Category: Studio Tips
Posted by admin in Studio Stories, Studio Tips, Useful Stuff Monday, 17 May 2010 18:32
The Stone's during a late-night session for Exile on Main St.
One of my first experiences in a world-class recording studio was when my band was touring the UK in the mid 90s. Our UK manager, who worked for CEC Management/Nude Records at the time, had several clients who were recording at the hallowed Matrix Studios in London. After a late-night cocktail or two at the Good Mixer, we cabbed it over to a dark, deserted London street and made our way down an unlit set of basement steps through a grimy, windowless door. It was around 3:00 am.
Walking through that door was like walking into Oz, or Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory.
Even at 3 am on a cold Tuesday night in mid January, Matrix studios was buzzing: there was an attractive secretary sitting at the reception desk, with gold and platinum records on the wall behind her. One was for Oasis’ Definitely Maybe. The other was for The Cranberries’ debut record.
Down the hall, both recording rooms were in operation. We headed into studio A, and when our manager asked the engineer how he was, he looked doggedly at the drummer pounding away in the live room and said, This bloke’s been at it for four hours now.
As we maundered around, I asked the secretary if Matrix was always this busy. She deftly replied, yes, darling. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
If that were true, then it’s a wonder why Matrix ever went out of business.
Even if the secretary was overstating it a bit, it is true that some of the best deals for London recording studios can be had by taking advantage of their “graveyard shifts.” While small demo’ing studios cater to new and unsigned bands, larger London recording studios often alienate unsigned or under-funded London bands with their regular day rates. But world-class studios have a big nut to crack, and booking at the studio as often as possible always helps the bottom line.
And it helps unsigned and indie bands in the process, who can get access to great live rooms, top-notch gear, and the most creative, proficient sound engineers at an hourly rate they can afford.
Of course, there’s always a catch to a great deal: the graveyard shift means you and your bandmates will be burning the midnight oil. Graveyard shifts usually run from 11:00 pm until 6 or 7:00 am the following day. So, if you’re going to take advantage of the low rates, be sure to get a good nap in as soon as you’re home for work so that you’ll have enough in the tank for a great session that winds on into the wee hours.
Aside from the ungodly timeframe, the graveyard shift gives you the best environment for getting great takes: studios are usually much quieter at night, with fewer interruptions. Your producer, for instance, is less likely to be distracted by his girlfriend making an impromptu visit to the control room. Also, many bands find that they do their best work in the discreet hours of the night. The Beatles, for example, began to prefer night sessions with Rubber Soul, which is arguably their first truly great studio album.
So, if you’re ready to abandon the amateur home recording gear and lousy basement demo studios for a professional sound that will give you a finished product that you’ll be proud of, check out a London recording studio’s graveyard shift rates. You might be surprised at how affordable a world-class recording studio can be.
Resident Studios in London now offers graveyard shift rates that are up to 50% less than our day rates! E-mail info@residentstudios.com for more information!
Posted by admin in Studio Stories, Studio Tips Monday, 10 May 2010 15:49
Looking for a recording studio that can produce that big sound for you? Find one with two rooms.
If you’re an avid Beatles fan, then you know that things began to unravel for the group during the production of The White Album. Due to Ringo’s brief departure from the band, bruised egos, and a chaotic recording schedule, to this day, the recording credits for songs like “Back in the U.S.S.R.,” “Dear Prudence,” and others remain disputed. It is, of course, the chaos of The White Album’s production approach in the recording studio that led to such an expansive universe of songs; as John and Paul duelled as songwriters, the result was a virtual “big bang” of songs. Practically every shade of pop song was created in that tumultuous recording session.
Although The Beatles left the White Album recording sessions with fresh wounds that led to their demise, George’s reflections about the time spent in the recording studio on that session are revealing. In the video version of The Beatles’ Anthology, he speaks fondly of how busy the band was at Abbey Road, utilizing two of the studio’s live rooms simultaneously to keep the production schedule and creativity flowing.
