The Greatest Job on Earth

It’s very important as an engineer to always remain passionate about your job. I’m sure you could talk to a million bands, and get a million different stories about how they recorded with some jerk engineer in some crappy, or even nice, studio that was just going through the motions. They’ve either been at it too long, or are bitter that they never ended up recording U2 or Green Day or they’ve just taken for granted that they have one of the greatest jobs on earth. If you get up in the morning and the worst part of your day is saying, “aw crap, I have to go record music today”, then you’re doing pretty damn good. I think that there are a lot of people in my line of work that forget that, and forget that the reason they started doing this is that they love music (or at least that should have been the main reason).

I get that the job can become monotonous, routine, and even boring at times but you have to always keep the big picture in mind. You, as an engineer, are helping to create music. There aren’t many greater things to be a part of, and if you don’t agree with that then you might want to consider a career change. Even if the genre of the artist you’re recording is something that is completely not up your alley, there's always something to find in it that you enjoy. Whether it’s the singers voice, a cool beat, a great arrangement, a killer guitar player or just a small little piano melody that makes your heart go a pitter-patter, there’s always something to find in the music that will keep you motivated if you care enough to look.

Bands know when the engineer is not into it, and not into what they’re doing. It brings down their excitement and hurts the final product. Don’t be that person. Don’t be the leech that sucks all the passion out of a project. Take pride in what you do, and never ever forget how lucky you are to be doing it.

kyle@artisanslabel.com

Studio Musicians

Studio musicians are a staple of every big name recording studio. Whether it be the most amazing oboe player you’ve ever heard of or just a really solid drummer, there are many occasions in which a studio musician would come in handy.

Opportunities to acquire the services of a studio musician most often pop up during projects for singer songwriters or other solo artists. Luckily there are several sources out there to find reputable musicians. One such tool is eSessions. The great part about that website is the audio samples so you can hear the work they’ve done before handing over a check. You also get to compare the rates they charge to the multitude of similar musicians on the site all charging different amounts. You can find some really great musicians to play on your stuff that will charge very reasonable rates. The studio and or producer you are working with should also have a list of players they rely on to do great work.

The only real issue with hiring studio musicians becomes budget as good players will generally cost money. It's completely understood that even "very reasonable rates" can push a budget over the top, but this is where the old and always true adage, “you get what you pay for,” comes into play. This holds true in every aspect of the recording process with very few exceptions. For instance, if you have your friends (or someone a friend knows) play on your record, you might have saved a couple hundred bucks but usually they’re free for a reason. There are the aforementioned exceptions to the rule. If you happen to be good friends with some really great players, then you’re in luck. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for most artists. Or, many times, there are delusions of grandeur for their friend’s ability or skill level, which does nothing but make the situation more difficult.

Then there’s the all mighty editing. Remember that couple hundred dollars you saved in the last paragraph. Well, if your sub-par, unpaid, studio musician didn’t do a very good job, then you just created a lot of work for your engineer in editing. A lot of work takes a lot of hours, and usually that translates in you paying a lot more money than the couple hundred you saved by going with the freebie.

If you have any questions or are looking for some studio musicians for your project, feel free to contact me.
kyle@artisanslabel.com

Studio Etiquette For the Artist

Hello kids. Today we are going to discuss studio etiquette for the artist. There are certain things you don't want to do in the studio for several reasons. Most importantly, it's not a good idea to annoy and/or distract the person in charge of your projects sonic quality. And almost as important, these things are just plain rude and if you decide to make too many of the wrong people upset with you you're going to eventually find it difficult to find people work with you. So here they are...

Talking and Cellphones
Here's a simple rule that's always good to live by. If you're in the studio (especially in a session where tracking is happening), then at the least put your cellphone to silent. This will help you avoid the two biggest no-no's: 1) Having your cellphone go off in the middle of a take. This will annoy everyone involved in the project (including yourself) and, worse, will cost your more money when you have to re-cut that take. 2) Your cellphone ringing in the control room while the engineer is tracking (or mixing, or editing, or whatever). The only thing worse than that is answering it. Do not do this to say anything more than, "Hey. Sorry I'm recording, I'll have to call you back." ("What? Gramma's dead?!" is also acceptable.)

What goes in line with number two is talking in the back of the control room while everyone else is working. If you want to have a conversation with a band member, or whomever happens to be there, then go outside to do so.

Basic message: Do not be a distraction. It costs you money and respect.

Food and Drinks in the studio
Always ask if it's allowed. Don't ever assume you can just walk in to the control or tracking room with any food or beverage. If it is allowed then make sure to keep it away from any and all equipment. Setting a cup of coffee on the mixing console is never a good idea, even if the engineer does it. If you happen to spill something, find something to clean it up with and do so. I have yet to record any royalty; we can all cleanup after ourselves.

