can u really do it all @ home?

i was just remembering a david banner interview in a murder dog magazine b4 he became famous. and he mentioned how alot of people had beats but they had non pro mixing and recording. check out a song he produced on the "OZ SOUNDTRACK" and it sounds liek something off soundclick and then compare it 2 his current work. which got me thinking....the pros record @ million dollar studios, use professional engineers that went 2 skool for that, have acess to professional session players, pro mastering etc...so if ur a do it urselfer do u really stand a chance on achieving that PRO SOUND?

Yes!

i would think so. its really just a matter of preference and what people want to hear. I dunno if u fu** with madlib, but his shit is grimy as hell and lately he been getting the mass appeal. I think skill outweighs the fidelity.

i dont - i think skill is a huge part of it but it wont nessecarily make you shit sound great on different systems- wheras aa skilled enginner can make even the most uninspired music sound sonically pleasing...

would studios, mixers and mastering engineers charge exoborant prices if you could do the same with a tascam, sm58, composer pro and boss efx?

you could achieve a great grimey sound which people could really get into but thats not the same as achieveing a balanced, powerful, deep yet shiny overall sound...

greg

its possible, mixing and recording is an art within itself, which truthfully, everyone cant do it... everyone doesnt have an ear for it, but with technology, we are involving the computer screen to show the lines and other things for which we cant hear... so with that being said, I personally think that a person that did go to school for will have a slight heads up better then what he or she knew before they would have went to school for it, but to me, i know its all an ear thing... even know you can be trained to read the screen for things you can hear especially using DAWS

At the very least, I think you can do all your tracking at home.....then just take that and mix it in a better equipped studio, and still compete with the big boys.

As far as mixing and everything at home....you can at least make it sound good enough to get a label interested in you (if your music is good, of course) and then once they're on board, they will put up the money to have your shtt mixed in a 'pro' studio.

For me though, even if I was working full time in a fat studio, I wouldn't be going for a shiny glossy sound anyway. That's just not what appeals to me right now.

I was reading a thread on another forum and older cats (engineers ost of them) were remembering old tracks that they thought were incredible and listened back and heard the quality asounding terrible, but the song making the memory sweet.

Write good songs!! Focus more on that than on gear and on sound quality, but don;t abandon either.

I think it is possible to do a good job at home, but you will robably be happier with someone else doing it since it's hard to distance yourself from your stuff to do it well.

Plus having someone else there lets you focus on the song writing and not fixing the mac

I do it all out of necesity, but I often vercomplicate things when i reality the whole recording and sound aspects can be kept very simple.

madlib has a engineer with kick ass gear make it sound good and fix it.

still grimey, but not u or me grimey.

it also depends on the equipment you are using, you have to know your equipment, and what the finish product will sound like on other systems, and im like itcyvinyl says, u definitely can track at home, and do the rest somewhere else if need be

elmacaco wrote:I do it all out of necesity, but I often vercomplicate things when i reality the whole recording and sound aspects can be kept very simple.

Yeah, same here. Toward the late 90's I got tired of paying for time at wack spots that couldn't mix hip hop properly. It was hard finding spots that could do hip hop but didn't charge too much.

Anyway, so I too out of necessity started buying gear so I could record at home. It's been some years and I got a decent setup. I ain't the greatest engineer, but I blow most project studios and even some 'real' studios outta the water on mere time invested and dedication to my craft. Funny too, cause I never intended to have engineering skills, it was just a natural progression on my path..

TO DO IT AT HOME:
GOOD MIC(S), GOOD MIC PRE(S), GOOD A/D, D/A CONVERSION(ASSUMING YOU ARE USING ADATS OR DAW'S), A GOOD 32-TRACK CONSOLE(ALLEN&HEATH or SOUNDCRAFT), A PROPER RECORDING AREA FOR VOCALS, SOME OUTBOARD SUCH AS EQ'S OR CHANNEL STRIPS. GOOD DAW SOFTWARE WITH A BALANCED VARIETY OF DIFFERENT PLUG-INS.

