Getting the most of your recording studio session at Bad Racket
Tip: There is no computer program or plugin, or production technique that will make your awful performance into a hit record. There’s no way around it, you have to make great content in the recording studio to make great recordings.
Practice Makes Perfect
Great sounds begin with great performances, so getting your stuff practiced 100 times. Hiring a recording studio engineer and studio time can be a complete waste of money if you aren’t ready. A good test to see if you’re ready, is take a video or make a demo recording you can review later. Does it pass the sniff test? If you can’t stomach some of the mistakes, others are unlikely to be impressed. Likewise, if you’re songs are so chopped together in the recording studio, how will you ever pull off a live performance?
Scheduling your Accent to Success
Some songs come easy, but cultivating a crop of winners usually takes a little work. Schedule time to work out problems, and make time to work your craft and become the best you can be. It’s ridiculous to think that every other profession requires years of education and practice, but somehow some musicians just roll out of bed and create hits. Most take years and years to come up, with many failed attempts and missteps along the way. Schedule your shows and recording ahead of time. Practice and be ready, and keep creating fresh material as well. Being on time and there is important. Nobody wants to book an artist that half the time never shows. We understand stuff does happen, accidents, emergencies, even deaths can affect your schedule, but always at least text or call. Every minute that you waste of people’s time, they could be spending giving someone else a shot. If you call here, schedule an appointment and don’t show up, we may not take your calls in the future just like a real job would eventually tell you to get lost if you don’t show up to work.
Have Realistic Goals
Making your first million may be a goal, but a much more realistic expectation might be easier on your mental health if you just continue to fail every time. Breaking even is a realistic goal. Taking the first step is a realistic goal. Making money may be a realistic goal, but the odds are stacked against you. You could think of your song as a scratch off ticket. If you think spending a lot on your ticket for better chances is worth it, you might be right, but many of the creative musical choices don’t have a cost difference, and many times a well practiced song does a lot better than a song that took 3 days to record 50 different ways. Set a way you will perform the song and deliver that way in the best way you know how.
People with unrealistic goals can be frustrating to work with,especially if they are terrible musicians. Best out of 3 takes becomes best out of 10 takes, and none of them are good. What have you accomplished with your time? If you are just practicing, you could easily do that at home. You can fine tune parts, or give it your “Best I Can Do” or best out of 3 takes if you need too, but if you are rewriting all the musical parts, you should have handled that beforehand. By the time the record light goes on, you should have a permanent version of how the song goes in your head,and know exactly how the song goes.
Use the best tools you can
Does this mean you need a $50,000 recording contract at a $5 million dollar recording studio to record a great song? No.
Use the best tools you have available to you, and use them to the best of your ability. This means guitars should be tuned and set-up well. Amps should be in good working order and clean with no buzz. At the very last resort you can rent or borrow equipment, but using equipment you aren’t familiar with can be a nightmare too. Of course we have musical equipment at the recording studio, but we aren’t guitar center. Expect to need new strings for guitars and new drum heads for drummers, and let us know if you need to borrow something, or use some of our professional recording equipment so we can have it ready for you!
At the very least you need a quality microphone and signal path into the computer. A good sounding room without noise also is important. Sound recording microphones can be very sensitive, so don’t wear any loud clothing or jewelry. Get comfortable with your performance and connect with the material.
Creating Music as a Lifestyle
It doesn’t matter if you are the most talented musician in the world if your guitar is out of tune, or a string breaks mid session, so when it comes down to performing your song in the recording studio, show up prepared and ready. When you’re surrounded by music all the time, maintenance & dealing with keeping your sounds up to snuff should become part of your normal routine. Whether you’re looking for new sounds, writing new material, practicing, or performing, try to keep a deliberate approach, and gravitating towards the right path will become second nature.
