RECORDING

Recording - Step 1 of the Music Production Process. This page explains what goes on during a recording session.

Recording Engineer - The Recording Engineer is us. Our job is to get quality recording s of the Artist and to help the Artist in doing their performance better. To get a quality recording, we use the right microphones for the job (and other recording equipment). To do this, we have live vocal microphones, studio condenser microphones, speaker cabinet microphones and drum/percussion microphones (snare/tom, bass, overhead, hi-hat). Brass instruments also use some of these microphones. We also properly place the microphones to capture the best possible sound. We also set levels. These levels consist of recording levels at the recorder (also mixing board) and headphones. Headphone levels are set to help the Artist in doing their performance better. Too high recording levels cause a 'spike' (unwanted distortion) and generally spikes require a re-recording (or lots of mixing work to remove). Too low recording level recordings are generally of poorer quality than ones with levels set 'just right'. Finally, the Artist needs to hear everything clearly through headphones (unless doing a 'live' recording - headphones not used) or it may be harder for them to do their best performance.

We may also use additional equipment during recording such as DI boxes, gates, compressors, reverb or other similar sound processing equipment. These effects are generally done in entirety during the mixing process although sometimes, this equipment is more effective during recording instead of afterwards during the mixing process.

The Artist - The job of the Artist is to make their music. For the Artist, it is recommended to follow the #1 Commandment of Recording Studios:

"Thou shall not record in Recording Studio unrehearsed."

If rehearsal space is what an Artist needs, we can help them with that but its best to do recordings rehearsed. This will, at the very least, save the Artist money as being rehearsed means less time spent laying down good material (and less time "fixing" things during mixing) and in the Recording Studio, time is money...

Types of Recordings

There are 2 types of recordings: Live and Studio:

1. Live - This is where all tracks are recorded together at the same time as in a live performance (with amplifiers, speakers, etc. and no use of headphones). In these recordings, there may be "bleed off" between microphones (sound from things other than what a microphone is supposed to be recording). This could cause a less clear recording.
2. Studio - This is where the tracks are recorded separately with backing music being played through headphones. Alternately, its like a live recording except for everything except acoustic instruments (for example, drums) heard through headphones only. In this type of recording, there is minimal to no bleed off. In the alternate example above, most, if not all the non-acoustic instruments are then 'tracked' (a recording) separately, 1 at a time. This gives a clearer sound as each track would have little to no bleed off. In the case of the drums, because of generally 6-9 microphones in close proximity to record the kit, some bleed off is unavoidable. However, in some cases this is good. For example, the snare drum - typically, the snare drum sounds best with the bleed off on to the overhead and hi-hat microphones. Studio-type recordings are typically done for hip-hop music and for bands wanting to produce serious work, such as a demo or an album. It is a studio-type recording which is generally referred to as "radio quality".

After recording is completed, the next step in the Music Production Process is Mixing. For this step, we could mix the tracks for the Artist or the Artist could take the "raw" unmixed tracks and mix them themselves or at another studio.

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