The hardest part about mixing on computers, is that if you want to do it the right way, you have to invest in some configuration that will allow you to send each of your software tracks to a console and buy the console . IMO, although you can achieve excellent results with 'in the box' mixes, a proper mix is done on a decent console to ensure good separation and improved stereo imaging. Not to mention DAW summing busses still have issues!!!

tx pimp wrote:i was just remembering a david banner interview in a murder dog magazine b4 he became famous. and he mentioned how alot of people had beats but they had non pro mixing and recording. check out a song he produced on the "OZ SOUNDTRACK" and it sounds liek something off soundclick and then compare it 2 his current work. which got me thinking....the pros record @ million dollar studios, use professional engineers that went 2 skool for that, have acess to professional session players, pro mastering etc...so if ur a do it urselfer do u really stand a chance on achieving that PRO SOUND?

Cash Money Records does most of their ish at home in their studios. Master P does this also. Its the ear not the gear. Dont think recording your ish at a million dollar studio means its gonna be a million dollar record. All about skill, talent, and preserverence

sampling?yes
programming?yes
recording?yes
mixing?give it a shot!
mastering?hell naw!

i mean i do that stuff at home too, but anyone who's been doing this knows,... if you do a CD you NEED a place mastering your stuff for you. That is if you are ambitious and sure about bringing your music to a wider range of people

Cash Money Records does most of their ish at home in their studios. Master P does this also. Its the ear not the gear. Dont think recording your ish at a million dollar studio means its gonna be a million dollar record. All about skill, talent, and preserverence Wink

Yeah, cash money do all there stuff at manny fresh's house. Master P's latest CD doesnt sound that good though.

Emakulate Conception wrote:

Cash Money Records does most of their ish at home in their studios. Master P does this also. Its the ear not the gear. Dont think recording your ish at a million dollar studio means its gonna be a million dollar record. All about skill, talent, and preserverence Wink

Yeah, cash money do all there stuff at manny fresh's house. Master P's latest CD doesnt sound that good though.

Yea, I dont really care for any no limit ish but I read somewhere that they record inhouse to save money when the album flops. Business Technique

There is an old thread here somewhere i forget about an engineer stating that unless you had training it will be pretty difficult to match the sound, skill, and expertise of a mix done at a pro studio with sound acoustic rooms, calibrated sound system, and a pros with years of experience releasing commerical releases( Hmmn maybe that was an SOS article I forgot).

Maybe it`s ok to do a home production for local or street release but on the real if a artist or a major was going to do recording with your music that are going to give a budget for a commerical mixing and mastering too they would want it done by a pro.

Why still most of the pros still have either a enigneer to work with at a full pro rigged home studio or choose to do a mix down at a commericlal studio? I agree with the author of this thread that mixing, mastering is an art by a truely talented, experienced, and knowledgeable artists (engineesr like Young Guru, George Massenburg, Tony Maserati, Mike Elizardo, and others.

I`m sure others on here more experienced than I can make better mixes than I , adding to that if your mixes sounds great you are able to make pro level mixes too for major artists.

Recording, Mixing, and Mastering are major pieces of art which can make or break an release.

This is just my opinion not fact different point of view.

I think everyones got a good point.

Being a good producer also includes knowing when to put something in someone elses hands. But you gotta also know whats going on.

Try to learn as much as possible when it comes to mixing and mastering, tracking, etc. it can only make your game better. If your mixes arent good enough, go to a studio.

But like i said, you gotta know whats going on. Just becouse you go to a studio doesnt mean the final result will be good or better than yours. Try to be a part of the studio session as much as possible. ask if you can sit in on mastering, etc. and if all else fails, ask as many questions as possible.

If you find a studio that does satisfactory work, try to build a relationship with them. Also talk to the engineer. Ask him what formats he needs if you track it at home. also ask if he can recomend a tracking setup and vocal mic setup you can use to do basic tracking at home. That way you can set it up so you track everything at home, track vocals, and keep all the creativity in your production studio........when you are ready to mix and master connect with the engineer. Atleast get your beats tracked out at home. Vocals might be more practical at a studio.

Let him know that you want to track at home so you arent luggin your gear around........but that you want to mix/master in the studio so you get professional results. Also talk to him, let him know your vision of the track, etc. tracks can be mixed multiple ways, if the engineer knows your vision he can do a better job achieving the vision...........basically be part of yoru music from start to finish.

ITs all about your relationship with the engineer.