Click It or...Have a Poor Recording.

Hello kiddies...Tales from the Crypt anyone? Anyhoo, welcome back, all. Glad to see your shinning faces once again. That's right, I can see you right now. Do not be alarmed.

Today we'll be discussing the importance of the seemingly elusive metronome (or click). Use of a metronome in practice, performing, and especially studio recording will make you a better artist/band by improving your internal clock, and save you time and money in the studio.

In a band setting it is most beneficial for the drummer to have a click so they stay on time and then the rest of the band can follow. This translates magnificently into a live setting, especially when the drummer continues to use the click during performances. The easiest way to do this is create the click track in Garage Band, or any other recording software, and load it onto an MP3 player for the drummer. The biggest reason to do this is groove. The foundation to any band is the rhythm section. If it's not locked in, then the rest of the band can't get locked in, and the people attempting to enjoy your music can't get locked in. This translates into a poor experience for everyone, and you don't keep band members or fans around if you can't quite nail this down.

As a solo artist (you and an acoustic guitar and/or piano for instance), it is extremely advantageous to practice and/or perform to a click for the same reasons listed above. Especially because when there are no drums, you and your instrument becomes the rhythm section.

In a studio session, this is key for many reasons. First of all, if you're used to practicing to a click, then recording to a one shouldn't throw you off at all. This should make your sessions go much smoother and cause you to take less time in the studio, which is the first way it will save you money. The second way is that when you record to a click, the engineer will spend much less time in the editing stage making sure all your instruments line up with each other; another crucial aspect to a quality final product in many cases.

What does this mean for everyone? Figure out the tempos to all your songs, and practice to a click. It's going to be a little odd at first if you haven't done it before, but you'll get used to it as long as you stick with it.

Good luck, kids!

Kyle

Why Does It Always Take Longer Than Expected?

If you've spent anytime recording in a studio at all, you've probably noticed that the tracking process takes much longer than anyone on the performance side had anticipated.If you haven’t spent much time in the studio, be prepared, this will inevitably happen no matter how prepared you think you are. This is due to many factors; anything from getting in the studio and finding new sounds to experiment with, not quite being prepared (see last week’s blog on performance), having a picky producer (not necessarily a bad thing), and sometimes, what is commonly referred to as "red-light syndrome."

Experimenting in the studio can be magical when you hit on something special. If you're on a budget, however, it can be death to your wallet. The easiest way to avoid this problem is to get your parts down, do pre-production, and decide between you, your band members, and/or your producer exactly what is going on the album.

Picky producers are a curse and blessing. They are a blessing because they will not settle for, "oh that was good enough," or "no worries, we can fix it in the mix." They will ensure the highest quality of your final product because everything going into it is the best it can be. The curse is that of the bleeding wallet. If you are on an extremely tight budget, being picky about what parts are laid down can cause you to go over what you expected it to take. The reason this pops up more often in the studio is when you closely and accurately record a sound, all the little details come out. That note you're singing barely flat or just too long, or when you hit muted strings while playing your guitar solo. Point being, don't plan on doing things in one take, you'll just set yourself up for disappointment and frustration.

Lastly, we have the dreaded "red-light syndrome." This occurs when you go in, feel like you can play all your parts in your sleep, the recording light comes on, and you start playing like you're two years old. Here's the kicker with this one: It's 100% psychological and the only cure is doing it over and over again to get used to that hot red light shining down on you. What you want to take away from this, is that many artists go through this when they're new to the recording situation. You're not weird, you don't suck, and you're not a failure. You're just learning.

By far the best thing you can do to minimize extra time spent in the studio is to follow everything I talked about in last week’s blog about being prepared for the studio. If you’re concerned about how going over in hours will affect your budget, trust what the engineer and producer say about how long it takes when it comes time to estimate hours for the entire project.As long as they’re charging you accurately and fairly, you won’t have any surprises at the end of recording.

My iPod is still only a quarter full. Go make me some more music!

Kyle

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.

Studio Efficiency Part Two: Cost

Back for more, eh? How’d the planning go? Ready for the next step in the process? Either way, lets dive in!

Pricing structures vary from studio to studio, so it may help to find out which you’re working with prior to the planning stage. Some places have a per song charge, some a day rate, and some are hourly. Keep in mind that day rate and per song structures usually have a limit (or cap) on hours. Find out what that limit is, and compare it to your plan. Can you get everything done under the cap? If not, what’s the charge for going over?

Another typical rate policy is a reduced hourly rate for a specific number of estimated hours for the project (i.e. 75 hours estimated for 5 songs, or 15 hours per song) and then anything over the initial estimation can hike back up to the normal hourly rate – similar to going over the cap on a per song or day rate.

These are things that can end up costing you a lot of money over the course of the project. The best way to avoid pitfalls in the estimated hours pricing structure is to estimate high. Add a two to five hour buffer to your per song estimation to be safe. When you’re doing hour estimations, and paying hourly, most studios will only charge you for what you actually use so there’s no danger in estimating high. If it’s a flat rate(as in the per song charge or day rates), then you pay that amount and likely will not get any sort of refund for going under the hour cap.

