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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Recording Corner »

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How many bands here record their albums at home if you have a contract, do you have a choice?

I believe nobody here has a recording contract. Those days are long past. And if somebody had a contact they would not be recording at home unless it was the equivalent of a proper studio.

It is very very hard to get a home recorded album to sound the same as a studio album. Even if you have incredibly expensive gear it is still hard to do. More so if you are in a band. You need engineers and perhaps a producer. Or at least the engineer working in a producers role.

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Last edited: Sep 23, 2009 22:47:47

Very true Zak.

You just can't be lazy about how you sound in the studio or while recording at home. If it takes 8 hours to get the mics set up so they sound great, so be it.

When recording at home, you have to have somebody that has a vision of the final product and that person needs to step up and tell the other members when they need to redo a take, and how the band is going to record everything. Otherwise you sort of get demos.

We did home recording once, and it didn't turn out horribly, but they were just home demos. We didn't have a method to record. We didn't have enough mics to get a good sound out of the drums(and the recorder only had one or two inputs. I think we had 4 drum mics that we ran into a mixer and then back into the recorder. We couldn't mix the drums afterwards.

Unless there is an outside producer overseeing everything, the recording process should be the same at a home studio as at a rental studio, as long as the equipment is of comparable quality. Any band producing themselves has to work out what tracks to keep etc. We recorded three CD’s using rental studios and in two weeks will record a new one in a newly completed home studio. As long as everything works, the ability to spend as many hours as we want without stressing over studio time has got to be an advantage. The only time constraint would be the engineer that will have to be paid in cash or free studio time.

My dad (Sid Feller) was a musical producer for decades. He would have gone nuts at how we were doing things if he was ever in the studio when we were recording. He used to tease me about our having to pay and put out our own CD’s. He asked if we were going to give them out as door prizes. It’s a different world now then it used to be. There isn’t an army of A&R guys running around signing up non mainstream bands. If you have to pay and do it yourself, anything that saves costs and produces similar quality should be the way to go.

We handle it that way:

we record our stuff at home, at rehearsal rooms and after having the insturment tracks recorded we will give them to a tone engeneer to mix it up ... you know
it not so expensive as going to the studio

we bought our own interface an we rent microphones - so there is no problem and you can record whenever you want...

Band: http://www.myspace.com/theterrortones
image

GeologyRocksCA
My dad (Sid Feller) was a musical producer for decades. .

Is that the Sid Feller who produce Ray Charles?

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

DannySnyder

GeologyRocksCA
My dad (Sid Feller) was a musical producer for decades. .

Is that the Sid Feller who produce Ray Charles?

Yes. They were good friends for over 40 years. In case anyone has ever wondered if musical talent is inherited, I’m living proof that it either isn’t, or it skips a generation.

There is a funny story about the first time they got together. After Ray signed with ABC, my dad flew from New York to LA so they could spend a few days getting to know each other and build up trust. When my dad got to his house, his young son answered the door and said that his dad was down the street. My dad found Ray underneath his wife’s car using a hanger to reattach her muffler after whatever the hell it is that holds mufflers up busted near the house. As my dad said, he could do anything.

The first time I ever got to hold drum sticks and play on a set, was when I was 8 and Hal Blaine let me try his at recording seasons my dad was conducting. This was during the recording of an album of instrumental (elevator music) versions of Mamas and Papas songs. I went to two of the three sessions for that album, and got to play his set both times. He had a different set at each session – he said it was to get different sounds. I could not believe someone would have more than one drum set.

Very awesome!

Great stories!

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
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"It starts... when it begins" -- Ralf Kilauea

Thanks for all the feed back. I built this home studio to record my second album and am realizing that I need to spend alot more money, not to mention alot more time in the learning curve (which is really kinda fun). I started to doubt if I could really pull it off though, but I'm not givin' up until I record a great sounding album in my basement. It's just nice to know that I'm not completely alone or crazy.

You get great results recording in your basement, provided you have good mics and a reasonably good recorder. The major drawback of home recorder is the number of tracks you can record at once.

I started with a Korg D1200 which works fine, but only can record 4 tracks at the same time. I moved up to a Korg D3200 which can record 12 tracks, simultaneously, in 24 bit (16 tracks in 16 bit) which is plenty to get a good rhythm track or just go for it live. Personally, I like live recordings the best.

Another thing that is a must is having some reasonably good software for mastering. I use Sound Forge which is inexpensive and does the job without busting the bank.

The major problem I run into at home is getting the drums to sound right. That's where having a big open room to record the drums in is hard to match in a small home studio. The other problem is getting the right balance of live sound and isolation if you don't like using headphones.

The advantage, once you get things set up is huge! If you're rehearsing regularly and leave everything exactly the same, it's easy to start the recorder. I've never been able to replicate those magic moments that only seem to happen at practice. On the other hand, there's nothing wrong with recording in a professional studio if you've got the bucks!

Bottom line is, assuming that you have the basic knowledge of how to record, it's the performance that makes a recording sound great.

Joe Jabon
Banzai Surf on Facebook

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