If you are a musician, there is one thing that you cannot avoid forever and that is recording. Weather it means to record a demo at home or entering a full-scale recording studio, some day you will have to go through the process of recording a song. It is a completely different experience than playing live on stage or jamming in your bedroom. The environment of a recording studio can be intimidating to new artists. Ideally, a recording studio should be a place where the musician is provided with a creative & collaborative environment but more often than not it tends to be the opposite for new recording musicians, which can really hinder the process of production.
So, how do you make your recording successful? How do you act or prepare yourself for studio? Will you be able to translate the same joy into recording that you experience while playing live? These are some questions that might arise in a musician before entering the studio.
At SpacePepper Studios, we take pride in providing a creative environment for musicians and guide them through every step of the way to make their project reach its maximum potential in terms of production. Here are a few tips to help you get studio ready.
Practice Your Songs with a Metronome
Most musicians do not compose or rehearse with a click track at all but the truth is: the metronome is going to be your best friend in the studio. It makes editing and layering the track so much easier, also it helps the audio engineer during the mixing. Familiarize yourself with the tempo of your songs, and practice it until you are basically ‘breathing’ to that tempo. If you have this one thing sorted, it will improve your efficiency in the studio more than anything else.
Have a clear plan
It is important to have a plan in place before you start recording, you should be able to plan what all you need to record for your song. If you are a band you all need to be on the same page about what you’re going to record, each member should know his/her parts in the song. Do not waste studio time in arranging your song and figuring out new parts. If you are a solo artist, make sure your song arrangement is planned out & thoroughly discussed with the engineer beforehand, figure out if you need to hire any session musicians or collaborate with other artists.
Be aware of the process
It is important to learn about the process of production for your song. Even though most musicians are not audio engineers, there is a basic knowledge that every recording musician must have about how audio production works. Read up on what is mixing or what is mastering so that you are aware of how your song is going to be made. You don’t have to get too deep into it, but just knowing what DAW your producer is using or what is a plugin, will be helpful and make you more involved in the entire process of production.
The above-mentioned tips will help you get ready to enter the studio and be efficient during the process of recording a song. Everybody gets the jitters. Just plan and prepare as much as you can, and give it your best shot. Get plenty of rest, stay hydrated, and remember to try to relax and have fun while recording.