I want to quickly address what some of you are probably thinking. If you haven’t tackled the planning phase yet, then 15+ hours per song may sound like a lot. When, however, you start to break down the recording process piece by piece, it will start to make sense. Keep in mind when I estimate 15 hours for a band, just about half of that is editing and mixing. Average edit/mix time on a commercial track is 8-14 hours per song. If you listen to tunes on the radio and like the sonic quality, then you have to realize that’s the time it takes to get them to that point. That being said, at a mid-level studio, you’re probably looking at about 6-8 hours per song. This is usually because mid-level facilities are the destination of the more budget conscience artists who can’t afford the $1,000 per day it can take to have it done at a high-level studio like Ocean Way or NRG. Most importantly, the mixing process is where the song will fly or crash and burn; it would be a serious miscalculation to cut it short.

All the above advice will save you much time, headaches, and money in the studio. And when you’re trying to concentrate on being creative while recording, it’s nice to have all these kinks worked out ahead of time.

Next weeks’ “Studio Efficiency Part Three” will focus on performances and the importance of pre-production.

Studio Efficiency Part One: Planning

Howdy, kids. What we have on deck is the first in a three part series going over aspects related to efficiency in the studio. Today’s focus will be on planning for the project.

In order to efficiently map out a project you must plan every single step of the process. Use a custom made grid or calendar to mark down every session and what needs to happen in each. Dates can be tentative at this point, but will need to be nailed down in order to work with everyone’s schedules. Steps to include in the calendar and scheduling may or may not include order in which instruments will be recorded, working with band members’ schedules to make sure the right person is there on the right day, working with studio musicians to ensure they can be there on the right day, and making sure equipment is available to be borrowed or rented on the day it’s needed.

The typical order of instruments to be recorded is drums, then bass, guitar, keys, percussion, and then vocals. You may do guitar before bass to ensure the bass is in tune. The reason this works is it’s easier to hear if a guitar is out of tune and the guitar lays a melodic ground work to check the intonation of the bass against.

This process is where a producer comes in handy. One of the most important jobs a producer has is being responsible for the efficiency and flow of a recording project. If you’ve been in the studio before and know how the process works, feel free to come up with the schedule yourself. If, however, this is your first time, it would surely be a costly mistake to assume you know how it works from talking to friends or reading about it in magazines. Getting some help will save you headaches and stress – and maybe even a little cash.

Sit down with the engineer before hand to make sure your schedule and plans for each day are reasonable. You don't want to plan to track drums, bass, and guitar for 12 songs all in one day. If you consistently plan too much and don't reach your goals, it will affect the rest of the projects scheduling and morale. It is, therefore, much better to go under on time than over; both for cost reasons and almost importantly for your feeling of being productive. Ask the engineer the average time it takes to do each thing before you start planning (drums, bass, guitars, vocals, editing, mixing, etc.).

Planning out every step of the project will save you much time, headaches, and money in the studio. And when you’re trying to concentrate on being creative while recording, it’s nice to have all these kinks worked out ahead of time.

Next weeks’ “Studio Efficiency Part Two” will focus on cost, different pricing structures and ways to plan with and around them.

Now get to planning!

Studio Etiquette: For the Engineer

Welcome again to Saturday blogging. If you’ve been here past weeks, thanks for hanging out. If you’re new, welcome. My Previous blogs have been mainly directed at studio/recording tips and advice for the artist. This week I’m going to change it up a little bit. We’re going to talk about studio etiquette and ways to make the artist comfortable from the engineer’s standpoint.

First Impressions:

First impressions are unbelievably important. Good ones are lasting and so are bad ones, no matter how much you make up for them later. I’m not saying it’s impossible to dig yourself out of a hole, but why be jump in at all? Greet everyone with a hand shake (see Jen Creed’s Hump Day entries for proper hand shaking techniques), and learn everyone’s first name. Writing it all down while you remember is even better, because it’s quite impressive when you remember those months later. Another thing that leaves a lasting impression is always have drinks on hand (coffee, tea, water, juice, soda, etc. Handing out free alcohol can get out of hand and be very expensive). Drinks are one of those things you can chalk up to operating costs, and it makes the artist feel welcome.

Be polite and remain calm:

The creative process is naturally wrapped around emotion. When emotions are at a heightened level, tempers can flare. Your job as the engineer is to remain the calm one; always. Whether you’d like to believe it or not, our job is very much customer serviced based. You are at the helm and are responsible for the recording process and the artist’s happiness while in your care. If something goes wrong in the session on your end (with your computer, pre-amp, microphone, etc.), you cannot lose it and must always remain positive. You have to find a way to calmly assess the problem and explain it to the client. If it’s a big problem that’s going to cut the session short, consider offering up a few free hours next time they come in. People love deals!

When to use encouraging words:

This one you have to be very careful with and take on a case-by-case basis. Basically, make sure you’re not going to get your head bitten off or lose a job over opening your mouth when you shouldn’t. If for instance, there is a producer present who is working with the artist, then you probably don’t need to say anything. Even if you see the producer isn’t successfully motivating them, DO NOT under any circumstances feel like it is your place to speak up. An exception to this rule would be if you have worked with this producer many times before, and have a “team” relationship, or know its okay to step into his or her shoes just a little bit. If, however, there is no producer present you have to use your judgment and read the artist and how they might react. When in doubt, lean towards not saying anything and again, always find a way to speak positively.

The main message:

Always be Zen, baby. Always be Zen.