“It all depends on the kind of record you’re looking to make”While the bulk of the instrumental tracks on The White Album were performed by the Beatles, the album does feature a fair share of strings, horns, and most notably, Eric Clapton’s lead guitar track on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Although The White Album eventually ushered in the Beatles’ first use of an 8-track recorder, the first half of the recording sessions were recorded on 4-track decks. George loved the flexibility of using both Studios 1 and 2 at Abbey Road, with Clapton or the horn players in the smaller room while the other three players were in the main room recording the principal rhythm tracks for new songs. In spite of the tension, George sensed the productivity of an Abbey Road humming with activity, and it most certainly contributed to his lush, Phil Spector-led production of his solo debut, All Things Must Pass, in 1970.
Big Recording Studio Production in a Bedroom Recording Studio World
It’s easy to imagine that the days of investing in sprawling recording studio resources are no longer necessary, now that the digital recording age has ushered in soft instruments, digital editing, sampling, and a multitude of other newfangled technology. Why, therefore, would a musician or band need two recording studio live rooms for one session?
It all depends on the kind of record you’re looking to make.
When I recorded my debut solo record in 2001, I went into the studio with a sizable recording budget, a collection of songs, and very little idea of how to produce and arrange them. I brought in a highly creative producer/engineer as well as a good friend with formal music training. The recording studio was a huge, magical, world-class facility with a mix of vintage and current gear as well as two separate studios.
After getting the acoustic guitar and vocal tracks finished, the remaining work was all gingerbread: we had a cavalcade of musicians coming in each day to contribute to the tracks. It was here that having two studios available at the time proved to be a real time-saver.
While the producer slaved over drum tracks in the big studio, crafting the right sound and getting the best takes possible (a laborious process to say the least), my friend and I were free to record a professional string quartet, vibraphone, a percussion ensemble, as well as other instruments that he and I could manage. The studio’s in-house engineer set up mics and pushed the faders for us in the smaller studio as we layered track after track of supporting material onto the bare bones of my songs.
In the end, the producer had an incredible amount of recorded material to use in crafting the final tracks. Because the arrangements were so lush, he was free to sculpt complex arrangements where vibraphone, piano, and 12-strong electric guitar gave way to soaring strings, orchestral bass drum rumbles, and synth textures. The two-studio approach truly enriched the recording session and contributed to a finished product that I am still proud of to this day.
Two For the Price of One?
Truth be told, recording studios have varying reasons for offering multiple rooms, and the primary reason isn’t usually that they want to offer both of them to the same client during the same recording session. A smaller recording studio may be priced lower to attract bands or musicians looking to do a quick demo, while other rooms may be largely for mixing and editing.
Depending on your budget, in some cases you may be able to find a recording studio that is willing to block out both of their rooms for a few days for the same price you’d pay for an over-hyped boutique studio. Or, if in the middle of a session you feel you could use the extra facilities, the studio may be more than happy to give you their vacant recording studio at a fraction of the regular price.
This was the case for me: the other room was empty, and the studio owner was happy to double as my engineer for a few days to make a bit more money on the project. While at first it seemed crazy, in the end it saved the record label money, since we were able to get all of the session players recorded in a timely manner that still allowed us to experiment with different ideas and arrangements.
Certainly, if you’re a band that has 99% of your arrangements worked out before you ever decide to record, then a single recording studio makes the most sense for you. But if you’re looking for the Abbey Road experience, where iconic sounds are created in the sphere of the studio, then having two tape decks spinning at once may give you the results you’re looking for.
Posted by admin in Studio Tips Friday, 7 May 2010 14:09
Is it your first time in a recording studio? Make sure you’re prepared for the worst.
Unless you’re an a-list band or musician that has a massive recording budget to work with, your time in a recording studio is most likely going to be extremely limited. Invariably, recording sessions run into a multitude of setbacks and interruptions that end up costing time, money, and sanity for you and your band. Particularly if you are bankrolling your own session, there is usually a high level of stress involved with recording that has you checking the clock every 15 minutes to see if you’re on, ahead, or behind schedule.
If you’ve never recorded in a real recording studio before, take my word for it: you’ll usually be behind schedule.
