Over the past 12 months I have been focusing on learning my board(Roland VS2400CD) and also getting the sounds I want out of my instruments and amps.  I have been working on one song that is still baffling me. It sounds great on every system except my PA system, where it sounds unlike commercial recordings. Though in the car, at home, everywhere else it seems to sound fine. I am not up to snuff on my compression skills and havent really come to grips with panning. I record and mix and try to get the levels perfect while recording each instrument.  Anyone else run into this one song syndrome?  What did you do to solve the problem?

 I suspect a lot of the problem is not knowing the board completely, though a lot seems to come from unfimiliarity with what makes a commercial recording sparkle and have that radio playable sound(other than the $50,000 worth of recording time).

 I figure once I learn my board and get the sound I want for one song, every other song will be a snap as I will have that basic 80's type of sound I am looking for(think Alan Parsons, Asia, Toto).

We have just launched a new online service for music producers and singers, and I believe it's the first of it's kind.

VocalTuning allows producers to send their vocal files and get them sent back perfectly tuned. We can take any vocalist (even someone who is completely tone deaf) and make them sound like a strong singer.
Up until now, music producers have had to do all the tuning work themselves with software like Auto-Tune and Melodyne. The site offers a new approach where people can literally send a file to us and get it back perfectly tuned within 24 hours. 

I’m sure a lot of Home Studio Tips readers would find this an interesting feature, especially those who produce music themselves.

http://VocalTuning.com

MacIdol.com did a great article about recording vocals. They cover just about everything from mic placement, headphone mix and recording levels.

They also had a cool idea of using Duvet (blankets) to create a low budget on-the-fly vocal isolation booth. Pretty good read, check out the article on  recording vocals.