Home Recording Studio Tips
So you’ve bought yourself some music software for the studio, maybe Cubase or Pro Tools with some plugins and you’re ready to rock! Maybe you plan on recording all of your music at home and mixing and mastering it yourself. Maybe you plan on recording some tracks yourself and recording or mixing the rest of the tracks in a better studio. Whatever your plan is with your music these tips will help you get it right!.
• Try to get the best sound as possible without adding compression or an equalizer to your digital audio. Try moving the mic around or changing to a better place in the room, Don’t kid yourself, how much did you pay someone to design your tracking room? You can get a great sound anywhere if you take the time to work on it, Sometimes you need to get another snare or change the cymbals out. Do what you need to do, you know when it sounds right and when it doesn’t, try to get there without the equalizer (if possible) and try to stay away from the compressor.
• Get as high a quality gear as you can get before you record. Borrow amps, snares, cymbals, guitars etc. to get the best sound as possible because the source of the sound is more important than the kind of microphone you use.
• If you are going to be tracking and mixing in a better studio than your home studio, make sure you have your sessions properly labeled. Use the proper procedures and Guidelines and your engineer will love you for it. Click here for more info.
• Never clip the input while you’re recording your digital audio. There is no reason in Pro Tools or any other Audio Software to run the input so hot that you end up clipping your digital audio, Your input signal does not need to be over-18 db with peaks at the most -10db on your meters.
• Do yourself and everyone else a favor when recording, record at 44.1 /48k 24 bit, it uses less space and less DSP and sounds great!
• Always use a click track.
• When tracking guitar, make sure you stay in tune, check it on every pass if you need to.
• When tracking multiple guitar amps make sure they are in Phase.
• Getting Drums ready for tracking takes a while, don’t rush it, take the time to tune them right and get them sounding right. Sometimes it takes all day!
• If the drummer has timing issues, fix the drums before you start recording the other instruments or else you will regret it.
• Never burn effects on a vocal track, track the vocal raw, if you need to use compression because the singer is just to dynamic, then use it sparingly (1.5 ratio -3 db on the meters.)
• Always backup after every session, always press the save button after every take.
• Paying for studio time? Don’t waste your money or your benefactor’s money working out musical parts in the studio.
• You don’t know it all, so learn as much as possible. Here are some great references.
• Listen often and compare your work with other recordings. Become a better listener.
• Be honest with yourself about your gear, you cannot create an astounding recording with cheap gear. Yes you can get a great sound from an inexpensive
piece of gear, but there really is a reason an SSL console cost $100.000.00 or more
• Be honest with yourself about your skills as an engineer, we have all seen the American Idol auditions and those who thought they could sing! Being an engineer is a never ending learning process, the most skilled at it have been doing it for years and have learned from the best in the industry. Sometimes you just need to get some help from someone with more experiance.
• Remember this is fun right? Have a good time!
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