Hello Anne

For myself it would scare me rigid to have pre-sold an album. I find finishing the darn things causes quite enough stress as it is, and I'd be worried that knowing there were people out there baying for product might cause me to make some bad decisions. But best of luck if you do go down that route. It does seem eminently sensible if you can make it work - and I'm sure you would manage it admirably.

Just one thought re keeping costs down, and using home recording - which I know was not what you were asking, so apologies for slight thread dilution.

I'm a producer myself and know a fair bit about recording (I wrote music for tv for years and produce other bands), plus I've always had some decent kit - but I'd NEVER consider making a record myself without someone else to at least co-produce, and someone else to co-engineer. Both those roles need a different head to performing, and the number of people who can deliver a really good professional standard of recording entirely on their own is tiny. You need to loose yourself in the music, and not be watching levels and tweaking knobs etc.

And if you intend to use session musicians, there's all the more reason to use a comfortable studio with a wide range of mics, the correct acoustic areas for each instrument, and all the other bells, whistles, coffee machines and parking spaces.

That said, what I have taken to doing, to more than halve my costs, is to swap back and forth between home and studio to get the best of both worlds.

Now that I have protools on a mac laptop, and, crucially, an SE Reflexion filter (which is a whole studio the size of half a pressure cooker) I can now record guide tracks and minor overdubs at home, while using the skills and kit of a proper studio for the main takes and sessions.

I can also do basic time-consuming editing at home, but benefit from the expensive plug-ins, studio speakers, sweetening software and, most importantly, the fresh expert ears of my co-producer/s.

The last two albums have been done like this. Mixed Moss went back and forth between my house and Ali Russell's studio (then at the Music Room) 10 times. I think I did four full days with him but many many more at home.

I doubt this is an option for you, Anne, but it could work for others who, like me, enjoy fiddling and twiddling with kit, but are aware that in can get in the way of capturing that killer take.

Tom