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  #16  
Old 11-26-2020, 02:02 PM
DukeX DukeX is offline
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I think it is a good idea. Money well spent. You'll get some pro studio experience, a fine recording, and the raw tracks for future reference if you eventually decide to go the home recording route.

Heck, I've spent $500 on cigars in the past two months.
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  #17  
Old 11-26-2020, 02:14 PM
Gordon Currie Gordon Currie is offline
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Overall, I think it is a great idea!

I have no idea where you are in your home recording journey, but remember that most people never get close to commercial release quality EVER.
The ones who do approach that 10 thousand hour rule in terms of time they have spent recording, evaluating, tweaking and re-recording.

Home recording is awesome for many many reasons, but those reasons typically do not include efficiency at getting commercial quality performances.

If you desire to release something NOW (or soon) yet your skills, equipment and location are not up to the task, you can either wait until that happens (how many years?) or bite the bullet and go into a commercial studio.

Fight against the pseudo-wisdom that it is a binary choice. You may do a couple songs in a studio, then bring the project home to further process.
You might do the studio this time in order to get the project out sooner, and decide to do it from home for the next one.

Keep your ultimate goal in mind. If it is releasing music, then use whatever approach works best (which usually includes fastest).
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  #18  
Old 11-26-2020, 02:21 PM
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Doug Young Doug Young is offline
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I think going into a studio is the most cost-effective way to record. Unless you have the bug to learn recording, and want to invest money in room treatment, gear, etc, and invest a lot of hours in the learning curve, it's just simpler, and cheaper and likely will end up with better quality than doing it yourself.

It's also a great learning experience if you do decide to dive into doing it yourself.
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  #19  
Old 11-26-2020, 04:08 PM
AcousticDreams AcousticDreams is offline
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Most definitely more cost effective, more time effective, and much, much less mental stress as well.
For myself, going the home studio route was for an entirely different reason. Sure is not to save money...I am sure I will have 10K invested before I am done.
Some of the songs I have been writing and working on for as long as Seven years. I am constantly changing them. Having the home recording set will allow me to hear it back and realize if I need to work on my guitar work more...or if I need to change the tune slightly. I am not a great guitar player or singer...but by working and listening back...I can hopefully improve my guitar and singing abilities.
I often think I sound good...Until I hear the recorded proof, that I am not. ha ha...But then...hearing it...I can correct and improve. That is how it worked when I was younger. I got to be a better singer by listening to myself---over, and over, and over.
I also wish to do a lot of Symphonic overdubbing. Having the recording equipment at home will allow me to work on the symphonic melodies in my own leisure.
I am 69 years of age. I am only concerned about doing one album, and one album well done, before my time on earth is up. ha ha...I just want to make one album that I can be proud of. Having my own equipment...Will.....HOPEFULLY allow me to become a better musician. Well, we can all hope anyway.
In the end, I will still need to hire out a studio to record Drums. And I will also need to hire out a mixing engineer, as that is but a another set of skills that takes years to learn.
As a final note: Thanks to American Idol...I am extremely afraid that I might be one of those Wacky guys who thinks he can sing...and in truth, is horrible...LOL...ha ha ha...
Well, I don't think I am that bad...but having the home recording set up will let me work on the areas that I need improvement on.
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  #20  
Old 11-26-2020, 06:01 PM
lkingston lkingston is offline
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I've done a lot of home recording since the pandemic began. Most of it is painful to watch/listen to. Here's the thing though: the main problem isn't the technology so much as it is my performances.

For example: I did a version of the Charlie Chaplin/Nat King Cole song "Smile" recently. The main problem wasn't mic quality or the acoustics of my room...no, it was that I wasn't putting a "t" between "just" and "smile". I'm so glad I didn't realize that after paying a lot of money for a studio session!

Since I've started recording myself I've been fixing a whole lot of things with my performances: sloppy diction, sloppy playing, weird facial expressions, bad posture, etc..

