Ray--Thank you! I think my guitar player has something like that. The problem, for me, is that he just knows basically how to use it. I would like to have a more experienced sound engineer. Something to consider for the future, though.

Roxhythe--Thank you for your long and informative post. I really appreciate your taking the time. It seems you understand where I'm coming from.

You mentioned about the band being well-rehearsed, knowing how to back off on their individual instrument at certain parts of a song, etc. We are used to listening to each other, backing off for one person's solo, singing a little quieter on backup, leading or following as appropriate. We play together in front of an audience, so to speak, 3 times a month, with some new songs every time, and the songs for this CD project are all favorites. Like you said, if we can play it without glaring mistakes live, which we've done many times on every song we want to record, we can surely do it while being recorded. I can see re-recording a section if I play the wrong chord somewhere, but the likelihood of a big mistake like that is very slight because we know these songs so well. If anything, we play them better each time because we add some more color to them, but we aren't likely to mess them up. Anyway, we've all gotten good at taking mistakes and making them into something that sounds like it was supposed to be there. [Linked Image] We've played together for more than 2 years, and the people in the band were musicians who heard me play and asked to play with me because they like the songs I choose and like to improvise, and they are all at a certain level of ability where we have nothing to be ashamed of musically.

Maybe the engineers are used to people who really don't have a realistic idea of how bad they sound and want the studio to make them sound like rock stars or something. That isn't us. We know we're not career recording artists, but we have enough talent to make a nice CD if somebody can just capture something close to what we sound like in person. We all have high standards musically, but our approach to music is not about perfection, more about creativity and enjoying that magic that happens when we play together and cooperate to make something good.

Your theory that the studio wants to take advantage of all of their capabilities because their name is going on the label makes a lot of sense to me. Can't really blame them for that. Maybe the ones I've talked to only want to deal with pros or big names that will help them draw in more big names. Still, being amateur doesn't always mean lack of talent or ability in music and I think some engineer might not mind working with us if they met us and heard us. I would prefer to be told "we don't deal with small potatoes" rather than talked into something more than I want. I'll keep looking for the right engineer/studio. Sounds like there might be somebody out there who will be a good fit for us and our budget.

Okay, gotta stop rambling here. Sorry!

Thank you for all the info and insight. This helps me so much to figure out what we need and what our options are. THANK YOU!!! --Jean

[This message has been edited by JL (edited 06-06-2004).]