Tune Much?

Welcome to Saturday blogging! Now that you’ve finished watching Saturday morning cartoons and had your crunch berries (mmmmm, crunch berries) you can get some studio-related education!

Today the topic of my earnest rant will be getting your instruments ready for recording. Treat the proper preparation of your babies as an investment. If you’re going to plop down hundreds to thousands of dollars on recording, spend the $40-$60 it takes to get your guitars and basses set up, spend the money it takes for new drum heads. There is nothing that will make you sound like an amateur faster than being out of tune, and perfect intonation is impossible if your instrument is not set-up properly. If you don’t have a trusted guitar tech or “doctor” in your rolodex, hit me up. I’ll be glad to help you find someone.

Tip number two is new strings. Do not, however, buy strings and change them at the studio the day you’re supposed to record. Ideally you want to have them on at least over night if not for two days prior (and make sure you stretch them and play a little before recording).

Drummers: sorry guys and gals, but you have it the worse. The ideal recording situation is having new drum heads on every piece of your kit. One work-around for this would be if the studio where you’re recording has a house kit. Only potential problem with that is most studios charge their clients to use the kit in order to cover the cost of drum heads. So you should find out what it’s going to cost to use the kit and compare it that of getting your own new heads.

Crap on the drummer part two: just as important as new heads is making sure they’re properly tuned before recording. If you don’t know how to do this there are a few options. First, ask the studio’s engineer. If you’re lucky, he or she knows how (there is always potential for extra cost there, as they’d be doing the job of a drum tech so find out ahead of time). Another option is to hire a drum tech. I’m sure if you asked the studio, they would have a guy they trust to do the job right. Third option is to buy a helpful little gadget called the “DrumDial” (DrumDial Website).

One last important tip for tuning drums: tune the bottom heads! Especially on toms. You can have the top heads sounding amazing, but if the bottom heads are out, you’re hosed. Drums are designed, built, & calibrated with both heads tuned identically. If they’re not in tune together, you’ll never get great tone. And no amount of “tweaking in the mix” will ever be as good as a great-sounding source.

Singers: I know you don’t have an instrument to tune per say, but treat your voice well in the few days prior to recording. And the day of, stay away from drinks and foods that will make you phlegmy (milk, soda, etc.). Also, the best thing for your voice is room temperature water. Warm tea is not too bad; you mainly want to stay away from cold drinks as this will constrict your vocal chords.

Until next time…