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hey guys, I am not a recording engineer, am familiar with making demos at home, but have always flirted with home recording vs studios.

I was watching a special about Sun Studios and how they had no eq, and that everything had to sound good when tracking. If you wanted to a different eq, change your amp settings/move the mic.

I have been doing some work on a macbook with logic/garageband compared to my normal boss 8 track and was thinking,

if one were to have a nice setup as far as mics/pres go, and a basic understanding of compression, would they be able to make great recordings?

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hithere Wed, 02/17/2010 - 11:41

hey

well the reason I asked is because while I always planned to mix track drums, and grand pianos at nice studios.

I always wanted to track guitars, vocals, keyboards, and some bass at home.

I just always wondered what could be done on my part as far as tracking at home, and being able to have enough compression knowledge to listen to a nice enough mix so that I could ride the faders for what I want volume wise, and do my simple panning stuff.

moonbaby Wed, 02/17/2010 - 12:26

Well, you gotta learn somewhere. I first learned about compressors when I was a teen-ager and wanted to earn enough money for a Fender Jazzmaster at the local pawnshop. I was a mere 14 years old and my dad made me deal to paint the
backyard workshop to earn that $70.00 for the guitar. I looked at the size of the shop and wondered how I could do it in the time alotted. Then my buddy Frank Good (yes, folks, THAT Frank Good!) brought his dad's air compressor and paint nozzle over and we did that whole building in no time flat...Whew!!! And, man, was it easy to use; I just had to learn to bleed the backpressure properly with that schrader valve.
I'm still trying to find that valve on my Distressor...:)

natural Wed, 02/17/2010 - 14:37

hithere, post: 300070 wrote: to have enough compression knowledge to listen to a nice enough mix so that I could ride the faders for what I want volume wise, and do my simple panning stuff.

That's a far cry from

It's a great economical way to work. A lot of people do that even without having an understanding of compression and come out with very good results.
As always, the more you know and the more you do, the better you get. (AKA- practice makes perfect)

moonbaby Wed, 02/17/2010 - 15:53

I have had MANY geetars in my life, and most of them are long gone. I bought that one when I was 14, and it had to be an early version because it was beat to hell in 1969 (!) and had what I later learned was clay dot postion markers. I swapped that guitar for a 50-watt Marshall head WITH TREMOLO (!) 2 years later when I aquired a beat-up 1956 Strat with the matching Deluxe amp from a kid down the street for a whopping $125. I swapped THAT to Dave Hlubeck of Molly Hatchett 'fame'. And that retarded such-and-such threw the guitar into a trash bin one night ata local club when he couldn't tune it. Life has been full of old guitars for me...:)

Davedog Thu, 02/18/2010 - 00:54

Dont get me started on this sob-fest.....I will say that I did make a few bucks with the pawnshop buy and sell guitar bizness a many a year ago...But compared to what it would be now.....The $900 I got in the 70's for that 1962 Strat seems like a mere pittance....(L series....Aztec Silver turned a shade of purpleish green....played itself.....$175 from the pawnshop WAAAAAA!!!)uhhhh (1961 LesPaul Model SG....trapezoid makers, vibrola, P90's!!! instead of buckers....Custom-Built for RG stenciled in the tailpiece cover...$125 in the pawn shop....$950 from the collector....Played itself....WWWWAAAAAA!!!!) Theres a LOT more. (1964 Strat....three-color burst....L series...big-assed boat neck....$195 from the pawn shop...$650 on the sale....played itself and was the best sounding strat I ever heard.....WAAAAAA!!!).....(Cream White 1965 P-Bass....$139 from Pawn and sons...$450 sale.....etc etc etc)....(1961 Jazz Bass.....Stack knobs....metal plate....at LEAST 13 colors of Krylon on it....Soul Band owners...ancient Ricky hardshell case....Bass=$125, case=$25.....STOLEN!!!)....never mind ....its late.

If I add it up now...."A feller could have himself a pretty good weekend with that kinda dough"