with independent artists selling higher-priced works of music art to a small number of customers who collect such things.

 

[Hughseph]

Can Do Attitute

One of my current favorite bands is Surfer Blood just the other day I saw an interview of them talking about recording their first (and only) album. They allegedly recorded it in a college dorm room with "a bunch of cheap Chinese microphones and Protools."

They are currently on tour opening for the PIXIES. I don't know how you can sit around and complain about how poor your recordings are when there are up and coming musicians frequently releasing bedroom recordings. Honestly, the entire punk scene and a lot of the "hipster" scene revolves around bedroom recordings.

People need to just come to terms with the fact that even a terrible recording of good playing sounds good. Whereas, a pristine recording of bad playing will always sound bad.

 

[Shabeel]

People need to just come to terms with the fact that even a terrible recording of good playing sounds good. Whereas, a pristine recording of bad playing will always sound bad.

PREACH!! The musical value of a song is much more significant than the technical side. For sure, it's always nice to have something that you can blast on your car stereo, but if the only thing it has is crisp sound, it gets old after a while. On the other hand, great talent shines through even in non-ideal recordings. People might not listen to it on the radio, or in a club, but they WILL LISTEN if your music is on point.

 

[MetroCenter]

Nearly everybody wants a good mix, a balanced arrangement, clear vocals, lack of unintentional non-musical noise (sounds of cars driving by, airplanes overhead, cable buzz, etc.).

However, expectations vary widely, by musical genre and intended audience.

For people looking to record classical music, a Top 10 vocal hit, a modern country classic, or a jazz vocal, technical quality is generally going to be very important.

People recording most rock are generally going to want to hear the individual instruments, and the band as a whole, creating a clear and musical song.

If you're hoping to record a single that's going to climb the charts, you're bound to have much higher expectations. But if your purpose for recording is just to create demos to pass out to friends, or for the satisfaction that comes with writing a good song, the quality doesn't have to be nearly as high.

I think it's a good thing for any home recordist to really ask himself what is his purpose, and what are his expectations. He should also ask himself the same questions every time he thinks about buying a new piece of gear. This will help him avoid buying gear he doesn't really need (gear-acquisition autopilot).

 

[McMajik]

I hadn't really thought about it in those terms. I mean, I did expect to be able to rival commercial recordings. And I still do. I'm just not there yet

That said, I am surprisingly pleased with some of my stuff. Some of it is (to my ears) broadcast quality, or quite close (but it may be more "Wow, I did this" than "wow, this is good").
I still have a lot of trouble with electric guitar, though. It's like everyone else has found the secret and nobody will tell me. Meanies. >.>

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

You know what I find interesting?? Is that we seem to be basing our recordings on what is commercially produced NOW. Why bother? Every band on the radio is compressed to hell and in their particular genre, they ALL sound the same. I mean the drums are all the same, the guitars and amps being used sound like they are the same, everything is the same. Auto tune runs rampant, it is all $hit. Now rewind to the 80's and listen to a few of your fave albums.. they aren't always perfect. There is more noise, guitar players and their tone varies, their styles vary.. go back even further and listen to early 80's stuff and then get back into the 70's. 3 mics on a drum kit and a huge sound seemed to work well on those Zep and Deep Purple albums. Those albums all still smoke. Anyone want to take bets on whether or not they'll still listen to Nickleback in 20 years? People will still listen to Zep or even Motley Crue because it has it's own sound. If my basement recordings get anywhere close to the vibe captured on a classic record, high noise and imperfect or not, I'll consider it a success. I think if you want to do things well, sometimes you have to take a step back and listen with your ears.. see what those old albums can teach you and try to figure out how to bring that to your own songs.

In short, I think we need to master the art of REVERB as to me, that is the key in making a lot of those older records sound great. That first Van Halen album for example, sounds so huge. Drums are boxy and thick and it works. No need for drum replacement or billion dollar gear (by today's standards anyway)

Honestly, I hear a lot of recordings or albums my friends put out there that they have paid some local studio (and i don't mean a basement studio necessarily) to produce and i am amazed at how bad they sound. They honestly sound so small and like nothing blends properly. Sure it is loud and clear but it really lacks substance. I'm def going make sure any of my stuff doesn't sound that bad. Even my throw a mic in front of a cab and a few on my drums ends up sounding bigger than what they pay for. Sad.

 

[strings27]

reading the discussion thread is very informative.thanks

 

[rickidoo]

It took some building up, but I have a high end pc now, with 16gigs or ram, are able to run ASIO for audio, bought a decent condenser mike, have my "recording studio" in a room with low sound reflectivity, and use Sonar X1 producer which is a joy to create music in (after the learning curve...). I am very happy with the sound quality of my songs. They may not be exactly like a well done studio song, but they are very well sufficient for my purpose... self expression and just having fun. I no longer listen to the song and think "damn... that XYZ really sounds cheesy.". All I need to do now is improve my songwriting and singing, and I'll be all set!

 

[Siessi]

When I first set up my home studio I suffered from the "Australian Idol Audition Show" complex. You know, when the dude/chick sings with a great deal of enthusiasm but absolutely no talent and when the judges say "You suck" they simply don't believe them. That's because thier friends and family always told them "You're an excellent singer" and no-one had the guts to tell them they sucked. So then these poor people begin and continue to embarrass themselves until someone honest comes along. I'm the only muso in my peer group so just being able to play the guitar impresses my friends. And when I started producing my first tracks and handing them out they were full of praise for my talent and skill...And then someone honest came along and said "Dude, this sucks."

I was forced to learn patience and to realise that a song takes as long as it takes to record. Chucking down a few loose takes, squashing them together with lashings of reverb and compression doesn't constitute a finished song even if no-one else you know can do it. So I was forced to become methodical (which I hate) but it's also made me reconsider just why I was recording in the first place. Because when it comes down to it I'm really a live performer and not the best producer so some priority sorting was in order.

But now I'm getting results that I can be proud of and the lessons learnt have extended into my performing life.

However to sum up here's the single greatest lesson I've learnt from all my time sat at my desk.

"One hour extra spent in the recording phase can save you TEN hours of trying to fix it in the mix!"

 

[Guitar Hack]

I also believe you can achieve studio quality results at home. I'm getting pretty good results at home. It can be better. It's more ignorance on my part than the inability of the equipment.

 

[Squire67]

I don't think i've ever expected to get recordings that could match commercial ones for a few reasons, mainly the gear i have been able to afford and my lack of desire to become an engineer as opposed to a musician wanting to do basic demo's for his own enjoyment.

The best bit of gear i own is my Rode NT1-A mic and my PC, the rest (8-track analogue mixing desk, comparitivly cheap monitors/amp and a guitar with buzzing pick-ups) are nowhere near the standard needed for good proffessional recordings, so it's never really been an issue for me.

Hopefully one day when i'm actually earning good money that i can play with i'll start improving on the equipment side of things, but until then i'm happy just recording basic demo's (or poor quality to the more clued up home recordists) for the purpose of having good music to share.