If I'd spent the money on studio time rather than equipment, I would just have better recordings of my initial terrible performances!
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  #21  
Old 11-26-2020, 06:03 PM
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If I go down this path I will still keep a Zoom around the house for quick recordings. My H2n is still going strong and I plan on buying an Hsomething when it dies.
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  #22  
Old 11-27-2020, 09:56 AM
cheer tunes cheer tunes is offline
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Another path worth considering. There are a couple of "Ifs" in here but bare with me as I've had the same issue.

If you already have, and know how to operate, the basic required gear (good mic, computer with DAW, audio interface) then I suggest taking a crack at recording the tracks dry by yourself. THEN you can share them with a mixing/mastering engineer that can really bring them to life with post production (eq, reverb, compression, etc).

The benefits of the approach are you can take you time and record in the comfort of your home until you get the takes you are happy with.

Depending on how many songs it should be A LOT cheaper than $500.

Again this assumes you have the gear and know how to record good tracks.

Interested to hear what others think as well.
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  #23  
Old 11-27-2020, 10:17 AM
Crash-VR Crash-VR is offline
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I’ve spent some time in the studio with my band, and plan to do a solo record next summer. The time with the band showed me what I need to practice. I use my iPhone for basic recordings to mark my progress. Big things are positioning. I always practice singing in a mic and with a mic on my guitar. The other is practicing to a metronome. If you can emulate the studio experience for practice, then you’ll be much more prepared when you go in. The ideal would be to be so well rehearsed you can walk in a throw down some live takes and walk out.
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  #24  
Old 11-27-2020, 10:26 AM
cheer tunes cheer tunes is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Crash-VR View Post
I’ve spent some time in the studio with my band, and plan to do a solo record next summer. The time with the band showed me what I need to practice. I use my iPhone for basic recordings to mark my progress. Big things are positioning. I always practice singing in a mic and with a mic on my guitar. The other is practicing to a metronome. If you can emulate the studio experience for practice, then you’ll be much more prepared when you go in. The ideal would be to be so well rehearsed you can walk in a throw down some live takes and walk out.
GOOD POINTS: Prep is key to nailing good takes in a real studio. A different environment can be challenging to play in, make sure you visit first to see if it will be comfortable.
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  #25  
Old 11-27-2020, 11:11 AM
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islandguitar islandguitar is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cheer tunes View Post
Another path worth considering. There are a couple of "Ifs" in here but bare with me as I've had the same issue.

If you already have, and know how to operate, the basic required gear (good mic, computer with DAW, audio interface) then I suggest taking a crack at recording the tracks dry by yourself. THEN you can share them with a mixing/mastering engineer that can really bring them to life with post production (eq, reverb, compression, etc).

The benefits of the approach are you can take you time and record in the comfort of your home until you get the takes you are happy with.

Depending on how many songs it should be A LOT cheaper than $500.

Again this assumes you have the gear and know how to record good tracks.

Interested to hear what others think as well.
Doug
This has been my approach for a number of years and it's worked well for me. Mine is a very basic set-up, Zoom, external Shure condenser mics, broad band absorbers, good room.
Thanks to Barry in a previous post for commenting on my recordings! Many, but not all on Soundcloud are just what I've done internally, but for any kind of project (CD or other), I've used an engineer and this has given my sound much more depth and presence and been worth the effort. For a single guitar this is not an unreasonable expense to bring experience and equipment to shine up your dry recordings and there is a noticeable difference!
Doug, your thoughts are 10 hours for 1-3 songs which is somewhere between 500 and 166 Canadian per song. With this alternative process, I can do 11 songs for the same 500.
All that said, the studio experience, the process the results could be a very fine effort, so I'm just adding in from my thoughts with the above post. My one pro studio experience years ago was both fun and exciting.
One final thought....will you record any original material with this effort? Of course I do mostly my own stuff, and that's been a driving factor in getting them as good as they can be. Posterity! LOL!
At any rate.....best wishes for which ever path you choose and keep us updated! Exciting!
Best,
Fred
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  #26  
Old 11-27-2020, 07:34 PM
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Thanks again guys. This is a summer 2021 thing at the soonest but I'll keep you posted once I've had a chance to tour the studio.
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