miroslav
Cosmic Cowboy
Actually, a friend of mine who is big in New York City and who owns a studio told me that he has had home studio engineers come to apply for a job. They bring recordings that they spent months on that were blow mind. The problem is that in real pro studios, they must do this 20 or more times per year. The fact is that pro recording/mix/mastering houses have to crank out acceptable product very quickly and on budget. They do not have the luxury of endless time and need the tools to fix any recordings they did not track. There are so many things that go wrong that are out of control of the houses, yet they are expected to deliver acceptable product on time and budget. Home recording cannot be put in the same light as pro recording. One is a hobby and the other is a business.
You're talking about the person...the engineer....which is not the same as the studio, the gear. If they guy needs to fumble around until he gets it right (we’ve all been there) then of course, he’s not ready for prime time, but I solid “home/project” studio engineer should be able to work in a pro environment fairly easily. I’ve seen some guys in pro studios who call themselves engineers and producers…and you know, sometimes they too look like they are flying by the seat of their pants!
Also, while home studios can have the luxury of time...that's not always going to yield great product....nor will "pro" studios always yield great product. There are "pro" studios who are in business for that sole purpose, and they too can churn out crap.
I've had friends bring me tapes from a "pro" studio, complaining it didn't sound as good as what they wanted, however, their budged was limited and the "pro" studio only gave them their money's worth.
We ended up re-recording in my home studio, and everyone involved agreed it was way better.
There's just too many ingredients to consider when comparing home/pro...often, the most important being the actual talent. Big $$$ pro studios tend to attract more talented people because they are already established talents and have the funds (not always, but you get my point).
Home studios tend to attract the local garage bands who usually suck and have no $$$, though that too is not always the case.
But to get back to the OP's original premise...a well appointed home studio can achieve pretty much the same thing that *most* "pro" studios can today...with the exception of those places that are true *world class* facilities and that have the rooms the rest of us can only dream about.
Point is…gimme a real good band to work with, and the effort and timeframe will not be much different than what they would encounter in a “pro” studio environment.