IF YOU’VE GOT THE CASH, RECORDING IN A PROFESSIONAL STUDIO WILL MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE TO YOUR SOUND. BUT IT IS PRICEY AND YOU DEFINITELY NEED TO BE PREPARED BEFORE YOU GET THERE.

MAKE A PLAN

Surprise, surprise: everything takes longer than you expect in the studio. Before you start, plan your track list, rehearse like crazy and think about whether you want to record each instrument individually or go ‘live’.


THE MONEY

Studio costs depend on quality and you should be able to find places for as little as $500 a day, including the sound engineer’s costs and the live room.

To work how long you’ll need, have a chat with the guys at the studio about what you want to do and how much cash you have to do it with so they can work out a realistic recording schedule. And check how long the recording day is (be it six, seven or eight hours) and if there are any additional fees you might have to hand over for extra equipment or exceeding your allocated time.


GETTING THE BEST FROM YOUR SESSION

Once you’re booked, get in touch with the sound engineer and let them know what you need on the day, how many people will be there, any special equipment you have and how many tracks your planning to record.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions or raise concerns: it’s your time, your money and your project.

Finally, check your gear, replace your strings and pack spares of anything that’s likely to break on the day.


LIVE VERSUS OVERDUB

If you’re planning to make a live recording, your drummer has to arrive early. Not very rock and roll, but the kit will take the longest to set up. Recording live just means you play your songs right through, much like you would at a gig. The key difference is that you can do several takes to get things right, but be tough about it: five or six max. After that, the repetition is going to make you all sound flat.

The alternative is to overdub (or layer) each instrument, starting with the drums and wrapping up with vocals. It’s much slower, but more precise. If you have the time to record this way, take any previous recordings along to help the sound engineer understand what you’re looking for once all the pieces are layered together.


MIX IT UP

Quick tip: spend time and money on mixing or that intense recording session will be completely wasted. What you’re looking for in your mix is a sound that reproduces well through speakers of all shapes and sizes: a home stereo, your iPod headphones, car speakers, whatever.

From an initial mix, you’ll be able to tell the engineer what you want. And again, helps to bring along recordings that you like so they understand what you’re after.

The final mix will begin with the rhythm section: drums, bass, rhythm guitar and keyboards. Each part of the drum kit runs on a separate channel, so that usually takes the longest to get right.

Next, your engineer will work the bass and rhythm instruments in with the drums until they stand out enough to move the song forward. This is the basic structure for your recording and it has to be spot on.

That done, the lead instrument parts and finally vocals come in, along with effects and the overdubs you recorded. With everything in the mix, it’s a matter of tweaking and testing until everyone’s happy.


THE MASTER

The last stage of the process, mastering is when engineers transfer the recorded audio to a ‘master’, from which other copies can be made. All your final mixes will be equalised, compressed and sequenced (the technical term for putting some space between each song). Done well, mastering can seriously improve the quality of your recordings, so they sound strong, clear and bright. Done badly, you’ll lose the details of your tracks so listen very, very carefully.

The Mastering Processes:
1. One of the most important parts of mixing and mastering is balancing the equalisation (or EQ) levels. The EQ refers to the frequency spectrum of a recording: the low troughs and high peaks that are displayed through a visual representation, or waveform. By adjusting EQ, your engineer will be looking to reach a tonal balance between difference frequencies, enhance those that add to the recording and make those that distract from it disappear.

2. Compression is about creating consistency in the recording, removing quirky peaks in the sound and ensuring the instrumentation sits easily without sounding stale and boring your audience.

3. Dithering is how the engineer formats the master for CD, converting it from 96KHz/24-bit to 44.1KHz/16-bit, without losing its quality.

4. Other bits and pieces that might happen during mastering include editing minor (really minor) flaws, adjusting stereo width and volume, and removing any hum or hiss.