Recording Tips -

Before, During and After.

1. Introduction
2. Pre - Production
3. Recording
4. Mixing
5. Mastering

1. Introduction
Talking about the recording process is a little bit like jumping into a fire.
There are so many differing opinions on the subject, that you are sure to have someone who wants to pick holes in everything you say.
My tips are here to genuinely help you save as much money as possible in the production costs of recording.
My 'Hands On' experience comes from over 10,000 hours in main stream recording studios and probably double that in my home computer based studio.

I've met guys who have very little and cheap equipment, who get fantastic results and others with a gazillion dollars worth of the latest gear, who quite frankly have no idea how to use it. It sounds wonderful, but terrible at the same time.
You can hear the quality of the equipment just oozing out of the speakers, but the mix interpretation is awful.
To my mind, it all boils down to the 'Quality Of The Performance', more so than the quality of the sound.
It doesn't work the other way round.
Great sound, but a terrible or lack lustre performance amounts to zip in the final product.

I guess to a degree I am giving you a musicians perspective as well which is often overlooked by Recording Engineers who just won't let you contribute, cause they know best.
My best advice here is to always try to keep an open mind about sound.
You will see what I mean when you revisit a mix after not hearing it for a few days.
 
If you can get the sound quality good as well, then it's a bonus, but there is no reason why you can't get a high quality product with vastly cheaper equipment was ever possible in the past.
I remember sitting in a studio in Sydney (then with about $2 million dollars worth of equipment) and dreaming about an ultimate studio.
Well I can tell you that the computer based equipment you can buy today is far superior to anything I could have dreamed of and you can set up a very spiffy studio, for about $10-15 grand. (depending on your needs)
The muso seems to be wearing more and more hats these days.
I try to see things from all perspectives, as I have also worn many hats in the process.

My starting point is usually to try and be as transparent as possible.
In other words I'm trying to capture the exact sound of the artist, rather than an electronic interpretation of the same.
Sometimes I have to admit that there seem to be an awful lot of engineers (especially live) who have no idea what an acoustic guitar actually sounds like up close. I can only say it must be some time since they listened to what an acoustic guitars actually sound like in a room unplugged, without the electronics in between.
Most acoustic guitars I've ever played have a nice well rounded sound and certainly not some mid range high end electronic mess bleeding out the speakers.
Try to be transparent and faithfully reproduce the sound of the artist/self.
You can always enhance it further in the mix.
A good recording engineer to me, is one that gives me the music without the electronics. Keep it simple. You don't have to use it, just because you have one.
Similarly I could say, that I have heard mixes that are technically correct, but still don't sound musical. This is where I think musicians do have an edge when it comes to being the recording engineer as well, because they generally have a more musical mix ear.
This can be a problem too because if you get drummers with their own studios the drums are always a bit loud, and so it goes for bass players, guitarists, etc.
We deal with this is the mixing section.

The principles of sound are the same no matter where you are, so it is simply a matter of applying the same principles everywhere you go and you should at least be in the ball park as a starting point.
My ball park is Zero, because everything in digital is based around zero.

There are literally millions of sound variables at one location, let alone the millions of equipment variables in the process and so I'm not going to get into that rave.

My aim is to pass on some of the things I've learned along the way, (after numerous cattle prods from my friends) so lets get stuck in shall we.

2. Pre - Production

In the lead up to the big day, there are a whole bunch of things that you can do to make the actual recording day a triumph, whether it be at home, in a main stream studio, or live.

Step 1.
Rehearse the songs and arrangements till you can play them backwards in your sleep, BEFORE you walk into the studio or on stage.

You might think that this is obvious, but you have no idea how many times I"ve been at a recording session where the er.. musos, just simply haven't practiced the songs they are going to record.
This is fine if you have your own studio, but if you are paying $20-200 p/hr for studio time, it gets kinda expensive, just to rehearse.
Of course the nice relaxed recording engineer is hoping you'll soak up all your time messin' around, before he has to do anything.
After all, he doesn't mind watching you rehearse, he still gets paid and he also knows that the longer you take, the more likely you are to run over budget.
More money for the studio.
I know this sounds hard, but you really are wasting a lot of peoples time and money (including your own) walking into a studio unrehearsed and ill prepared.
What to do? Step 2.
I guess I could also talk about getting enough sleep the night before, eating the right foods etc., because all of these things, can have a big baring on the final outcome.
I have heard lots of 'Performances' that are spot on musically, but still sound tired and lifeless.
If a track isn't sounding right it is nearly always because of 'the performance'.
This can be especially evident in vocals.
So forget the big night out before studio day.
Save it for the big 'listen to the final master' party at the end of it all.



