1. Come prepared

Excuse me for being so obvious. Coming prepared to the studio is the number one way to save money, because you are saving time. Having your parts worked out and songs properly arranged before coming into the studio is crucial. Not only does it save time, but it lets you focus your efforts into finessing the finer points that make good songs sound great. It is also recommended that you have charts written out for any other musicians playing on your record. This is not only common courtesy, but keeps communication simple and the creative momentum up.

2. Use Proper Session Musicians

This is a point I run into the ground at any recording seminars I speak at, or whenever talking to clients who are new to the recording process. It’s so important! Recording is a whole separate art, beyond just having the chops to play a song well. To get the best results for your record, use a professional with a lot of recording experience under their belt. A professional truly grasps how certain tones sound on record, and have a greater understanding of how the subtle nuances of their performance can affect a recording. Initially it may seem counter-intuitive that spending money to hire a professional can save you money, but it’s almost always true. Professional session musicians require far less editing, mixing, processing, etc, and therefore save you money in the long run, plus give you a superior final product.

3. Time Management & Expectations

Many people who are new to the recording process make the mistake of thinking that the recording process only takes as long as you spend actually putting down your takes. Be aware that the editing and mixing process comprises the largest portion of time spent on a professional recording. Though every situation is different, a safe assumption is that for every hour you spend tracking your record, you can expect three more on the back end for editing & mixing. By budgeting your time properly and maintaining your expectations of the outcome, you can come out of the recording process with everything you needed done without going over budget.

4. Live Drums vs Programmed

Recording and mixing a professional drum sound is one of the biggest challenges for an engineer. It is what separates a professional studio from the weekend warriors. You need a good room, a good kit, a good drummer, and the proper equipment. No matter who you are, it’s a time-consuming process. The setup, tracking and mixing of drums is very labour intensive. Though a real drummer playing a real kit is sometimes irreplaceable, in many cases you have other options. A lot of modern pop/rock drum sounds are not recorded live anymore, and if they were, chances are they are so sample replaced and quantized that they bear no resemblance to the original recordings.

Drum samples & VST instruments have come very far in the past few years. We now have the freedom to hire a drummer to trigger samples using a good MIDI drum kit. Because of the quality of the drum samples, not only can you get a professional drum sound almost instantly, but you have the freedom to swap sounds around and quantize takes at a whim. Though it’s a a bit hard for some people to wrap their head around, I highly recommend considering this option for certain genres, especially where budget is an issue. At the very least, keep an open mind, because this technology is already an industry standard, and is improving greatly every year .

I hope these points help you in the planning of your next recording project. If you have any thoughts or tips to add, please do so in the comment section below.



These schools are far from cheap. The program I enrolled in cost over $10,000 for a full-time, one-year course.  Some comparable institutions charged up to double that. As with most post-secondary education, that is a lot of money. What exactly are you getting for your five-figure tuition fee?

Things to look for…

Up to date equipment:

You have to be learning on equipment that is relevant to the modern workplace. Yeah, knowing how to switch tape heads on that 2″ Studer tape machine they have there is cool and all, but chances are you aren’t going really utilize that knowledge in 2010 (diehard tape users, please spare me the hatemail). Are you using the latest versions of DAW software and industry standard plugins? Why learn on antiquated systems, when people are using the latest and greatest everywhere? It doesn’t make sense, yet I find that a lot of these schools are training on tools that are many years out of date.

Maintenance:

Many recording schools skimp on maintenance budgets. Large format consoles have broken channels, patch bays and more. Computers are slow or out of date. This is not a good learning environment. Look for a clean school with nice amenities.  This indicates a school that is taking their revenue and putting it back into proper operation and education.

Quality Instructors

Common sense says that you want to learn from someone who has practical knowledge and experience. This was where I found a huge flaw in my school. I recall asking a question about a compressor, asking about the details of the different parameters. Only ONE teacher in the whole facility was even able to give me a semi-logical explanation of one of the most fundamental tools of the trade; the rest just stuttered around the question or gave me blank stares. In fact, from my understanding, 1/3 of them were fresh graduates from the program. Call me a cynic, but sometimes the saying “those who can’t do, teach” can ring true….

Entry Credentials:

My entry exam to the program was maybe the most ironic part of the whole process. Imagine me, a music student with moderate recording experience being faced with the question “What does www stand for?” on the entry exam for my $10,000+ recording school. Why even bother trying to act like there are standards here? I knew right then and there that this was a high-turnover business looking for anyone’s money. I have heard similar stories about other institutions across the continent.

