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I have worked with some great studios over the years and will continue to do so. I would ALWAYS prefer to work with pros than to do it myself... but, in order to be a bit "quicker on my feet" and theoretically (but probably not actually) save money - and not THINK about how much the studio clock is costing me... regardless of how efficient it is (am I rambling?)... I bought:* a TASCAM FW-1082 "surface"* a VoiceLive vocal processor (pretty darn kewl)* a Shure SM58* one KRK Rokit 5And I already had a Yamaha PSR-240 Keyboard.The Tascam came with Cubase LE.I also bought a book: Cubase 4 Power! I'm 2/3 of the way through...My first song "Be With You" came out pretty bad, but I would love to hear comments on the second - "I Do": http://www.broadjam.com/transmit/transm ... sq=2Common people say "Sounds great!" while pros say "the drums sound stiff."?I haven't figured out how to mix yet, so the whole thing is basically mono, and the vocals are just stand ins until I find a powerhouse tenor who can sing it an octave higher, but I'm wondering about the groove...Ideas?Bill Ross aka WoundedEgo.comhttp://www.woundedego.com

Well, yeah... the drums are very stiff... which is fine if that what you're going for. If you're thinking you want it to sound like a real drummer, you should program exactly what a real drummer would play. Or better yet, get yourself one of the many "drums in a box" programs around now... I use BFD, but there are plenty to choose from. They'll have pre-programmed grooves that sound and feel much more "real" than the type of groove you programmed. I was just listening on my Powerbook speakers, so I can't comment much past the drums... Generally, I think you're right... use your home rig for roughing out demos... but if you're looking to pitch "broadcast quality" you may want to think about hiring someone to produce and mix for you.