schtauffen : thanks for the recommendation
valentin0 :
http://tinyurl.com/recordingstudiolist
approx 100 options to choose from knock yourself out.
best way to cut down costs and maximize sound is preparation/preproduction.
get your song layout right. practise to metronome. decide if the song sounds better faster (upbeat) but not too fast cos doesn't allow the vocals to even catch the breath, or sounds better slower, but may sound draggy. feel/groove is important.
drummers - consistency. drum tuning (inapplicable if triggering/midi) too many times I've heard drummers playing a different variation every different take. yes it may be called "improvisation" but dammit make up your mind.
guitars/bass - go for a setup with a good guitar technician (I highly recommend lookforbeez.com). intonation problems ,jack problems , etc. tuning is very important, be paranoid it'll pay. even to the details of guitar pick choice or fingers for bass.
vocals -
http://soft.com.sg/forum/showthread.php/157449-Vocalist-s-Guide-Checklist-For-Improvement
self-responsibility - many musicians overlook this. if your health practice is crap , you'll never be at your best to become better when you're practising/performing/recording. I personally cancel recording sessions if I'm sick or especially if the band/members are sick because if it passes around, everyone loses. medical, time etc is lost.It's something your parents tell/teach you to do, learn to become a healthy human being first before you talk about becoming a musician.
Finance/budget - simple. per song divide by amount of members. or request for studio to time how much each member's costs for recording/individual instrument editing. then everyone divides the mixing/mastering of the overall track.Super fine line drawn among friends but that clears up all misunderstandings. here's a thing about per song packages, if you're a 5 piece band and you pay $800/song, you may actually only rack up $500 worth because another 5 piece band with shitloads of guitar layers / back vocals paid $800/song while yours is only a few layers. and it won't make sense if an acoustic duo paying $800/song because it's just acoustic guitars and vocals and maybe a little tambourine. if you travel to Thailand often you'll know why they say "ALWAYS GO BY METER!!"
Excuses - I've recorded a 17 year old kid before who works part time job to pay for his own solo recording and his mother is ill and recorded a drummer/guitarist who airdrums on his own to practise and hides his guitar/amp in a secret compartment of his cupboard because his conservative dad will kill him if he found out. There're many ways to save money if you're unemployed and I was one of them when NSF now get $480 (april2012) and back then I was the last batch of Recruit $270 , month after new recruits get $350 and my pay/promotion was still unupdated at $270 after I became Private. I dumped my ex gf , don't smoke, don't club, don't whore, I even hated to use the phone for fear of unwanted high bills, volunteered guard duty (my vocation was driver) to save food and lodging and transport, and I paid for my own drumset/amps/audio gear 10 years ago when the costs of audio interfaces was higher and technology wasn't convenient back then.you guys have it lucky now.