The plus side: You Get What You Put In

A major benefit of time spent at a recording school is the hands-on experience. They are generally equipped with large tracking rooms and large format consoles. If you want to make the most of your time, make sure you are right in the middle of any sessions recording the bands and musicians that will inevitably be coming through the school’s studios. Make sure you put in the hours to become really familiar with the equipment, experiment with microphone placement, and learn what the different pieces of gear do. This is probably the most usable knowledge you will take from your program. If your instructors are any good, you will walk away with some great theory knowledge as well, but in my opinion is this nothing you cannot learn from a recording text purchased from amazon.

Your Alternative: Hands On Approach

Use that $15,000 tuition fee to buy yourself a recording setup. That is a big chunk of change — enough to get you well on your way to professional recordings. Buy a quality recording interface, microphone, compressor, DAW and applicable software. For example, you could buy Cubase/Logic, a Nuemann u87, Apogee Duet, UA1176 Compressor, and a full toolbox plugins… and still have money left over. Now you have everything you need to gain practical knowledge. Spend that year or two you would have spent in school recording yourself and others — and do not expect to get money for your time. This is all about learning. Read books on recording to flesh out your theoretical knowledge, and learn how to understand and control what you are hearing.

In conclusion

Full disclosure: This is obviously a biased article. I am merely sharing my experiences and thoughts, and that of some others I have spoken with on the subject. Though I remain skeptical of the validity of the average recording school, I urge you to keep an open mind. Whether it is worth the money and time is up to you to decide.

Did you attend a recording program? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

1. Microphone Placement

I am putting this one first, because it is the most important AND the most overlooked. The position of a mic relative to its source can have as much, or more impact on the tone of a sound as liberal amounts of EQ. For example… large diaphragm condenser mics (with cardioid pickup patterns) are especially sensitive to the “proximity effect”, which states that that the closer a source is to the mic, the more bass is going to be captured. If your recording is sounding a little thin, before trying additive EQ, try moving your vocalist closer to the mic. Some mics have more exaggerated proximity effects than others, so experiment. It is not uncommon for me to go back into the iso booth two or three times during level check to change the placement until I am happy. Do not worry, you are not annoying your vocalist/client by striving for the best sound possible.

2. Tracking With Compression?

There have been countless debates about tracking with compression vs tracking without compression. Though we won’t open Pandora’s Box of compression techniques today,  my simple answer is: Yes… but don’t overdo it. Running compression while tracking is important because you do not want your levels to peak during the louder sections of a pass. Equally important is the psychology involved — you do not want the vocalist to hold back. If you have a smooth compression in the chain while they are recording, their levels are going to sound more “in the pocket” to them in their headphones, and your vocalist can belt the big sections without fear of peaking. This peace of mind and better-sounding monitor mix generally translate into better takes. Plus, as we all know, as singers settle into their takes, their levels often get louder than those during level check. A compressor is going to save you from clipping when that perfect take comes. This said, its generally best not to commit to any sort of heavy compression that is dramatically affecting the tone or the dynamics of the recording until mixing.

3. Tracking With EQ?

You should not need to use dramatic EQ while recording. If you feel you do, you should first look at both your microphone selection and microphone placement. If you feel with certainty that an EQ is complementing your vocal sound, then go for it, but err on the side of caution and be conservative. Do not record your vocals with a high pass filter engaged, as you can do this later just as effectively.

4. Avoid Sibilance

This point is directly related to my first tip. Sibilance is the harsh high-end “esss” sounds in a vocal that are caused by “S” and similar consonant sounds. Before reaching for a DeEsser plugin, EQ, or multiband compression, try moving your mic. You will be surprised what lowering your microphone one inch can do for your sound. It can be the difference between harsh and smooth. This is not to say that you may not need to further treat your vocals with processing, but the less you have to do during mixing & editing, the better.

5. Know your Microphones

Finally, knowing what your microphones sound like can help you get the most out of your recordings, and make educated and efficient decisions based on what you are hearing. Everyone has a “go to” mic or two that they start with, but if its not working, you need to be able to assess why, and think of what mic could better complement the source. If your vocal is sounding too harsh, what mic do you own that has a less accentuated top end? If you do not have more than one good vocal microphone, make sure to utilize proper placement techniques if you aren’t getting the sound you want.

I hope that these tips help you in your vocal recordings. In future posts, I hope to dive further into detail about specific proccesses of vocal recording. The bottom line is to capture a great sound that sounds like great product right off the bat, while still giving you and/or your mix engineer room to work when the mixing stage comes. Good luck!

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