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Recording Studio Ettiquite And Strategies That Will Save You And Your Band Money

In this article I share the unspoken secrets of successfully recording an album and developing solid relationships with music studios and their producers!

Date : 04/06/2012

Author Information

Michael

Uploaded by : Michael
Uploaded on : 04/06/2012
Subject : Audio Production

Throughout all my years of playing music and playing for several different bands, the single most exciting time for me besides storming the brightly lit stage to perform another show was developing a handful of songs and hitting the studio to record a five song EP (or in the case of my first band, a full length album). I have had great opportunities to record with many groups of people in several different studios, from multi-million dollar power houses, to one man, one computer, and a stained napkin filled with ideas on how to get the vision out of my mind and onto the CD.

These special times in my life allowed me to talk one on one with producers and recording engineers and observe what goes on in these studios, from the very good to the very bad. There are steps that you or your band can take that will literally save you hundreds, and possibly THOUSANDS of dollars and make the recording process easy and enjoyable for all. On top of that, the end result, the fruits of your labor, your finalized, pressed album, will sound exactly the way YOU envisioned and you will be completely satisfied with the way it sounds. You might even be able to leave the studio with some money leftover in your pocket!

Always remember: TIME IS MONEY.

When looking for a producer, make sure that he or she is familiar or specializes in your style of music and be sure to listen to their past work. It is one hundred percent crucial that the producer you settle with actually listens to the same styles of music as you! For example, a producer who mainly records pop artists is going to be in a completely different mindset as you if your band plays a lot of progressive, heavy metal. Ask to hear some of their past work. If you like what you hear and you find that it sparks inspiration and excitement in your own work, then you're golden. When you choose the correct producer, it will make it much easier to explain what your vision is and he or she will be able to give you valuable feedback and contribute ideas that you may not have thought of before. In addition, when your producer goes to mix and master your recordings they will be able to refer to their past projects and apply similar editing techniques that will save them time and save you money. Overall, the correct producer that you can make a connection with will greatly improve the quality of your hard work!

If you show up on time, you're already running late. If you only take one thing away from this article, I want you to remember that being late for a scheduled recording session is the single most damaging thing you can do for band's reputation and will make a very BAD first impression! Now why do you think I am telling you that if you're actually on time then in reality, you're actually late? Well from my experience, if you have five or more members in your band, you have to figure in the logistics of what you're doing. That's five people that have the potential to be running late, five people's equipment to load up, then driving a half hour, two hours, six hours or more to a recording studio, all the while you're stopping for food, gas, and in extreme cases dealing with a temperamental car or van that has the potential of breaking down. People riding in separate cars also have a higher risk of getting separated or lost on the long commute there. You are going to want to plan to arrive at the recording studio AT LEAST one hour, two hours being even better, before your scheduled session. Your drummer will need time to unpack his drums and begin piecing together what he can and your guitarists and bassist will need time to tune their instruments. (You will want to tune your instruments again when you step inside the studio space. Differences in temperature and air pressure can throw instruments out of tune easily.) This will also give you plenty of time to manage your instrument cables and also make sure you didn't leave anything back at your practice space! Give yourself enough time to Google a Samash or Guitar Center in the general vicinity if you need to make a quick run for guitar strings, cables, picks, and whatnot. I would pray that you would not forget to bring your most expensive items like instruments, amps, and of course yourselves!

If you or your band does not already do so, at least one week prior to recording, make sure everyone is wearing ear plugs during practice. The most valuable tools for any musician, and producer for that matter, are your ears. You are constantly being bombarded with extremes in high and low frequencies during your practice sessions and over time this can cause irreversible damage to your hearing. You will want your hearing to be as clear and sharp as possible during your recording session so you will be able to hear even the most minute nuances, flubbed notes, unwanted shifts in rhythm and timing, and other mistakes in playing that would otherwise go unnoticed. Trust me, when you hear something that does not belong in your recording it will haunt you every time you hear it! Take care of your ears and it will make a noticeable difference.

Take some time to deeply analyze your songs and map them out BEFORE you go into the studio. This can be referred to as "preproduction". You will want to list every song you are recording in the order you want them to appear on the album, the tempo, time signature, and key signature of each song, and make special notes of how many individual parts each instrument has, and list the exact measures or at least an estimated time code of when there are any shifts in tempo, time and/or key signatures. I guarantee you that your producer will absolutely LOVE you for doing this ahead of time because it makes the setup process for them so much quicker and easier. It saves you time and money, and your producer will know that you intend to take recording very seriously.

