Well, to echo everything that's already been said...

First, it depends on the kind of band you are. Example: there's a local band, Easybake, who recorded their first CD in a club, live; they're working on their second, and learning that too much is bad for their style... they're a bluesy, boozy, Southern punk band who would suffer from too much quality, if you follow. They have a setup in the loft one of them lives in, the best stuff they can afford, and they're just going for it! With my band, Kavish, it's more 'album as art', with lots of layers and detail, so pristine sound and crisp performances are important.

Secondly, it depends on the knowledge you can access. The drummer in Easybake is a sound engineer at local clubs; the bassist/singer in my band, Kavish, has been recording for years, is a huge Beatles/ELO fan, and is obsessive (in a good way!) about learning techniques, and putting them into practice. Having recorded with other bands, it makes a huuuuge difference, believe me.

Thirdly, it depends on the equipment you can access. If you're an Easybake type band, you can get by (even maybe benefit!) from less high-end gear, because it will give you the sound you're going for; for a Kavish type band, you need higher-end mics, preamps, mixers, and consoles, to get the best signal you possibly can.

So, to DIY or not to DIY isn't really the question: it's, CAN you DIY and get what you want? If you can, you should: it'll be much cheaper in the long run, and with the level of gear available now, the quality will be as good as what you can get at a 'local' level studio.

Good luck, and get that demo where we can all hear it!








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KAVISH

Subterranean Spider Studios


If thine enemy wrong thee, buy each of his children a drum - Chinese Proverb

I am in the mixing stages of my material and my producer and I have been discussing what to mix for
I have no plan as of yet to produce a CD because most of the people who will be listening to my music will be downloading it
This means we are mixing more for computer spakers and earbuds
I don't pretend that my music is multi-million dollar major label music so why spend the money to act like it is?
Think about this

To produce a CD you need to have it recorded
Mastered
Mass produced (at least 1000 copies)
Gatefold artwork
Buy a bar code
All of this so you can pay postage to send those CDs to booking agents and clubs etc.... just so some guy with a one inch ponytail can either throw it in the trash or give it to a friend


To make your tracks avalable for download you need to put it up on a site and charge per download
You can also make al the album art available for download as well
No postage
No reproduction costs
No barcodes etc.....


Check out my favorite artist's download page
http://foetus.org/
He offers any complete album for $9.99 plus the album artwork
You can burn it to CD or just transfer it to a player
If I have my way, this will be me too
Record company?
What's that?








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You say irritant, I say catalyst

Rockula! wrote:

Record company?
What's that?

I know quite a few bands that are signed to "labels" now, which means they sell your CD in their webstore.
They really have no point when you're going to self finance, self produce, and self promote your band anyway

Our band did go into a studio to produce our last EP though we have aquired the equipment now to produce a studio sound in our own jam space. There is a slight difference due to the accoustics of the room but when all is said and done it would be hard to tell the difference. Peace on ya!








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It's so important to make best friends in life!

Tama and Medicine Man Drums, Zildjian, Remo, Roc-n-Soc, DW and Pro-mark.



www.myspace.com/thestarseedproject

recording at home is fun. don't let anyone tell you you have to have the "best" or it's not worth it. I've heard good-sounding records come out of totally crappy home studios.

basically, you need to know how to mic the kit, then how to eq/process it. or you could go the route of getting decent sounds recorded, then pay someone experienced to mix it. I think these days it's much easier to record yourself if you have a decent sounding room to record drums in.








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www.myspace.com/alanselectronicmuse

twisteddrummer wrote:

It really depends on what you need the recording for. We demo everything as a means of songwriting, and this would probably work for something for clubs to listen to. Home studio stuff is great, but it is reeal hard to get good acoustic drum sounds. If you don't mind using triggers or electronics a home studio will be cheaper in the long run, but you are going to need some one to help you learn the recording process and how to use the software. However if you want a good acoustic drum sound you need a good room and good microphones, as well as good recording equipment. This makes studios a worthwhile investment for anything you want to put out as a finished product.
As time has moved on and our recording knowledge has improved we budget our albums this way: 1.Preproduce at home- have the songs ready to record, get the clicks recorded etc. When you are ready to go to the studio 2. Record the drum tracks in the studio. Make sure to take time getting good tones-being thrifty here will not save any money in the long run. Also try to capture midi data for at least kick and snare during initial performance. I could go on and on with this step, but I'll stop myself here. 3. Record all the rest of your tracks at your home studio. Saves lots of studio time and gives youthe budget to: 4. Pay someone else to mix it for you. They will give your recording some input from out side the band. Also if you can afford to use someone with a bit of a name it can help give your recording some "street cred". 5. Make sure to save money to pay for mastering. This can be done by the person in step4, but it might be better to go to someone else. Just be careful this step really makes or breaks a recording especially these days when final wave forms tend to look like big squares as opposed to wave forms. Apparently overall volume is more important than dynamics in most of today's music. Any way without proper mastering your recording won't sound polished and will really sound crappy after it gets squashed into a MP3 or other compressed format.

This is some really good advice! I second the section about triggering. Triggering is a fast, economical way to get a good drum sound without blowing lots of money on mics (don't forget the overheads and room mic.)! Also, if you want to do this, make sure that you choose a studio who is using the same format of media that your home studio is going to use, i.e. choosing a studio with ADAT because you have a home studio which also uses ADAT.

I would say it all depends on whet you intend to do with what you are recording and the time you have available to learn how to get exactly what you want.








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Mike

http://www.mikemccraw.com
http://www.dominoretroplate.com

http://www.youtube.com/drummermikemccraw
http://www.myspace.com/drummermikemccraw

for my bands first EP we went into the studio (since we had no idea how to record). but lately we recorded a few home studio songs and put them up and havent recieved asa much feedback as if we were to enter a nice studio. like some guy said up there, if you have awesome equipment then definatly go for it. but if you and your band arent sure, then believe me dont do it. its not that you wont get taken seriously, its just that, no one is going to want to listen to your band if you have bad qaulity recordings. if you dont want to listen to them then whaat makes you think everyone else is going to. just out of curiousity what genre do you play?








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www.myspace.com/tomorrownevercameny
www.myspace.com/rayaltamura
CHECK OUT MY BAND IF YOU LIKE
Misery Signals
Underoath

SGarrett wrote:

I think the two biggest factors are available gear and knowledge of sound engineering. A good engineer can make or break a recording. Beyond that there's mixing and mastering. If you know what you're doing you can put out a very professional sounding album by yourself.

And $3k for eight songs is actually pretty cheap, for a quality product. I know someone who's spending $20k on 12 songs and even that's still cheap compared to what a major label puts out.

$20K can go very quickly. Especially when you get used to the nice studio time the first day. You won't want to go back.








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Do what you can and do it well.

www.myspace.com/spacelounge1
www.myspace.com/whitehallsessions

Rob Crisp, you're UK aren't you? Do you know Pete Miles? We recorded our last album with him, he's a genius with recording. We did our entire album for around £1600 which included renting out Earth Terminal Studios for 3 days - deffo worth looking into if you want something you will be happy with

www.myspace.com/petermiles

As far as which to do, I think it's already been said but just pick the right method for the job - a proper album, save up and get it done right, to the best quality you can. For a little demo then by all means do it yourself if you can, as it can save a lot of money that go into making other areas of the demo better, or even just paying to get it sent out places








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Random Hand
Me!!



Mapex Drums
DW8000 Pedals
Sabian Cymbals
Vater Sticks