Zach is right. It all begins with the TRACKING.
But seriously, it begins even BEFORE TRACKING. It's all about knowing when you're ready to hit the studio.
Are you done with your song's arrangement? Or are you gonna find things out when you hit the studio?
To the guitarists and bassists: are you sure about what to use in your signal chain for the recordings? Do you know what amp/s to use in conjunction with your existing settings in your effects and guitars? how much gain do your REALLY need? What guitar and amp voicings are needed to support the song?
To the drummers: are you longing for an open sound? More punch? Ore something looser? do you need single ply's for the toms? how much do you need to muffle the snare? Are you in for ambient miking or more for close-miking? Do you REALLY need to trigger drum samples or can it be done acoustically from the kit? Can you play well to a click?
To the vocalists: Do you like your monitors loud? Soft? Does deafening your wars make you pick up more energy? Do you have a lot of dynamics that you require a nice outboard compressor in the chain? Have you practiced your harmonies? Are you in tune? autotune is not always the answer.
I guess it is also a fault of having a lack of PRE-PRODUCTION. A lot of bands hit the studios without much preparation, and , they just start to 'find themselves' in the studio. So now, there is more room for error.
Anyway, there is still hope.
malamang budget parin talaga ang problema for up and comers to properly plan out and implement pre prod. somehow pwede naman gawan ng paraan sa studio, or before the sessions simply by holding a meeting with the band.
the points you raised are valid. the band really should be aware that there is more to audio production than simply getting your guitars in tune and hitting the record button.
here are simple solutions to the pre prod problem in case wala masyadong budget yung banda:
Are you done with your song's arrangement? Or are you gonna find things out when you hit the studio?one could make rough mixes of a track so the band could review it and alter or add parts accordingly during thefollowing sessions.
To the guitarists and bassists: are you sure about what to use in your signal chain for the recordings? Do you know what amp/s to use in conjunction with your existing settings in your effects and guitars? how much gain do your REALLY need? What guitar and amp voicings are needed to support the song?this one could be tough. there's always digital modelling for those who want to get close
i personally prefer amps and simply try to make them work by using different settings. most of the time it works kahit pano. Bass tracks? i DI through the Joe Meek. Sounds ok most of the time.
To the drummers: are you longing for an open sound? More punch? Ore something looser? do you need single ply's for the toms? how much do you need to muffle the snare? Are you in for ambient miking or more for close-miking? Do you REALLY need to trigger drum samples or can it be done acoustically from the kit? Can you play well to a click?well you could try all sorts of micing. you could mute close mics if you want to do roomy sonds. have all the mics set up already in case you realize later that you need them. as for the drum heads, im guessing it will really matter only marginally if one's drum set is not top of the line. yes, it does make a difference on the sound, but in my case hindi masyadong dramatic ang changes. what will matter in my experience is the TUNING. yes. BIG TIME. take a day to tune that set if you must. click tracking? the drummer can try it in the studio and if doesn't work, ditch it. you'll know within a few seconds if the drummer is able to lock in or not.
To the vocalists: Do you like your monitors loud? Soft? Does deafening your wars make you pick up more energy? Do you have a lot of dynamics that you require a nice outboard compressor in the chain? Have you practiced your harmonies? Are you in tune? autotune is not always the answer.again you can simply try this in the studio. shouldn't take too long. if the vocalist is not in pitch i usually halt the recording. i explain to him/her that this kind of problem cannot usually be solved easily. it needs a lot of unlearning and relearning. balik nalang sila after a week. then i make a minus 1 for them to practice to. vocalists have to print out a lyrics sheet for one more practical purpose other than not forget the words. it is for the engineer to be able to mark problematic words/lines. sometimes it is better to let the vocalist just sing the song from start to end without any interruptions. then do punch in's later. so yes please provide us those lyrics sheets
one more practical trick we can use is to let the vocalist sing the song from start to finish, disregarding the peaks. the purpose of this is to simply provide us with a visual cue of where the dynamics get a little bit hot so we can anticipate the these parts and either ride the faders or automate the compression as he or she sings.
if a band has any previous recording of their songs (demo's etc) they should bring it in before the ssions for evaluation, so the engineer has a liittle idea of what the songs require
