Are professional recording studios still as relevant as they were say 10 years a

Question:

Are professional recording studios still as relevant as they were say 10 years ago?

There's a proliferative availability of hard disk drive digital portastudio devices, and also multitrack recording software for PC's and laptops nowadays.
With this in mind, is there really a need nowadays for bands and musicians to spend large sums of money booking studio time to record their tracks?
Are recording studios set to become a thing of the past?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Ill speak from both ends here. I am a musician that records often, some myself, some by buddies, and a couple by studios as a local musician for bands. I am going to go to school for this topic as well. This is just like say jewelery. You have mass produced, cheap looking crap jewelery that was made wuickly with low end gear. This is fine, it does the job, but if you want something truly beatuiful and well made, you go to a jeweler. Music is an artform, and the people that play, mix and record music are artists. The way its done is truly a gift, and not just anybody can get a good mix. Sure you can make a quick demo on your own, but itll never sound as good made at home as if you went to a stuido, and were able to single out background noises, with high end transducer mics and hard and digital recording. Alot of people think that the bands walk in, play the cd out, and its done. records easily take months to produce, weeks just to get one song done. When i record groups, we use a local studio and rent the gear untill i can afford some more stuff my self. I may sit there listening to the same song 20 times in a row with the band hammering out, o this has to come up slightly, that down alittle more, lets move the bass a foot to the right, lets tune you a hertz up, lets do this, lets do that. Youll never replace the audio tech guys, there will always be a lot of money spent on it, and technology doesnt have emotions. Humen emotions make the music, technogoly makes sounds.