Preparing for a recording studio session | Styles Recording Studio

So you are looking to book into a recording studio and you are a musician or a band. Here are some really useful tips to prepare and make the most of your recording session.

Rehearse your song

Know your songs inside out to the point where it is basically second nature and you can play your songs in the zone, consistently playing at your best. Also, your band needs to be solid with a click (metronome) before booking into a recording studio as this will eliminate tempo fluctuations and makes editing audio a whole lot easier.

Record Demo’s your songs

Record some rough demos of your songs and send them to your engineer and producer if you have one. Even use your phone to record with and make sure that all your parts of the songs are great.. It’s a wonderful reference tool and not about the quality of the audio.

Instrument setup

If you want your recorded songs at the studio to sound great make sure your guitars are set up correctly (intonation) with new strings that have been worn in and all your guitars sound amazing. Just a note on the very important topic of intonation…    

When an instrument is properly intonated, all the open strings and every note on the fretboard sound at their correct pitches. It’s just not enough to tune your guitar, the setup must be correct so chords played at different parts of the neck are always in tune. 

Tuning drums is also very important, each drum head needs to be in tune with itself. Secondly, the top and the bottom heads must be in tune with each other, then each drum must be in tune with the kit as a whole. 

Remember to bring along all your accessories.. spare strings, picks, leads, batteries, spare drum sticks, gels, tape, spray for squeaks, and so on….

Plan your recording

By the time you arrive at the studio, you should have a clear idea of the time scale and how the session should go, this ideally would have already been talked through before booking in. 

If it’s a band recording with drums, setting up, tuning, miking, and recording some test tracks is usually the first job and the most time-consuming (usually around 2 hours) Once the drums are done it’s time to move on to bass, keys, and guitars. Allow around half a day to get comfortable and ready for tracking with headphones on and hitting the record button. This timescale is only a guide and it may differ depending on the project.

Singers and rest

Singers may be the most important part of the recording session, so if you are the singer it’s probably not a good idea to party to 4 am the night before a recording session, stay off the caffeine and make sure you’re hydrated, and get ready to nail your best singing performance by warming up with a few vocal exercises.

Mixing

Mixing is usually undertaken a few days after the recording session when the mix engineer has fresh ears, however, bands will nearly always like to listen to a rough board mix of their songs near the end of the session. This is an ideal time to take down reference notes any band comments for later.

Mastering

When the songs have been mixed the last step is mastering. 

This is a hugely important and sometimes misunderstood part of the process with guys sometimes getting it confused with mixing. The most important parts of mastering are.. 

Getting the output levels to broadcast ready and adding clarity and power to each track and finally making your project sound consistent both in tone and in the flow of each track. 

Hope you have found this guide useful and don’t forget to enjoy your time in the recording studio.