Visitors
Again, always ask if and how many are allowed. Some studios don't care, and some don't like the distraction (especially mastering sessions). If you are going to have some arrive, then always try to plan on them arriving at the beginning or during a scheduled break. There's nothing worse than the unscheduled visitor showing up while you're trying to nail something that's just so close to working. They just become a distraction, and will cost you more money in the end.

Being Late
Watch your scheduled time and do not be late. A lot of studios start the clock when you are scheduled with or with out you. The only thing that stops that is you calling ahead. Even then, pay close attention to their cancellation or late policy.

Look for studios who have complimentary load-in times (like us...30 mins to be exact). If your session starts at 11 AM and they have a complimentary 30 minute load in time prior to session start, get there at 10:30 and get loaded in. If you do this every session, then you're bound to save some cash on your total for recording costs.

For those who have been following along, what's the common theme? It's the simple fact that sticking to studio etiquette guidelines will save you money in almost every situation. When you don't distract, then things get done faster. When you're not late, then you don't waste studio time. And when you don't spill coffee on a $50,000 to $90,000 console, you don't have to spend the rest of your life paying it off. Remember these things (as well as all the advice I've given over the months), and you're recording experienced is set up to be a pleasant one.

The Second Stage of Mixing: Tracking

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that mixing does not begin during or after tracking, but before during the writing process. I hope you all read that, if not, here it is. Today we will elaborate on all of that and enter the tracking process, or stage two of mixing.

The most important thing is a theme I often touch on: always, always keep your end goal in mind. Specifically this time, your sonic end goal. Know what you want your songs to sound like before you go into any project. This is yet another place where an experienced producer comes in handy. If you don't have the budget for one, then start going through you music collection and finding albums that have similar sonic qualities your looking to have on your record; i.e. guitar tones, drum tones, vocal effects, over all feel, etc.

These things are sometimes very hard to identify for the untrained ear, but find things you think sound great and get them to your engineer (or preferably a producer) weeks before tracking begins so that the whole team is on the same page.

During tracking, banish the motto "oh, we'll fix it in the mix" on day one. That is usually an excuse to not do it right the first time. Instead of thinking, oh we can just EQ the hell out of it when mixing, get the right tones when tracking through instrument choice and the experience of your engineer and/or producer. (See my blog on preparing for recording: Tuning and pre-production.)

For guitar tracks, pick the right guitar, the right amp, and in all cases, an engineer who knows what microphones to choose and how to use them. If you don't have the right guitar or amp (or any of the following things) go on a borrowing campaign. Find friends, or other bands who like your music, and beg if you have to. If you need helping choosing or finding those things, consider hiring a producer :-).

When it comes to drums, make sure they're tuned and make sure the pieces you have are going to get you the tones you want (such as a lower or higher pitched snare drum). If the kit you have doesn't fit what you need, and the studio doesn't have a house kit, then beg/borrow to get what you need. Offer to put new heads on the drum that you borrow and tell the owner they can keep them when the recording is done. Trust me, the cost of a new drum head will be worth it because if you don't record the right sounding drum and have to use a sample in the mix, you'll end up paying more than the cost of the head in time spent placing the sample.

When tracking bass, make sure you have a good sounding instrument and possilby replace the strings (again, depends on the sound you're going for). If your bass rig doesn't sound that great or is super muddy, then do not insist on using it during tracking, you'll just be wasting time. Instead, you could just record direct or, or preferably borrow a great sounding rig. If you can't borrow the good amp by the time you're supposed to record your parts, track them direct and re-amp later.

All that said, the "oh, we'll fix it in the mix" strategy is sometimes your only choice. When you've exhausted all your borrowing options for better gear and come up empty handed, and when there's no budget for rental, then you just have to do the best you can and sometimes use some mixing sorcery to get it where you want it. This, however, should never ever be the first option. The first priority of any engineer and/or producer should be getting it right the first time using things like microphone choice and placement techniques. If you're working with a production team that wants to make "fixing it in the mix" their first option, then you should seriously consider finding a new place/team to record your album. Just remember, there's nothing worse than doing it right the second time.

Live Tracking Tips

Hello all. I've had many bands ask me in the past if it' s best to track live or lay the song down instrument by instrument. The honest answer is: there is no right way to do it. But there are things to keep in mind...

What to Track, and what not to track...
When tracking live it is usually best to stick to doing the basic tracks and maybe some scratch vocals if they're needed to keep the band on the same page. In a typical set up this means drums, bass, guitar, and maybe keyboards. Actual vocals, backing vocals, guitar leads, other keyboards parts, and percussion need to be saved for over dubbing...which can be difficult and messy depending on some of the following factors.

