How To Prepare Before Entering A Professional Recording Music Studio
Technology has provided musicians diverse ways to record their compositions or piece outside the studio. It is a cheaper option, however, it doesn’t produce very good quality. You can clearly hear the difference in the tracks recorded at home studio versus tracks recorded in a professional commercial studio. For you to produce very quality sound , you need to be guided by a quality sound engineer.
While you are paying for his/her expertise, but you are also ensuring high quality standards to your project which is vital to make it successful. But before all that, one must understand there is a structure and a process when recording in a studio. Here are some of the tips you should use to ensure productive, quality studio recording time.
1. Practice
It is very important that you know your parts clearly. There shouldn’t be a practice session or ‘figuring out a part’ session during recording at a studio. You should be very well rehearsed and ready to go. So practice all your parts and have a satisfying command over those before you enter a studio, it will save your money and keep the required flow needed to get the best out of your creativity. If you have a home studio or basic DAWs you can work with, do a mock recording and see how you sound. Be well informed about your gadgets, instrument and your part(s) in the whole project.
2. Time management
Studio time is precious. Time is money in the studio. Have a rough idea about how things work at the studio before booking a slot. Talk to the engineer, on how he would be recording and then come up with a plan to execute every part of the song that is to be recorded within the time frame you had decided. Have a clear idea about what you want to do and how you want it before you step inside the studio, this will help you map your actions against time which will save you a lot of energy and a lot of money while recording.
3. Avoid heavy meals
It is necessary to keep your energy levels up, so, plan your meals if you are going for a long studio sessions. However, it is also important that you avoid a heavy meal 1-2 hours before you go into recording. If you are really hungry, have something light and nutritious that will help you to always stay sharp, fresh and charged.
4. Basic Studio Etiquette
As we discussed earlier, time is money in studio. Every professional engineer would want you to follow basic etiquette such as punctuality, sobriety, respecting the process and of course, being prepared with your parts (including knowing the tempo of a song, the scale to be played on, any backing tracks etc.). Many amateur bands and artists make the mistake of wasting a lot of time with these things once they are at the studio, which consumes their precious time and disrupts the flow of creativity and spontaneity and adding to their costs. Everyone should understand their gear, also bring the required instruments and gadgets that you might need to get the sound you are looking for.
5. Brief Idea about Track to Sound Engineer
Another common mistake inexperienced artist(s) and bands do is that they kind of leave the job, of making their song sound good, to the Sound Engineer. It is important to understand that the engineers are there to guide and shape your originality and creativity. They would happily mix your recording into what they love, however they expect you to have some idea about how you would like your song to sound (or at least have a reference track), that way you will achieve a much better and more satisfying output.
So before you enter the studio, make sure you plan your time, practice and get your parts ready and then convey the idea behind your song and how it should be presented to the Sound Engineer. Brief the Engineer about how you would like the recording to sound, which will ensure that work is been done under mutual understanding, thus ensuring better and more cost-effective result that you will be happy with.
Credit : Carol D’Mello
