HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE RECORDING STUDIO
Guidelines
The recording studio is a place for creativity and hard work. To get the most out of your sessions, it pays off to come in well prepared. Not only is it going to save you money, it’s going to drastically improve the end result that even your fans will notice!
Prepare for recording
The best way to save time in the studio is to come in prepared. This set of guidelines have grown over the years on experiences I had tracking other musicians.
Practice your songs and then… some more! Not only focus on your parts, but also those of the others in the band. For example, does the bass lock with the kick, are both guitarists palm muting the same manner or is the singer in the same key as the instruments.
The biggest time saver during recording is to prepare the overdubs. We can always change parts along the way when creativity strikes in, but at least knowing what harmonies work is a minimum. If you have no idea how to do this, plan for a production session with me and I’ll help you write those parts.
Don’t forget the paperwork! Bring at least 3 print-outs of your lyrics, that includes one copy for me. Real professionals also have the song structures on paper. That way you’re not going to realise you still need to lay down that otherworldly solo when we’re already halfway mixing!
Before anything else, tell your lovers, roadies and greatest fans that they will not be allowed to sit in on the recording session. The studio is not a hang-out place, it’s a place of hard work. It’s the only way to guarantuee we get the best possible sounding record. Don’t worry, we have free wifi so you can message the outside world as much as you like.
Musicians come in sober and had a decent amount of sleep. There are plenty of opportunities to confirm your rock & roll status, but the studio is not it. You’ll need this awesome album to support your further endeavours. The only way to stand out is full focus.
Bring indoor shoes to help keep the studio clean.
This is the most overlooked part. There’s this saying, “you can’t polish a turd“. This applies to your instruments in every possible way. Make sure they are in perfect working condition. If not, get loaners from friends or use the studio’s equipment. Also, when recording over the weekend or at night you might have a hard time finding replacements when things break down (and they will!). So, make sure you have spare parts and even some spare instruments with you.
Drums
- Tune your drums or get someone to do it for you. I can provide you some contacts, if required.
- Bring spare parts: drumheads, sticks and (loaner) cymbals
- Make sure your hardware is free of unwanted noises. Especially pay attention to your seat, kick and hi-hat pedals
- Fresh and stably tuned strings that you’ve put on the day before the session start.
- A spare set of strings of the same brand, type and gauge for each additional recording day. Than some more.
- Spare batteries for your active pick-ups and pedals
- Good and quiet cabling (the shorter, the better. Max 3 meters for optimal results)
- If you have specific effects you want to use, bring them and their power supply or batteries
- Serviced guitars: no noises or string buzz, fixed hardware, nut string dampening (use a sock if nothing else), intonated.
- Bring your amps. If you want to expand your tonal options, don’t only bring different amps, bring different cabs
Synths and drum computers (that’s you SPD users!)
- Make sure you have your sound modules arranged and fully working
- Bring laptop, external hard drives, power supply and your interface (at least 1 spare stereo output)
- My setup only accepts midi over USB-A. Bring any conversion cabling, if needed.
Vocals
- Take good care of your voice, during off time and during recording. A lot of you scream your lungs out and I love it, but think of the fast degradation of your tone and take enough in between moments of rest. Practice being able to sing on half tracked songs. Some vocalists can only track one song a day. So we might opt for in between song recording.
- If any special effects required, for instance that of a megaphone… bring one!
- Don’t bring your girlfriend. That rule also applies to you!
Prepare for mixing
Export all files described below into one ZIP-file and upload it to the google drive folder provided on session confirmation.
- Provide a raw reference mix made off your recording session, send it along with all other files and label it “0-ReferenceMix.wav”.
- Export the tempo map of your session as a midi file. Make sure to put a midi note at the very start of your track (most left position on your daw timeline) to assure the click will align with your audio tracks. If you didn’t record to a click, spare yourself the trouble.
- If you have midi drums, provide a MIDI map that indicates which part of the drum goes with what drums. Not all drum samplers use the same mapping. Also, provide at least a stereo audio file of the bounced midi drums, so I can check all midi lines up correctly.
- Export each audio track as a .wav filetype. I do not mix any other file formats like mp3, ogg,…
- Each DAW track must be 1 consolidated file. All edits of a track must be properly cross faded (no clicks, pops, noise,…).
- All files must be 24 bit – 48kHz, unless you recorded in another format. In that case, use the format of your recording session.
- Mono instruments need to be exported as mono files (examples: Kick, Snare, Guitar, Vocal,…)
- Use interleaved stereo when exporting a stereo track (like a stereo Synth, f.e.).
- Make sure each track beginning is at the exact same position. As with the midi tempo map, use the most left of your DAW lanes as your starting point.
- Label each audio and midi track with a meaningful and self explanatory name. Also order them by number following this sequence: Drums first, followed by Bass, Guitars, Lead Guitars, Vocals, Backing Vocals, Production/Synths. In that order.
Good example: 1-KickInside.wav, 2-SnareTop.wav,… ,18-BassDI.wav, 19-BassAmp.wav,… , 57-LeadVocal.wav,… - Any midi instruments need to be committed to audio. This prevents me from guessing what your intended sound for that midi track.
- Make sure I additionally receive the midi files of each virtual instrument.
- Any effects that need to stay as part of the sound need to be committed to the audio track, for example a space delay setting on a guitar riff. Any other effects need to be removed. I also require a copy of that track WITHOUT the effect, in case I need to adapt it.
- When you record bass and/or guitar, it is always a good idea to record the DI signal by splitting it with a DI box. Provide these DI tracks as they are a failsafe for any amped track issues and provide better editing flexibility should this be needed.
I do not mix multiple songs in one Pro Tools Session in order to allow for easy automation. Since there will be a lot of it on your track, make sure to deliver the files respecting the following folder structure:
I DO NOT accept Pro Tools nor any other DAW sessions for mixing. Importing your DAW session messes up my systems setup and only causes a lot of frustration and time lost to rectify this. Not a great mindset to start mixing!
Look at the section below (“Mix preparation guidelines”) on how to properly prepare your music for mixing.
Don’t assume! When uncertain, contact me before potentially wasting time on your preparation.
Prepare for mastering
All files presented for mastering must be:
- 1 stereo file per song, give each file the exact name (mind the spelling) of the song
- In the same bit rate and sample rate as the mixing session. So if you recorded in a 24bit – 48khz session, that’s what I need
I can get creative and make up my own song names, or you could include the following:
- Song names
- Song order
- Album name
- Description if some songs fade into each other
- EAN Number, if you are going to have a barcode printed on your physical product
- ISRC Codes, could be useful if you want to collect royalties or have your music automatically recognised in some online players)