[Nono]

On 23 mei, 17:07, wrote:
On May 22, 3:57 pm, Allen Corneau wrote:

what are some key elements?

Professional musicians, professional producer, professional engineer,
professional studio, professional mastering, .......

Sorry for the cynical response, but...

Forgiven, I was expecting I'd get some cynicism.

My question is based on the assumption that the above laundry list
isn't practical. What are some key things an amateur home recording
enthusiast should be aware of to approximate this "commercial" sound?

What I'm largely referring to is what I'm going to call the overall
"sound field" you hear on a commercial CD. I find that even if I take
a nice clean stereo track that I've created or even a professionally
recorded backing track and mix a decently recorded, centered vocal
with it - recorded with a LD condenser, compress it a bit and add a
tasteful amount of reverb, it just doesn't sound the same. It can
sound decent, in tune, etc. even loud, but obviously they're applying
some other kinds of legerdermain to the tracks.

I'm referring to a typical pop-country commercial release type of
sound - which I realize is going to have a generally different
character than a recording of a choir, stage musical, orchestra, etc.
Things like Alan Jackson's "Gone Country", Leeann Rimes' "How Do I
Live", Sara Evans' "I Could Not Ask For More", etc.

Suggestion: Why don't you take one or more of these songs that you
like for their commercial sound and try to record them yourself. If
you manage to get close to the original you'll know the ingredients
and otherwise you'll know what ingredient it is that you're missing.
That is the most important thing that was left out of the mentioned
laundry list: Practice, a lot of practice.

Good luck,
Norman.