Uh oh....
Here's my chance to lose all the friends I've made over the last few years....
(this is gonna be a long one.... so grab yourself some cheetos and pop a squat.

)
I look at it this way....
When I come to the clinic... I come to hear
home recordings. I don't come here to hear pro recordings. I have "clinic ears" and then I have "normal ears". When I listen to stuff here... I'm listening with my clinic ears. I don't place a clinic recording up to the same standard as a pro recording... any why?? Well,... because I don't
expect it to sound pro.
I'm a nice guy and all...

but I'm also an
extreme realist. I have no delusions of
anything (let alone grandeur

). I also don't think it's necessarily insulting or "bad" to think like this... because there's nothing worse then self-inflicted delusion. I would much rather be fully aware and know that I'm not that good, than think I'm great based on a self-delusion.
There are a number of reasons why I don't ever expect clinic recordings to sound pro... but first, I'll make a few caveats regarding the term "pro".
There are a
lot of crappy "pro" recordings out there... Avril Lavigne comes to mind. Canned, Hyper-Compressed drums/guitars and extremely over-autotuned vocals make her
sound as plastic as she
looks.

So don't think that just because something is on the radio that it has great sonic quality. (although, everyone here already knew that.

)
Also,... nowadays, (as was previously mentioned) people listen to tunes at 128K bit-rate on crappy computer speakers, and they think it sounds fine. So obviously, the bar has been lowered a lot over the last couple of decades...
...but there is still a pro sound out there... and this pro sound is created by the convergence of a few
key ingredients.
1) Professional Players. (As was previously mentioned) the difference that can be made by a
pro drummer vs. a hack drummer is
immeasurable. The same goes for a professional acoustic guitar player/pianist/whatever. There are guys around here that are very good (don't get me wrong), but very few of us have the time to play guitar/drums/whatever all-day or sit around and work on our "chops". (I sure as hell don't.

) So, the first ingredient that most (if not all) recordings around here are missing is a
completely flawless performance of each track. And by "flawless", I mean flawless
meter also.. tempo deviations (whether by just one instrument or by all of them) are one of the most prominent signs of a "home" recording.
2) Perfect Recording Environments. The room you record in has a
huge impact on the sonic quality of your recordings. Vocals/Acoustics/mic'ed amps/whatever
all sound better in a "perfect" room. There will always be that, "gee, it sounds like he recorded that guitar in his bedroom" element to our songs, as long as they are.... well.... recorded in a bedroom.
3) Professional Equipment. Some of the aspects of this ingredient have become less important lately with the advent of the home-recording "market". It's harder and harder to hear the differences between a $500 mic and a $2000 mic... but there are still differences. That's not to say that a mic is the most important piece of equipment. The instruments are just as vital. I mean... let’s face it... sampled drums will
never sound as good as a high-end, finely-tuned, perfectly-mic’ed kit.

And you will never get a mid-range Takamine to sound as good as a
hand-picked Taylor 915ce (mmmmm.... yummy....

). The same goes for piano/elec-git/bass git/etc.
Then you have the compressors/limiters/EQs/consoles/monitors/pres/you-name-it. All this adds up to an important impact on the sonic state of your recordings.
4) Talent/Experience. These are two different things, but they fall under the same category. Talent can't be acquired.. experience can... but they both have a similar impact on your recordings. If you know just the right way to fade in that guitar change, or just the right sample to use for that intro, or know the best way to get the fattest sound out of that bass/elec-git/drum-kit (whether it be through the amp selection, or the room treatment, or the mic placement, or whatever.)… if you know how to get that acoustic to sound like it's right up in your face without a trace of background "distraction"... if you know just the right freq's to pull back to bring out the life in a mix... if you know how your mixes will translate based on the monitors you're listening on... then you have an advantage. And all these things added up throughout the course of a recording project have probably the
greatest impact on the end result.
But just because I can acknowledge that those ingredients are necessary, does that mean that I think I'm all-that-and-a-bag-of-chips...?
lol....
um… not quite.
I'm the first to admit that my stuff is way under par... Of all the tunes I have up on NWR, as far as I'm concerned only
one of them is even
worth listening to (as far as recording quality goes). Everything else is garbage (sonically).
But who cares... I never expected to produce a "pro" sound. It's just not a reasonable expectation. (considering I lack pretty much all the key ingredients.

) So, if all you got is drum samples... then use 'em. If all you have is an SM58 and Behrenger mixer... then run with it.

Yeah... our goal is to get a better sound and to come as close to "pro" mixes as possible... but for me, it's not about actually
becoming pro...
and you know what.... I don't see why it would be about that for anyone else. I mean... sheesh... if you wanna be a
pro engineer... then what on
earth are you doing hanging around a bunch of
amateurs??? If you wanna get
better at something, then you need to surround yourself with the
best. Go to school for it... train under a pro... take some night classes... whatever. Don't think that getting a few posts of feedback from fellow amateur home-wreckers is gonna eventually make you a "pro"... 'cause it's not. We have to set realistic goals here... and if anyone's goal is to sound "pro" by showin' up here and posting a few mixes, then I'd suggest you find another method to do so.
In the entire time I've been here (3 years or so now) I've only heard
one poster in this clinic who put up mixes that I could
swear were pro. That was a long time ago, and his stuff isn't up on the net anymore, but that was pretty much a shock... I didn't expect to hear stuff that sounded "pro" by coming here, and I still don't. But what does that matter... most of us are musicians... not AE's. It's the songs that matter... it's the compositions and the productions that count... I mean... I would take whatever it is that Erland has
any day over the ability to make "pro" recordings.
So I don't see what's so bad aboot the fact that we don't sound "pro". I've enjoyed doing this so far. I've tried to make the best out of what I had to work with (much like everyone else here). I've seen a noticeable improvement in my recordings. I've had a chance to share them with a bunch of people all over the world, and I've had the chance to learn a lot from others.
What more can I ask for?
WATYF