Please rank in order of importance...

[BentRabbit]

I'll go one further and say the most important thing is the quality of the song being recorded. Great musicians playing a boring or mediocre song will come out as a boring and mediocre recording. You need a hit song!

And like Blue Bear said, don't forget the quality of the room/accoustic space. That's not even on your initial list... Blue Bear's list seems right to me.

This reminds me of the best advice a drunk in the audience ever gave me:

"Son... if you guys wanna make it in the music biz, all ya gotta do is... write hit songs..."

(DOH!!!! Who knew???)

 

[Speedy VonTrapp]

there is that name again. what the heck is an "Alsihad" editor?

Alsihad is the word that the stuck up shit brigade people over at the recpit use to describe ProTools.

I've never seen a ProTools rig, so I can't comment about it at all, but I sure do hope that this forum doesn't inherit very many mannerisms from that other site. Smart people over there, for sure. They just come with a huge helping of attitude, too.

But anyway, that's just an aside, the word is used for ProTools, I believe.

You may also have to adjust your nibnob, as well.

 

[fraserhutch]

Ya know... it's not really amusing if you have to fucking explain it... music theory... it's not just for geeks anymore.

Wow! I cannot believe someone here actually cited music theory - and here I thought my theory and composition studies were for naught!

 

[sdelsolray]

Haven't read the posts, but I'd rank things as follows:

1) Performer
2) Room
3) Mic
Recording Engineer (tied for 3rd)
5) Preamp
Instrument being played (if not vocal) (tied for 5th)
7) Monitors
8) Converters
9) DAW/Mixing software

 

[Rickson Gracie]

i think performer and recording engineer should be tied for first. a shitty recording engineer can really mess up a good recording. i also think a great recording einginner can work effectively around most room problems.

good monitors should definitely be pretty high on the list. mixing through crappy monitors is another easy way to kill a great recording.

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

Wow! I cannot believe someone here actually cited music theory - and here I thought my theory and composition studies were for naught!

Mine come in handy everytime a band wants to sing "backup harmonies."

Being a strong musician/theory head can help your recording immensely.

 

[Stefan Elmblad]

I'd say it's the:
1. The Player
2. The instrument
3. The engineer
4. The gear of the engineer (mics, recording medium etc)

The room would be somewhere after the engineer or last depending on if the track needs room sound or not. I wouldn't place the room before the engineer cuz my girlfriend could prolly not record well at Abbey Road, and Eddie Kramer could prolly record well within a phone booth.

 

[LemonTree]

the performance
the engineer
the gear

even in a crap room with bad instruments a stella performance with the right guy behind a good desk will churn out good results time after time.

 

[Todzilla]

Start at the performer and work backwards.

 

[mshilarious]

This thread reminds me of the scene in Wayne's World where Mike Myers asks a gas station attendant a question, and the guy starts to answer, and then Myers cuts him off with "I know this is a small part, but can't we get a better actor?" and then Charlton Heston steps in