Audio Recording Tips l Recording Studio Guide
THE DIGITAL RECORDING STUDIO:
A Practical Guide to Music Recording
By: James@Audiomecca
Copyright 2007.
5
Audio Recording Tips
There
are many mistakes made during the recording phases of
music production. Some are contributed to inexperience in a recording
environment – while others are common things we all tend to
overlook from time
to time. There are a number of factors that can result in a less than
successful recording session. For obvious reasons I cannot list them
all. But I
can give you a few tips from pre-to-post production that I’ve
noted, to help
avoid common recording mistakes I have seen, made, and learned
from.
Fumbling
with technical issues, last minute preparation,
lack of a collaborative vision; are among some
“controllable” mistakes made by a
producer that can interfere with the objectives for a project. Such
responsibilities must be recognized and held accountable for, by the
producer. Now, if a musician or vocalist
misses a note or plays out of key, it is not going to ruin the
recording
session. These kinds of mistakes are to be expected. Luckily, as
opposed to
live performance, a bad take or less than enthusiastic recording
– can be
quickly corrected with very little hassle.
A producer must be collected and patient, in addition to providing a
natural environment for music recording. It can be tricky to balance;
encouraging the recording artists to perform their best, while managing
the
technical aspects of the production processes. Thus, a producer must be
very
comfortable inside his studio. He must know all the proper functions of
the
music equipment, and be able to deal with people at the same time
– all the
while attempting to capture the expressions of each
performance.
Understanding
the intentions for a musical production based
on the clients goals, and having competence with the equipment needed
to make
that happen is the idea here. The method of meeting these objectives
should be
something that is developed on an individual basis, but there are
general
production habits that can be conducive to laying the foundation for a
positive
production experience. I have built techniques on simple trial and
error, and
the knowledge I’ve been given by a couple music production
professors. These
techniques can offer guidance to any producer getting started with
production
and/or client recording sessions, or just refresh some basics for all
you
weathered vets.
Preproduction
Pays
Preproduction
is your general plan for the song, and how you
plan to do it. This should be incorporated into your routine, and be
done prior
to the recording session. Don’t get me wrong, inspired bursts
of spontaneous
recording is not something I’m advising against, (it
sometimes can even conjure
up the best musical performances) but when working with a client during
scheduled recording sessions, considering preproduction a part of the
overall
recording process will behoove you. Preproduction refers to the
preparations made - prior to
track recording. It can be summed up as developing a basic plan of
action
based on the client’s wishes and expectations. After this is
established, you
prepare the audio equipment you intend to use during the session, set
track
levels, select preliminary instruments for the mix, and etc.
For those who think this may be extra
work, unnecessary,
pointless… I say,
Do you
think a good coach sends his team to go perform the
best they can without preparation or strategy? No. He
doesn’t. He does
research, watches tapes, notes-what’s been effective in the
past, etc. He takes
this research and implements all he knows to come up with a game plan
that is
thought out and practical. He practices how to make it as successful as
can be,
and makes adjustments when need be.
Having
a basic idea
of what you are going to record and how you intend to do it, and having
the
equipment set-up and ready will make it much easier to get right into
recording
and adapt to any curve balls that may be thrown your way. Being ready
to record, and running a smooth and productive session
are key things that will be noticed by a client. It will be appreciated
by
those you work with and factor into the production experience for
everyone.
Microphone Placement
Placing
a microphone
to record an instrument in its ideal place in your studio is harder
than you
may think. If you want to produce professional recordings, it is
certainly more than sticking a microphone on a stand and pointing it at
the
source. First of all, get to know your microphones, treat them well and
they
will work well for you. Familiarize yourself with the polar pattern and
the
spaces in the room where the microphones sound their best. Get to know
the
difference between dynamic, condenser, and ribbon microphones,
understand what
cardioid, hyper-cardiod, and super-cardioid means. Test placement
differences
for each microphone depending upon the songs genre. (Techniques will
vary in a
pop, classical, jazz recording etc.)
-
The 3-to-1 Rule: As a rule of thumb If you are
recording
multiple microphones, try to space the microphones 3 times as far away
from
each other, as a microphone is to the source it is recording. This will
help
isolate each track, and not create a blurry or less detailed sounding
mix. For
details on microphones see my Microphone section.
EQ Key Points
Using EQ will not make a bad recording sound good no matter
what. Before using EQ consider the following;
EQ should be processed on individual tracks, or sub-mixes by
using
busses. EQ should be added as the first processor on most tracks. The
reason
for this is that when you equalize you want to capture as detailed
dynamics as
you can. The raw recording will offer the most dynamics to equalize
frequencies
on. Compression decreases dynamic range, and should be added after EQ
if
necessary.
Compression
Modesty
Compression is a helpful audio processing tool. When used in
moderation, compression can help your mixes achieve deep, crisp, lows -
and
smooth sounding vocal tracks. Compression can be thought of as sweet
icing on a
cake, you wouldn’t put it on every kind of cake, and too much
icing is not
always a good thing. What not to do, do not add compression to the
overall mix
from one track. Adding compression this way will decrease the dynamics
of a mix,
and pretty much kill any - live sounding characteristics it may have
had. I
generally don’t add compression until mix-down, which gives
me more options,
but it is preferential.
Mixing
When reaching the mix-down phase, don’t do it all in one
sitting and call it good.
Believe
it or not - listening to a mix for an extended
period of time can exhaust the precision of your “sonic
sensing abilities…” I
recommend taking short breaks and coming back to re-evaluate the
sounds. When
mixing, listen to each track in solo and in the mix, if it’s
not quality on its
own - it probably won’t add to a quality group of tracks.
Remember, mixing is a
team effort. Each track has its own time to shine, but they cannot all
be up
front and center all the time. Mix your song to feature the elements
you desire
and use your other sections to supplement your lead tracks. Simplicity
is
simply so much more; I like this philosophy of recording - that
basically says
if a track or instrument serves no purpose in the mix get rid of it.
If you found this article helpful, Read our other
articles
on the recording studio here.
Plus refer to our music
dictionary, for definitions
of music terms used in recording.