The most important thing...
Be Tight! You need to be well rehearsed otherwise live tracking will be a disaster. If there is guitar, bass and drums all recorded together and off from one another, there is absolutely nothing the engineer can do to make it better. Translation: You're S.O.L.

More about the click track...
This comes up even often in live tracking situations. If you are an extremely well rehearsed band sometimes tracking to a click can take away from the "feel" of the song, and when tracking live that's something you're definitely trying to capture. The problem you can run into is that if you track live with no click, then you have potentially tied the hands of the engineer and hurt your wallet. Because you didn't use a click, you're music isn't "on the grid", meaning locked into a specific tempo and grid lines inside your tracking software. Now when it comes to doing overdubs and editing, it becomes either impossible or an extremely time intensive task (which easily equals more money out of your pocket). For example, lets say the entire band played the second verse one progression too short or with an incorrect chord change. If you successfully tracked to a click and were around being on the grid, it could be fairly easy to simply pull a progression from the first verse and edit that into the second verse where the mistake was made. If, however, no click was used, then you likely wouldn't be able to do so because the tempo probably varied slightly from the first verse and any such edit would sound very unnatural. In worst case scenarios, you have to re-track the entire tune, which takes more time and costs you more money.

See my previous blog regarding the importance of a click track for some background.

The round up...
The main thing to take away from all this is taht live tracking isn't a good thing or a bad thing. It completely depends on the sound you're going for, but you had better be prepared. Be extremely well rehearsed and make sure you have all your parts down. This process will test your salt as a band more than tracking instrument by instrument, and nothing is worse than having that come as a surprise while paying for studio time.

The First Stage of Mixing: Arrangement

One could argue that mixing is the most important stage in the record making process. I've mentioned before that it is the point where the album/EP/whatever will be made or broken, and I stand by that statement. What seems to be a mystery to many is that mixing does not begin during or after tracking. It begins long before in the arrangement stage and instrument choice (both type and quantity) is the most important step.

The biggest thing to remember when entering this process is always keep your end goal in mind. This may not always be clear at first, but once it is, never forget it.

It can be cool, depending on the style of music, to have many instruments going on at once. What you want to keep in mind is there is a threshold of too much. This, again, is extremely important if you're going for a clean and clear production style. If you're going for a big, chaotic sound then pile away but still remember that if you're looking for two or three things to specifically poke out in the mix, you still want to have a limit to the madness.

The other thing you want to keep in mind is the frequencies those instruments are occupying. This is especially important when you're implementing a healthy amount of synthesizers or electronic instruments in addition to live drums, guitar and bass. Certain synthesizers can occupy a lot of the same frequencies as overdriven or distorted guitars and the dominance battle will shortly ensue. If you're adding electronically produced drum loops/samples over existing live drums, then make sure you’re keeping that end goal in mind, decide which you want to be the prominent sound in the mix, and program accordingly.

All of the above decisions will be tested when it comes time for the mixing engineer to tackle the project. He or she can do much to carve out the appropriate frequency range for each instrument but there are only so many desirable frequencies to attenuate or increase in the spectrum. The more instruments you add, the more frequencies they'll take up and the more cluttered the mix will become. The biggest damage will come to your wallet as the more specific carving the engineer has to do, the longer the mix job will take, and the more money it may cost you.

The intensity at which you follow the advice I've laid out before you depends heavily on the sound and style of music you write and the production style you're going for. If you want the Phil Spector "Wall of Sound", then you don't have to be as picky although the choices you make are still important. If, however, you are looking for a much more clean sound where each of the instruments and elements can be heard in its on pocket of the mix, then follow this advice closely as it is extremely important and valuable for the quality of your end product.

Audio Engineer Job Possibilities

Good morning everyone. That's right, this blog posts at 7 A.M. Where were you?

Anyhooter, I was recently asked by an aspiring audio engineer what the job market is like out there for our breed. I told him that I know it's extremely competitive. With the home recording growing increasingly popular as well as engineering schools and degrees popping up all over town, the supply of fresh, new engineers has risen. And at the same time, with more people doing home recordings, the demand for them to work at professional recording studios has fallen.

I then reassured him that it isn't hopeless and there are other avenues such as becoming an independent engineer, or working in many other areas of the audio arena.

And then I found an amazing article in Electronic Musician (EM) Magazine. In it they interviewed veteran engineer Dave Hampton. I'd go through all his credits, but you'll see them in the first paragraph of the article. What I can say is I've had the pleasure of speaking with this man on multiple occasions, and he knows this business as well as his favorite mic pre.

So for all you audio engineer enthusiasts, give this interview a read. It is a hopeful insight from a man who knows his ish. Enjoy!

CLICK ME FOR THE ARTICLE!

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!