"In the studio..." is something I come across often in local artists' Facebook posts. Milestone markers perhaps - been around for a while, time to say - "here we are, we do this", but when it comes to a greater ambition all too often a few months on, there's a box of unsold CDs, and streams that are dried-up river beds. As I've said here before, going into the studio needs to be but one part of a planned - and budgeted - campaign.
"What we do in the shadows..." What actually happens in the studio. I've been looking back over seven years here, and if anything stands out as a common factor it's that for most artists it's their first time. Ideally, but rarely, they come with songs that are well rehearsed, with arrangements well sketched out. The first thing many say is "we want to capture our live performance/sound..." The answer is, tbh, and in short, "no, you don't." How you hear your music while performing live is very different to how you'll hear it in the live room (and how you'll hear it in playback on studio monitors is very different again, and different again when you hear it streamed). Making a record in the studio and playing live are two wholly different things, to 'capture that live thing' you'll do better to find someone with a decent portable rig to multitrack your set. Live, the performance dynamic will see a varied tempo and volume, faster and louder choruses, lyrical trips slips and adlibs... In the studio it's easy to become obsessed with timing issues and dealing with bleed/spill - along with tiny errors, these things are just a part of that live experience that pass largely unremarked if noticed at all and, indeed, very much an integral part of 'your sound'. Performance energy can cover a multitude of sins.
One thing that always happens when the artists hit the control room couch for some playback is that everyone instantly becomes a sound engineer, instantly recognising moments when they've drifted fractionally off the beat. It's easily corrected but I've taken to banning the phrase "you can put that right in the mix" since it often involves less simply corrected errors and requires a thankless and time consuming note by note edit. Time better spent getting it right at source. Overly 'human' moments will indicate a need for retakes, if only simple punch-ins, but the real purpose of playback is too get an idea of how the band as a whole is sounding as many such 'too human' moments are a knock-on effect of something in the song itself that needs addressing. Also often heard at playback is 'can I be turned up?' (aka "More Me!") - a pointless question since obviously it's 'yes' - anything can be boosted up - or attenuated (in the other direction) - and it's often a case of other things needing to be turned down, rather than you being turned up. It's a take playback, not a mix. I've more than once heard 'There's too much HF' - often citing a precise frequency band. At this stage it's a given, but so is a less obvious excess of 'LF' and an overwhelming amount of 'mids'. Often a significant HF factor can be key to an artist's sound - what is producing the HF? - and simply cutting it is not the way to go. There are four main 'frequency zones' and a popular belief is that these need to be 'balanced', along with levels of gain. It's a nonsense, and no-one can actually describe or define what the holy grail of 'balance' is. The best stab at it I've heard is from an American engineer friend who says "Just make them sound good!"
As mixes evolve, the use of a reference monitor to give an idea of how a song will sound heard through buds, phone, tablet or car speaker, soon illustrates the biggest problem area of most mixes, the midrange, where so much competes for 'space'.
You need to have a clear idea of what you want from the recording process. If you're signed to a label, the label will direct you in that regard but it's more likely that you're looking to get some sort of distribution deal with promotion and marketing to get your music out there. You can take the independent artist route, doing this all yourself, by 'direct to fan' methods, or you can aim for a set of high quality demos that you can use to attract attention from labels. Either way, the most valuable thing you can do is invest in preproduction. An independent producer will have a studio, or access to studios, and may underwrite your recording costs, including developing songs and arrangements - preproduction - and recouping the costs through a royalty over a fixed period, or to a fixed amount - once a distribution deal is made. This can give you the start you need without the hourly fee (from £30 per hour upwards) upfront, letting you concentrate on the music. It goes without saying that you'll need to be auditioned for this in some way, probably at a gig, as the producer/production company will need to satisfy themself that the songs have a future.
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