“you’re better off including older songs into the schedule or opting for fewer tracks”The stress of your limited amount of time in a recording studio, combined with the distractions and setbacks, sometimes creates a viscous circle that can negatively affect the finished product. Countless bands out there – whether they are signed or unsigned – look back on their discography with dissatisfaction, feeling as though they were not able to get the sound and feel of a song that they were looking for. While amateur engineers and mediocre recording conditions can be the cause of this, most of the time, bad recordings are caused by bands that come to the recording studio unprepared or otherwise didn’t know how to handle adversity during the session.
The following are a few scenarios that many bands confront during a recording session, and some tips you can use to avoid or deal with them in order to achieve maximum results in the recording studio.
Arrive at the Recording Studio 100% Prepared.
Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of the recording process is the preliminary work done by bands and musicians prior to ever entering the studio. Recording artists are notorious for not being able to judge the command and performance of a song objectively, which is why getting some feedback or peer review from some of your musical friends may not be a bad idea. Before entering the studio, produce some rough home-recorded demos – preferably with no overdubs – and pass them out to other bands and musicians you know to get their opinion.
Another thing to consider when choosing songs for your next recording studio experience are the age of the songs. Many bands tend to collect 10 to 15 songs for a full-length recording that span six to twelve months of songwriting. While the early songs in your collections have most likely been rehearsed and developed over a long period of time, newly penned tunes will most certainly lack the confidence and development that are needed to produce and record them effectively in the studio. Rather than prematurely pushing new songs into a recording session, you’re better off including older songs into the schedule or opting for fewer tracks, since fidgeting with a new song in the studio can sap up your time.
Rehearse Songs sans the Vocals
Depending on the instrumentation of your band, the producer/engineer might suggest recording the principal tracks without vocals. This is particularly the case if your band is centered around a singer-songwriter who plays acoustic guitar or piano – the engineer will want to get a great sound for the acoustic instrument and track it with bass and drums so that the performance comes off as tight and locked-in with the rhythm tracks as possible.
In many cases, the rest of the band cues off of the vocals more than they realize. As a result, having to perform a song in the studio without vocals in the headphones can be disorienting for the rest of the band. A good approach to preparing for a session is to practice your songs without vocals. Not only will it prepare you for the studio, it may also allow you to discover flaws in your performance that were being covered up by the vocals.
To Click or Not To Click – A Word on Click Tracks
No drummer is a human metronome – tempo in a song tends to drift based on the dynamics and structure, and all members of the band are susceptible to speeding up or slowing down. Sadly, the drummer usually bears the brunt of blame for a song that noticeably speeds up or slows down on a recording.
There’s nothing wrong with slight variations in tempo – you’ll find that many of the great drummers did it themselves – but some bands are more sensitive to it than others, particularly if ultra-tight performances are an important part of your sound. In this case, using a click track in the recording studio may be a good idea.
Click tracks are also helpful for singer-songwriters who don’t necessarily have a band, and are planning on using session players to over dub. In this case, using a click track is essential to getting a tight performance, particularly with bass and drums.
However, click tracks can take some getting used to. Musicians are used to playing to a “collective beat” – a synergy that exists between all of the performers at the moment they are playing together. The click track negates this synergy. Instead, the band plays off of a synthetic pulse. Many bands cannot adapt to it.
Before you arrive at the recording studio and begin tracking with a click track, it is best to experiment with it in rehearsal. There are different configurations that may work best for your band’s line-up: some bands like to hear the click track in all of their headphones, where others work best by feeding the click into the drummer’s headphone mix only. Other bands simply opt to live with drifting tempo and seek to minimize it in the recording studio.
Above All Else – Don’t Get Bogged Down!
All of these different scenarios boil down to one basic principle: don’t get too bogged down by anything in the studio. Based on your budget, you have only a limited amount of time to get great studio sounds, lay down great tracks, and mix them. Depending on your musical approach, you need to have a clear idea of how much time should be allotted to these three aspects of studio recording and make sure that one doesn’t overpower the rest.
Some engineers will want to spend days on just getting the perfect drum sound, whereas others will try to flake out for a two-hour lunch break. Band members will obsess over their performances and try to dominate tracking time. Whatever the case, if the band is prepared, knows the songs, and can perform them in a variety of different conditions, even these sometimes unavoidable setbacks won’t stop you from cutting an amazing record.
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