Pre Production
First things first, let's talk about Pre Production. After all the songs are written, the final stage before recording is pre-production. In my opinion, this may be the most critical phase of the whole record-making process. I can work with you to make sure your music is the best it can be.
First, we determine if the song is in the right Key Signature or in other words, how high or low the music is played. Most people write songs in whatever key they were inspired in when they grabbed their instrument. But is it the right key? Many factors are involved here with instrument ranges, playability, timbre, and, most importantly, the vocal quality. A producer can help you find the key that suits a singer's voice the best. It may not sound exciting, or the vocal may sound muddy on the lower notes if it's too low. Often if it's too high, singers just cannot hit the notes easily. This can waste a lot of time in the studio. Even with all our studio magic, it usually sounds
like the singer is struggling.
Then we determine if the song is at the correct tempo. If the piece has vocals, I generally listen to the pacing and phrasing to hear if the vocals are dragging or rushed. We usually spend time going up or down a few BPM on the metronome to find what is perfect. In Rock music, we often program a tempo map, so the choruses are up 2bpm, which can really help capture the live feel.
At this point, we attempt to determine the basic instrumentation needed to record the song and some layer overdub ideas. This can be imagined, but it's beneficial to record demos and try things out. Once we have Demos, it is easy to chart out the songs and listen for song arrangement, flow and length, if any bars need to be cut, or repeated or If any chords or lyrics need to be changed.
Once the songs are ready for recording, we work out the logistics like studio and musician schedules, budgets, technical needs, dietary concerns etc.
Basic Tracking
For bands, tracking a song means recording drums, bass, guitar, keys, and vocals live together. Generally, we are just focused on getting great drum tracks. We can often keep bass, but guitar, keys, and vocals are usually just scratch tracks used as a guide for the Drummer to play along to so they can get proper attention later. Some people will just track drums to the demos if everything is locked to the grid. Still, I prefer to get a live feel with everyone following the drummer instead of a drummer trying to follow demo tracks.
I generally use a click track whenever possible. It opens up a lot of editing opportunities and workflow enhancements. For example, when recording 8-tracks of harmonies on a chorus, If we are on click, we can lay down one set of the Harmonies and then repeat them. This can save hours in the studio. To keep a live feel, we will often automate the click track tempo up and down for certain sections, do Rubato (free time) Intros and Outros, and add beats for longer breaks when needed. Once we have a few drum takes that we like, we will listen through and choose the best overall take. After that, we listen closely, and if we hear any issues we can quickly swap takes or punch in a new one if necessary.
Overdubs
Once all the meat (drums) and potatoes (bass) are done, we start layering all the keys, guitars, horns, strings etc. I usually set up the guitars, keyboards, amps, and pedals in the control room, and keep the speaker separate in the live room. This way, we can dial in tones exactly how they will be recorded and in real-time. If you ask any of my past clients, they will tell you how much knob twirling is done live during tracking. This is especially useful if you are trying to get exciting guitar and synth sounds. I try to get all the instrument overdubs done before vocals so that we have an exciting-sounding track to sing along to. I find that this technique helps to inspire the best vocal performances. I always lead singers in vocal warm-ups before we start so that when they step up to the mic, it sounds good right away. We then record the vocals in sections, getting multiple takes of all the verses and choruses. Once these sections are all recorded, we "comp" the vocals by listening back and choosing the best takes, or by re-recording any sections we aren’t happy with. This process takes extreme focus between the singer and myself, but in the end, produces a magical performance.
Final Assessment
Once you think you have everything recorded, it's best to listen through all the tunes for a few days/week to see if you're done. Here we can determine if there is any slight editing that needs to be done or if there are any dead spots in the songs that need additional instrumentation to keep the music flowing. This is our final step in the recording process before we move on to the mixing so it is important that we are happy with the music.
Mixing
I grew up mixing on an analog SSL console, and have taken that training and applied it to the modern digital workflow. Analog is fun, but simply can’t compete with the Pro Tools workflow which works best to get great mixes on a budget. I typically spend a day mixing each song at the Mad Scientist studio before emailing the mix off for comments. We will then go back and forth communicating and adjusting the mix until we are done.
Mastering
I often do mastering for lower-budget projects. However, if it is financially possible, I suggest hiring a fresh set of ears to master and finish the album. I have a list of great mastering engineers that I recommend to my clients. I can advise on album order, keeping in mind keys, tempos, and styles, but I often leave this to the songwriter's vision. Once we get the records back from mastering, we can then listen to the album as a whole, discuss and adjust any final revisions, and then the record is done!