Do not bring alcohol and drugs to your recording session. This should be a no-brainer. Otherwise, I question the likelihood you will still have a band to play with in the future. Major recording studios have major budgets and major reputations to keep up with and the last thing they need is a liability. Recording engineers don't want to have to explain to someone why their studio smells like pot and why their $2,500 vocal mic fell over during the session and smells like alcohol. Just don't do it. Be sure to warm up before entering the studio. Review your songs as much as possible leading up to the time when you must begin recording, and on an individual basis, guitarists and bassists MUST warm up their fingers with specific fretboard exercises, drummers need time to warm up their extremities, and vocalists must take an adequate amount of time to warm up their voices WITHOUT prematurely straining themselves. You will want to greatly reduce the number of takes you need in order to play or sing a part correctly so that you aren't wasting hundreds of dollars and wearing yourself and your producer out prematurely. Before recording, remove all jewelry, especially watches and TURN OFF YOUR CELL PHONE. You don't want to be wearing anything that is going to cause excess noise that will be picked up by the studio's microphones. If you are a guitar or bass player that likes to wear watches, you will need to take it off. The pickups on your instrument will amplify the ticking of any analog watch and the sound will be made very apparent on your tracks. Also, there is nothing worse than tracking a good take and having it all ruined by the crappy ringtone on your cell phone. Turn it off and leave it off, only turning it back on when you're well outside the studio. Your band will hate you and your producer will hate you if your cell phone causes disruptions!

Be open to ideas and suggestions from your producer. It may be hard for some musicians, but there will be times when you need to set aside your pride and take direction from someone who is in the business and turns out very successful albums on a regular basis. Great producers will be well trained in music theory, composition, and are songwriters themselves, and they are there to make you sound good because it makes them look good as well! It can be as simple as layering an extra guitar track, redoing a solo, tweaking a vocal melody, to the major changes of lyrical content, song structure, and so forth. These are times for breakthroughs and discoveries only as long as you are open to receive them! I can tell you many times when I've been recording when we've come up with ideas to add certain effects to songs, add another solo, or completely rework an intro into something much more extraordinary than we had ever imagined. Having the extra opinion of a producer is invaluable so use them when you can!

Keep in mind that no matter how prepared you may be and how perfectly you "think" you can play your song parts, recording takes MUCH longer than you may realize. Good producers are intense, precise, and demand perfection when it is most appropriate. YOU WILL be singing or playing the same part or parts multiple times, especially when timing is off and mistakes are made. I want you to understand that this is perfectly normal and it may make you nervous, but just put your trust and faith in your producer to make you sound great. You will be layering tracks twice, even three times to achieve a specific sound, you will want to change parts, add new ideas, experiment and try new things while you're in the studio so when you multiply this experience by every member of your band, then throw in time for mixing and mastering, a typical three or four minute song all of a sudden takes far longer than you originally intended. Rome wasn't built in a day, and it is completely unrealistic to expect to finish an entire album in one sitting. You will want to plan your recording budget accordingly, which brings me to my last piece of recording studio etiquette:

Time is money, and there are serious consequences if you fail to deliver on a payment. Recording studios have the ability to halt your sessions, fire you, and keep the master recordings of your band until you have paid in full for your recording time. As if the situation couldn't get any worse, the recording industry, while it may appear to be very large, the community that runs it is very VERY small. If you decide to skip town to avoid paying for a recording session, you can expect your producer to black list you and pass that information on to all other studios and record companies in the area and abroad, thereby negating the chances of you ever being able to set foot in a studio again, and seriously damaging your reputation. Remember when I said earlier that showing up late was the most damaging thing you can do for your band's reputation? This right here tops it. If you don't have the money, then you have no business being in a recording studio.

I hope that you will take these tips and strategies and implement them into your future recording sessions. Everything that I have listed here comes from first-hand experience and I am confident that if you and your band are serious about making great music and developing a successful career you will heed my advice and my warnings. Stepping foot into a music studio and sitting down to create magic is honestly one of the most fulfilling things I have ever done in my life besides teaching and I know that this can be you as well! Get out there, make great music, and have fun relishing in the success of your hard work!

This resource was uploaded by: Michael

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