The difference between Demos and Finals!!

I have often said, the only difference between a Demo take and a Final take are ....
the DETAILS.

With this in mind, you have to ask yourself what you hope to achieve from your session.
If the recordings are for 'Your Own Preview of Songs', checking arrangements, harmonies, instrumentation of parts, to see how they work together ...... that's a Demo, generally NOT for public consumption.
 
Most of the time vocals and an accompanying instrument, are enough to work out these sorts of things.
Sometimes I just put up one mic, for vocals and guitar, to quickly work out arrangements etc.
In fact, this is pretty much all I need or want, if someone wants me to produce a song for them.
In some cases I want to make my own interpretation of a song without being influenced by someone else's big production number.
I like to hear a song in its rawest form, straight from the heart of the composer and then I figure out how best to use the rest of the instruments in the band (if it's a band) or what instruments to use on the song, if it is a Solo Artist.
That in itself is the Producers job.
He/She should have a fair idea of the way the whole song should sound, before you record it. If the Producer is you 'Start thinking about it'.

Every time someone hands you a CD and says 'it's only a Demo', I can guarantee that straight after that, you will hear a string of excuses about the recording they want you to listen to.

A Final take, is just a few extra hours work more than a Demo (if you are fully prepared).
You could also say it is a recording of the Demo with all the excuses fixed.

This brings me to tuning.
You have no idea how much of a difference it can make to a track, when all of the instruments are perfectly tuned, individually and collectively.
I would rather spend extra time tuning up, no matter how frustrating it may be for others waiting.
Take your time and get it spot on, before you lay down each track.
Don't rush or crowd your fellow musician into hurrying with the tuning process.
When you are all done individually, 'Check to make sure you are collectively in tune'.
If you think I'm harping on tuning ... you are right, because I really want this message to sink in.

Make the effort.
Take a few extra minutes.
Get it right before they push the record button.
Something else I can guarantee you about tuning.
Your performance will be better as well as your sounds, making for a much higher level of inspiration to play.
The sounds you are making with your instrument inspire you when you are in tune and are just hard work when you are not.
There is nothing worse than having a MAGIC take, except for the dude who was out of tune.
Yes I know you can fix these things in post production these days with pitch shifting and all, but if you are anything like me I would prefer to know that it was me playing those sounds, not the machine fixin' them for me.

Get as much of the shoulda, woulda, coulda, sorted before you get into the studio.

Each musician should know the exact arrangement of the song.
Each musician should know their part inside out, including harmonies and solos.
Each musician should be perfectly tuned, individually and collectively.
If not, it's just a Demo.... Remember  ... Details

Even in my home studio I follow these rules almost instinctively now, because I know that ultimately, it saves me more time than it does when I'm not prepared.
Most of the time it is so much easier and faster to do another take, than it is to try and fix it in the mix with cut, paste and re-pitch etc.
Why spend half an hour trying to fix something, that you can do again in 5 minutes?
Performance once again!

To Jam or Not to Jam in the studio!

This is another hot potato topic, but experience tells me that Jams are a hit or miss affair. Mostly miss.
You might strike gold with a Jam, but in the majority of cases it is good, but no cigar.
The best Jam results I've ever heard, are where the musicians already know the song backwards and they Jam it out from there.
This eliminates the likelihood of a giant stuff up by someone and expanding on what you already know, can produce mighty fine results.

So in my humble opinion, by all means Jam, but do it with songs you already know if you want to end up with the best result in one take.

This is a little bit subjective of course, because what sounds good to me, might sound terrible to you and visa versa, so lets call it a general observation over a few decades.
It's the sort of thing you could try AFTER you have all the essential stuff down for your recording, so it won't matter so much if it doesn't have quite the Magic you were hoping for.
If you have plenty of time and money, Jam away till your hearts content.

My tips are about trying to save you money in the studio or at least utilize the time you do have, so you get the biggest bang for your buck so to speak, in productivity.

If you want to carve a path towards being a recording session musician, all of these tips are expected of you and unless you are an exceptionally good player, you might be waiting a while for the phone to ring again for your next session.
When the studio is paying you a session fee, the last thing they want is an unprofessional time waster.
Funny how their attitude is different when it's your money, not theirs.
Treat all recording the same way and you will see a big jump in productivity.
If you want to mess around with stuff, allocate 'Messing Round Time' and leave it till then.

