Studio Efficiency Part Three: Pre-Production and Performance

Howdy, kiddies! Welcome back. Today's installment is part three of my Studio Efficiency series. Its focus will be on the importance of pre-production and performance and how they directly affect studio efficiency, how much money you're spending, and your over all experience.

So I'm going to assume you've read Studio Efficiency Part One: Planning and Part Two: Cost, and now feel you are in a good place to start choosing your studio and potentially your producer. Once you have all that set up and a start date confirmed it's time to turn your focus to the music.

Pre-production is the most important part of the album preparation process. It is the one that has the potential to save you the most money, time and headaches. This is also when you really want to consider pulling a producer in. As I covered in Studio Efficiency Part One: Planning, one of the producers job is to monitor flow of the project. The other part of his job is to help the band/artist through the pre-production and writing period.

During this period you will make final decisions as to what songs are going on the album (LP or EP), and finalizing every single part of them so that the only experimentation going on in the studio is that of the sonic aspect and quality of each instrument. This is also the time when you will perfect your performance of each part. Get down every guitar lick, every drum fill, and every melodica solo. And work out all vocal melodies and harmonies as well as deciding who will play what part.

There are many reasons a producer is highly valuable at this stage (as well as every other stage). One being, he/she is an outside member of the band and therefore has an objective opinion (ideally). The producer can succeed in being objective because the songs weren't written by them and they shouldn't be emotionally attached to any one particular tune. This is important because he/she can be the mediator in any band disagreements and look at it from a "what's the best decision for this record" point of view. The other reason having an outside-the-band perspective is huge is the producer may bring a different musical element to the songs, pushing them in a unique, new, or interesting direction. For a young band/artist, it is even more important to obtain the services of a producer because, ideally, he/she has more song writing and studio experience than the artist and can be a mentor throughout the entire process.

The point is to walk into the studio having a near perfect plan so no time or money is wasted. In the recording industry, it is an expectation of you , the artist, to have your music ready when you come into the studio. As we discussed in Studio Efficiency Part Two: Cost, there are different ways that studios may charge you. If you're getting charged hourly, then the consequence is obvious. The more time you take to figure things out in the studio, the more money you're spending. If the studio is charging you a flat rate for you album with an hour cap, they may get frustrated because you're essentially using your recording time as rehearsal. Both of these are hugely detrimental to your budget, final product, and most imporantly, your experience.

Creating music is a truly magical thing, and getting the opportunity to put that music into a medium that can be treasured for decades to come is far too important to have ruined by something as avoidable as lack of planning and preparation. If you've read all three parts of this series (Planning, Cost, and Pre-Production/Performance), you should be on your way to properly planning for one of the most amazing experiences of your life.

Now go make me some music. You have 120GB to fill up on this damn iPod I just spent a ton of money on...yes this is your responsibility. :-)

Any questions? Hit me up. kyle@artisanslabel.com series.