Introduction

So you just thought up a great song, and your first reaction is to whip out your mbox, fire up pro-tools and lay down a few tracks before you forget it and the song becomes lost in your memory. First you record a guitar track, and then lay down some vocals, which sounded flawless. Then you add drums, bass, lead guitar, harmonies, and all that other junk to fill the sound void. You spend about 18 hours sitting in front of your computer recording, tweaking, arranging and mixing, completely forgetting that your are both hungry and tired (and it's probably time for a shower). Then you finally finish. You listen too it three or four times, admiring the talent that just came from a single day's work. Now it's time to show it off. First you send it to your friends. They all tell you how great it sounds, and that you should look into becoming a professional musician. Of course your mom thinks it sounds great, and your confidence is rising by the hour.

So you take the plunge and post your music on some forum for the scrutiny of those less tolerant of imperfection. A few people tell you that it is a great song, and you begin to think that this is a good time to trade in your old Squire for a Gibson. And then it comes. "It sounds like it was recorded in a garage," and "Maybe you should consider different mic techniques," and of course "It sounds like you need some better EQ, but for an armature, it's pretty good." Ouch. These comments keep rolling in.

You decide to take a break from recording for a few days, going back to listening to your favorite bands. You go back some time later and listen to your song, and what do you know. It does sound like it was recorded in a bedroom, and not just any bedroom, but your bedroom. It sounds pretty lame, and you wish you could take back all the copies you sent to your friends. But you can't. That song will forever sit in the pile of armature recordings, waiting for you to go back some day and laugh at the poor recording quality.

So what is the difference between the "recorded in a bedroom" sound and "recorded in a million dollar studio" sound? That is what we are here to talk about. How to make those bedroom recordings sound like, or at least approach the quality of high end studios. After spending years recording in a home studio, adding to the pile of embarrassing rubbish, I thought I would share some of the things I have learned about how to make a home recording sound good. I hope you find what you are looking for. In fact, some day I will look at this introduction and wish I had never posted such garbage for others to read, but that is all part of the learning process. Now, let's get recording.