3. Recording - Tips for the Home Studio/Live Mixer.

Testing, Testing, Wahrn twoo.
Oddly enough it's not a bad way to test your line levels.
The 'Wahrn' gives you the general line level and the 'two' always tends to give us the peaks. A bit like a sneeze. Ahhh Chooo.  The Choo is always louder than the Ahh.
At the risk of assuming a whole bunch of things here, lets go straight to line levels.
(this does not account for multi-band EQ, compressors, etc that you can put in a channel or on the output.)

On a mixer. (Same goes for Live mixing)
Set up all of the Input level faders to zero.
Set the Output Master level faders to zero.
Set all EQ's to 12 O'clock or half way.
Now adjust the Trim/Gain pot on each channel (generally found right up the top of the channel), until the peak levels on the output meters are reading approx -12db.
Adjust your EQ to suit and then do one last check of the output levels adjusting the Trim/gain pot again to -12db.

Why -12db?

The main reason, is because there are a whole bunch of transient harmonics (or nuances) included in the main signal that are whizzing by, faster than the meter can read.
These are often higher peaks than that of the main signal going into each channel.
By leaving from -12db to zero free, you are giving the equipment sufficient headroom to deal with the transients and not distorting them unnecessarily, by pushing the unseen transients through zero.
This also leaves us with the widest possible Dynamic Range.
The Dynamic Range is from absolute silence up to 0db on the meters.
In a band or multitrack situation with all channels firing, the collective channels will be most likely be nudging zero on the output meters anyway, even if you've adjusted each individual channel correctly.
If you have a good mix, but are still punching through zero, then reduce EVERY channel fader by 5 db, until you are achieving ideally -12db on the whole mix output meters. Don't touch those Master Faders. Leave them at zero

That's the accepted standard anyway, but I quite often set the master output meters around -8db without any real noticeable difference in sound quality.
We don't want the peak outputs going through zero especially, in a digital environment, arguably not so important in an analogue environment, but I would suggest that you still have to be losing some of your dynamic range.
Suffice to say that this should give you a cleanest sound possible out of your equipment, with the largest possible dynamic range.

In a 'Live' situation (assuming your power amps are near flat out), if the vocals can't get over the band amplifiers and drums, there is only one instant solution.
The band has to turn down the volume, because the P.A. can't go any louder without seriously affecting the output quality. If the band doesn't want to turn down, then the only solution is to buy a PA at least twice, maybe three times bigger than the one they have.
Most of the time you just have to make do with what you have and try to make a happy compromise, by turning down 'a little bit' and pushing the PA 'a little bit'.

In a home studio we are only concerned with nice healthy line levels on our recording at this stage, not the mix, that's later.
With most computer Audio interfaces these days you can see the levels of each track being transferred, as you record.
If you are multi-tracking, it doesn't matter if one instrument sounds loud compared to any other, we do that when we mix.
Single tracking is a bit easier, cause you don't have so many tracks to keep an eye on.
We are only concerned with None of the signal on each channel going through zero, 'On the visual track of the Audio on your computer based system'.
If you don't have a computer based system then stick to the -12~ -8db principal and you can't go too far wrong.

Ideally, your session  should go something like this.
You walk in set up your gear, tune up and the recording engineer, goes around setting up mics that are suitable for each instrument sound as well as line inputs where required.
You can buy a couple of dozen mics that will cover the entire frequency spectrum, with specific characteristics to deal with bass drum, bass, vocals, horns, guitars etc., but you might be surprised with the results you can get from a couple of shure SM57~58's and a Rode or AKG mic for vocals or acoustics.
Next.
You all play through the track once or twice while you (the 'Recording Engineer') checks that all the levels are about where they should be.
You are then ready to record the track.
Do 2 or 3 takes and if you've all rehearsed your bits properly before recording, they should all be good, except that one take, will stand out from the others, by having that certain 'magic' about it, that the other takes don't quite have.
Now record any additional instrumentation and solos for the track.
Do a guide vocal at the same time as the band track.
Put on the harmonies and then go back and do the final vocals.
I usually do it this way, because I've found that vocalists tend to sing better when everything else is cookin' and as vocals should always sit on top of the mix, take the time to get them spot on.
OK.
So now we have our Recording, lets talk about the mix. (In Part 2)