There was a time, back in the 70's, when bands would enter the studio for months or even longer. The end product was usually better for it, I think. We record at a very fast pace, usually 4 tunes at a time and In hate it! I understand monetary concerns so I live with it, but it's hard not to pine for the days when we did things cheap and took our time! I think that each tune has an organic nature to it and that takes time to develop. I would like to go analog all the way and just lay traks till we got it. But that's a pipe dream with busy schedules and high costs and all. Still, i think we would benefit from the experience of "time" and "work" in the studio. I think we would be more relaxed over time and make better musical choices and less compromise!
well, recording and composing in my home "studio", I feel I can take a quick or slow approach. I understand that studio time equals $$$ but try and save and make your own studio at home.
For a couple thousand you can get a nice pre-made, assemble-yourself vocal booth for your room.
Studio's got good gear but gear is rentable too.
A walk-in closet full of clothes makes a killer iso-booth too.
There are tons of people on line who can play on, mix and master your music.
I know it isn't everyone's cup o' tea to do the home recording thing. But at $50-$75 an hour I get sour real fast in the studio.
I've come to believe the recording process is over-rated.
Lot of things to do before the walkin. Like working on the songs, kinda like you guys may have done when you played clubs. I prefer to work on them until it is just time to move away from it. That is about when it is ready to record.
I realize that a "band" does not have this type of freedom at first glance. But there are ways to work on the song individually until the band can come back to gether.
I don't believe analog vs. digital will save anyone of us time, money or even make the songs better but I am a big fan of preparation.
I also like time...I have looked back over time and come to the conclusion that I wasn't as prepared as I had thought or wanted to be.
I wouldn't say that you say too much, no. My thing with analog is I think it's warmer, but hey I'm old and a lot of us old guys think that way! Prep is great, and I think that's a non-starter, if I'm paid to do the cut, and given the material beforehand, (which is almost never the case), then I'll be prep'd. However, in our group, with our stuff, it always seems that 3 weeks after laying down the tune and thinking we're happy with it, we'll be playing live and somebody will do something we all think is cool and we'll say, man we should have done that on the record! Of course, this could always happen and we'd be re-recording till doomsday! My point is only that in my experience, taking your time is best.
That's the ticket: perform it, then record it....if you have that opportunity.
I remember seeing Rob McConnall and the Boss Brass on tour...touring first...then they were going into the studio to record. Man, that concert smoked! The album must have been cake for the players.
I'm with Steve on the home studio thing. 10, or even 5 years ago it was a different story, but these days, buying recording equipment is cheap compared to using a studio. I've recorded in $500 a day studios in NYC for weeks at a time and it kills me to think of the awesome studio that money could have bought (I wasn't paying the bill, so it wasn't up to me). Several of my friends have recorded studio quality CD's in their homes with about $2000 and a willingness to learn the machines. Also, I would love to hop on the "analog is better than digital" bandwagon, but I can't. When it comes to recording, digital just makes more sense. It's quicker and much more flexible. You can always warm up the sound after the fact.
And to add to that, there's nothing stoppin' no one from getting nice mic pres, nice compressors, nice mics and nice AD/DA converters on the front end of the computer.
George Massenburg does everything in the box. but his experience says put something "analog"ish on the signal before it hits the computer.
Results? Well listen to Joshua Judges Ruth by Lyle Lovett. ALL in the digital realm going through nice pres, comps and very nice AD/DA. That is waaaaaarm CD.
I know on the top of my list of things to get are Lavry Blues for AD/DA, Great Rivers pres. I know that will take my stuff sonically to the next level and afford me the comfort of my small "studio".
And I'm also with Jack, that all that stuff is AFTER the song is created and feels good.
