thefragmentedmind
04-16-2011, 10:02 PM
From experience I have a few tips about the recording process, most of these are simple common sense
1) BE PREPARED !!!! - know your parts , know what key signatures you are playing in and the time signatures of the song so that if your engineer or producer asks you to try something else , you're not looking like a complete fool trying to figure out what's going on :)
2) LEARN YOUR KEYBOARD - nothing is worse than being told "no that patch does not work in this mix, i need something else", learn to be able to program on the fly , it is REALLY important that you know how to make your sound as dry as possible so you can add the effects in later
3) TOO MUCH GEAR IS NOT ALWAYS GOOD - as we all know , it is GREAT to have many different tones to work with from Digital to Analog from Moog to Korg to Yamaha to Dave Smith , try to limit yourself to what you need , unless you have unlimited time in the studio this is going to cost you LOTS of money ! nothing worse than having to re-plug re-midi and everything
4) WORK WITH YOUR ENGINEER - your engineer is there to HELP , take advice with a grain of salt , yet, still be firm on what YOU want on your production, sometimes an additional set of ears is just the right thing you need to make an awesome album
5) GET INVOLVED - Don't just play your part and walk away, get up there and look at the screen and listen to what is going on , if you don't like it , speak up ! get in there , if you need to re-record , then so be it. sometimes what you hear in the "moment" and what you hear after may strike you differently
Finally - HAVE FUN !!! if you can't have fun with music , the art becomes lost , we all know it is work , but we can at least enjoy doing what we do :)
I know , those reading this may be thinking "who is this guy telling me what to do?"
I've logged HOURS in professional studio time and MONTHS in post production on our album and know what it's like to go through these motions, fortunately , I WAS prepared because what i was expecting from the studio session was NOT what happened HAHA
Feel free to add to the list or even make comments
I thrive on input from others :)
1) BE PREPARED !!!! - know your parts , know what key signatures you are playing in and the time signatures of the song so that if your engineer or producer asks you to try something else , you're not looking like a complete fool trying to figure out what's going on :)
2) LEARN YOUR KEYBOARD - nothing is worse than being told "no that patch does not work in this mix, i need something else", learn to be able to program on the fly , it is REALLY important that you know how to make your sound as dry as possible so you can add the effects in later
3) TOO MUCH GEAR IS NOT ALWAYS GOOD - as we all know , it is GREAT to have many different tones to work with from Digital to Analog from Moog to Korg to Yamaha to Dave Smith , try to limit yourself to what you need , unless you have unlimited time in the studio this is going to cost you LOTS of money ! nothing worse than having to re-plug re-midi and everything
4) WORK WITH YOUR ENGINEER - your engineer is there to HELP , take advice with a grain of salt , yet, still be firm on what YOU want on your production, sometimes an additional set of ears is just the right thing you need to make an awesome album
5) GET INVOLVED - Don't just play your part and walk away, get up there and look at the screen and listen to what is going on , if you don't like it , speak up ! get in there , if you need to re-record , then so be it. sometimes what you hear in the "moment" and what you hear after may strike you differently
Finally - HAVE FUN !!! if you can't have fun with music , the art becomes lost , we all know it is work , but we can at least enjoy doing what we do :)
I know , those reading this may be thinking "who is this guy telling me what to do?"
I've logged HOURS in professional studio time and MONTHS in post production on our album and know what it's like to go through these motions, fortunately , I WAS prepared because what i was expecting from the studio session was NOT what happened HAHA
Feel free to add to the list or even make comments
I thrive on input from others :)