Preparing for the Recording Studio

Preparing for the recording studio can allow you to relax and focus on the music for an unbeatable track. Studios can provide excellent sound quality, professional mixing of your tracks, and state of the art equipment for recording your tracks. When you want to maximize the benefits of working in the studio, the first thing to consider is rehearsing.

Getting the Music Down

Every minute that you spend in the studio costs, so you will want to know your tracks by heart before even looking for the right studio to record in. The recording studio will probably record each part of the track individually, such as the vocals, guitar, and drums, so everyone in the band needs to be fully prepared to play well once it is time to start recording, even if you play and record as a group.

Your Personal Preferences

Some aspects of preparing for the recording studio can take place at home. For example, you may have some parts of the track prepared for mixing by uploading them to your home computer and burning them to disc. You can also consider recording a few songs beforehand that you want to emulate in the studio. This will give the engineers in the studio an idea of what you are looking for in a final product, and can save time since the engineer won't have to remix when you aren't happy with the final sound.

Your time should be budgeted, but you will want to set goals that are actually achievable rather than ideal. You should plan for some breaks during the day, or allow for a few separate recording sessions for each member of the band to allow everyone a chance to rest at some time during the day. Try not to rush through recording your tracks, or you may find that everyone is tired and frustrated by the end of the day.

Budget Time for Listening

The only good way to make sure that you are happy with what you have recorded is by listening to each track several times, in real time. Typically, you will want to spend about as much time listening to your recorded tracks as you do recording them. Even though you may want to skip through listening to playbacks, you will find that this is the only way that you can catch mistakes. Without playback, you may end up with a recording that you simply are not happy with.

If you have chosen to use a studio that charges by the day, then you may find that you get more for your money. You will not have to try to rush through your recordings in just a few hours, and you will be able to take more time for important decisions. The ultimate goal of preparing for the recording studio is to know what you want, but you may find that things change when you hear them played back, and want to spend a little time changing some aspects of your track.