Making music is such a personal creative endeavor you want to make sure that you are in an environment that promotes your creativity. Your recorded product should be as unique as you are. But there are a couple of questions you should ask up front. No matter what your product, a fundamental question is, “Who is my target audience?” Who are you playing to? Is this recording’s purpose to attract the
attention of entertainment directors who might hire you to perform live at their property? Or are you looking to secure a record deal? Those are two very different targets. So the material you choose to record should be very focused on the priorities and interests of your target. What is the recording process? Preparing to record should include some important homework. A song list, lyric sheets (for your producer/engineer), instrument breakdown for each song, and a guide to tracking should be formulated in the pre-production process. Of course, rehearsal is the place you find agreement on the details for the elements in your recording. The day of your first session you will already have a good idea of how things will progress. Plan to arrive in advance of your session so you’re not waiting for someone to get started. If one of your players (probably the drummer) requires more set-up time, have them scheduled to arrive in advance of the other players. Expect more time than you think for set-up. Players will need to play alone for the engineer to get their sound dialed in. While that is taking place, the process will go much faster if there’s not a lot of distraction with extraneous conversation or other instruments playing. Once set-up is done, your engineer will probably ask you to play a short rehearsal just to make sure that the levels you’ve given him in set-up are indeed what you will be reproducing in performance. (Performers are famous for giving 110% in performance, thus blowing the roof off of the levels set during set-up.) By now, (thanks for your patience) everyone should be ready to cut that first take. With everyone indicating that they are “ready to roll” your engineer will give you a “standby” (that means get ready to play) and “rolling” indicates that you are now recording. When you finish the take it’s important that you let every instrument “ring out”. It’s often overlooked that when you hit that final chord the note continues to ring. You want to make sure that no one steps on that ring out and that you successfully capture the decay of that note until it has evaporated completely. What is the mixing process? After all your tracks are recorded, then comes time to decide how each track will appear in the final mix. Louder, softer, tonal characteristics, effects, how a part will build throughout the song… all these (and more) are decisions to be made for each and every track. The more tracks you have the longer you should expect a mixdown to take. And remember, with todays mixing capabilities, even the finest details can be addressed, from minimizing a single breath to tuning up a phrase that didn’t quite make it to pitch
Do we need a “producer”? A producer is usually someone with a great deal of musical experience who can act as an additional set of ears for your music. It’s important to choose an individual who brings a new, fresh perspective to your material, someone who can assist in fine-tuning your musical product. Think of a producer like a great coach who gets the most out of your performance in the studio. One of the benefits of working at "Bobsta Productions" is that our engineers are also musically trained and have a great deal of experience producing a variety of music. Without having to hire an independent producer you’re getting the benefit of a producer on each and every session. (Of course, depending upon the services rendered, a producer may be paid a separate fee either by the song or by the album project. What are some do’s and don’t in the studio? Come prepared to have a great time. That doesn’t mean it’s a party, though. Making music is something you thoroughly enjoy. But it’s a craft of discipline. Be prepared to focus all your energies on the music and let your inspiration lead the way. Remember that the studio is an artificial environment. The equipment that we need to capture your best performance is all around you. Microphones, headphones, gobos, pop filters, rooms with double doors… all these are necessary to accomplish the task of recording your best stuff. However they do create a different environment that you’ll need to get used to. Don’t touch studio equipment that has not been put in your hands. In general, keep your hands on your instrument and leave the studio equipment to the engineer. Your engineer will let you know what you can handle – that will usually include your headphones and your personal mixing station. Remember that cables are attached to everything. Watch where you step. You certainly don’t want to try to walk across the room while wearing a set of headphones. You’re attached by the cable and walking away while still wearing the “cans” could damage you and, more importantly, our expensive set of headphones! Be prepared to be patient with the set-up process. Every microphone needs to be placed in order to get the very best sound. Depending upon the needs of your recording, that can mean dozens of mics, each with its own placement requirements. After they’re placed, your engineer will need to make the adjustments in the control room to “dial in” the sound for every mic. The set-up takes patience but once it’s done you can proceed to making music, confident that what you’re capturing is a clean, pure track for every part.
