Tips On Recording and Mixing First Album

[Skinny Viking]

I love you my little spanish viking!

 

[Chaos_Moon]

Also: heed this warning: recording music is like crack. A lot of forum members (myself included) started off exactly like you, and now we are hopelessly addicted to engineering audio. We are a lot more ugly, poor, bitchy, and smelly than we would have been had we just recorded at a professional studio that first time. And I fucken love it.

Hahah you fuckin' nailed it. I'm still starting out, but I'm already addicted.

I think if you follow StefTD's advice, you'll be happy with it in the end. And I'm sure there's some guys here who would do an incredible job mixing/mastering it for you. If your immediate plan is to get an album out, I'd do it that way. Then, if you want to pursue recording further, you can keep learning, while not being pressured about putting out an incredible first mix for your band.

 

[Ratel]

Also: heed this warning: recording music is like crack. A lot of forum members (myself included) started off exactly like you, and now we are hopelessly addicted to engineering audio. We are a lot more ugly, poor, bitchy, and smelly than we would have been had we just recorded at a professional studio that first time. And I fucken love it.

lol! 1 year into recording/mixing and i'm uglier and smellier than ever. i also still mix like shit

 

[colonel kurtz]

Like I said in my last post, im pretty sure that we will be sending the mix off to someone to master it. My concern is in recording, really.

not only do you apparently not know the difference between a producer and engineer, but apparently don't know the difference between mixing and mastering

also, FWIW, the whole "we're gonna track everything on the cheap and pay someone a few bucks to mix it" thing is totally backwards, IMO...if anything, go to a pro studio, pay for a few days studio time to track your drums/guitars/bass through tens of thousands of dollars of awesome analog shit, then plunk down a few bucks later to reamp the guitar/bass tracks and maybe buy an ok mic/interface to track vocals yourself. at this point, with your well-recorded and sweet sounding tracks, it would be much easier to get a decent mix on your own.

 

[schwinginbatman]

If you insist on recording yourself, then send someone else to mix it. Keep the files around to dick with maybe, but for God's sake, you'll be MUCH happier in the long run if you get someone else to mix and master it. The thing about mixing in the digital age is that any old schmuck can mix it. Send it off, bit the bullet, pay for it, and then spend the downtime learning how to make it better. I was the same way you are, "it'll just be cheaper if I do it!" I've currently spent over $1000 on gear, I'm sure, and my GAS list extends to the moon. It isn't cheaper. But it is sure as hell fun. Even further, you know what my first project sounded like? Complete and total butt. My second? A lesser amount of butt. Only a year of constant mixing later have I reached a point where I'm alright.