From A Beginner to a Beginner II

From a Beginner To a Beginner: Things to Consider When Making Your First Record

Part II

In my previous article I shared some “Dos and Don’ts” that I wish someone had told me before I signed up for a massive project like m “Visitor” EP. I’m forever grateful for the opportunities that CD presented me with and the things I’ve learnt while working on it! This is the second part of my little guide and I really hope you enjoy it just as much as the last! This time we will talk about the actual recording process, what pitfalls to expect when heading to mixing, and what this mysterious thing called mastering that everyone talks about actually is…

Finally the moment I had been waiting since I wrote my first song back in 2007 had arrived: I was on the way to record my very first CD. The entire studio picking arrangements for the “Visitor” project had been made by the management team I was working with at that point. They followed some recommendations and found a nice cosy studio in Kewstoke near Weston-super-Mare called “13 Sound Studios”. I didn’t know much about studios and didn’t mind passing the decision onto into the hands of those who were more knowledgeable. The requirement I had was the availability of an actual piano at the place, as opposed to the commonly used keyboards. It appeared to be quite a task, but I ended up with a baby grand piano instead of a regular piano, which was a real blessing! My inexperienced self didn’t really care much about any other requirements, which is a strict no-no! I was lucky and my time in the studio went really well. However, do not rely on pure luck or someone else’s opinions and do your homework on studios by yourself! On top of your basic research, it’s definitely worth enquiring into how busy the studios schedule is going to be during your planned recording dates and whether they have an emergency solving policy, which you will definitely need! Those basics will spare you a few unnecessary panic attacks.

Saying that, I can’t overstress the importance of prioritising the choice of your teammates over the actual studio. Who’s going to book you for the sessions and who’s going to engineer the sound for you is way more important than how trendy the place is. As long as the studio has availability and is well equipped, you are good to go.

We’ll skip the part where I’m listing the tech spec you should be checking for in a proper studio. Instead, we will discuss something different.

TIPS THAT I'VE LEARNT DURING MY RECORDING SESSIONS

I was surprised to find out that not everything that sounded good live, sounded as good on the recording. Sometimes “big” live sound turns out very plain when recorded. And sometimes bloopers that you accidentally make, end up adding something unique and quirky to the sound.
As a true perfectionist, you’d probably try extra hard during every take just to make sure you’re doing the best job you possibly can. Unfortunately, this obsession actually leads to a very mechanical sound that lacks personal charm and sounds off. Most of my best parts were recorded from the first/second take. Then, I would spend another half an hour trying to outdo myself only to come to the conclusion that my first attempts sounded better and more real anyway.

If you find yourself stuck on a guitar riff or unable to pitch the harmony, go get yourself a cup of coffee and come back in ten minutes. I can almost guarantee that the part you’ve been struggling with for the good three hours will be done within the next two minutes if only you allow yourself to relax a bit. “Let it go, let it go!” as they sing.
Even if you can keep the rhythm better than a metronome, there will still be parts that may require some fixing. Check every instrumental part before layering a bunch of vocal harmonies and totally mixing up those 65 tracks you’ve just created. Honestly, if there is one golden rule I learnt from my recording experience, it is the following: invest time and effort in checking up instrumental parts as you go and never leave it to “the very end”. I spent two extra days trying to fix something that could’ve been easily prevented if only we did everything gradually. Don’t listen to anyone who says it’s irrelevant while you’re recording and just do it straight away.

I used to think that the most important part of music production was the actual recording. However, it seems that’s just half the problem. The difficulty and the importance of the music creation I realised at a later stage – during the mixing. What the best way to arrange the vocals is; where it is best to add stereo sound and where I should just stick to mono; what effects I should add to the bridge part in order to highlight the switch of mood; how the pause could be filled so it remains quiet yet not too empty? These are the questions that start bombarding your little head when you get to the mixing. It took long hours in front of the computer and second by second reviews of each track to get us to the final stage. As I mentioned before, a lot of struggles could have been avoided if we had followed some of the basic rules I previously laid out. However, we live and we learn and if I didn’t stumble over those pitfalls back then, I’d probably never have found out the best ways around the music production mysteries.

Finally, we’ve reached the part that seemed absolutely unknown to me at that time. I had heard the word “mastering” many times. I even looked it up online. Google said that mastering was “the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device”, which was called the master. However, I had no clue what that actually meant in practice. And neither had many other people I had talked to. In a nutshell, mastering is something that polishes your sound and makes it “like on the radio”. As a general practice, it’s always best to go and master your tracks in a different place from where you have recorded them. First of all, it’s good to hear an independent opinion but also, mastering requires absolute impartiality and if the sound engineer has already spent a month working on your every note, it’s hard to stay uninvolved. So all the mastering magic was conducted at a great studio called the White House Studio, which we used based on a recommendation. Martin Nichols efficiently managed to bring the sound of my tracks to high industry standards and prepared them for distribution.

There wasn’t a time during the production process in which I wasn’t learning new things and mastering was no exception to this. Before I went to the session, I was asked to choose one CD, whose sound I liked and considered to be similar to mine. It is not a secret that I’m a big fan of George Ezra. I like his music, I like his lyrics and I love the sound on his album “Wanted On Voyage”. I couldn’t call our styles similar but when my naïve self was asked to bring a CD along to the studio, George was my go-to choice! It wasn’t a drastic decision that ruined my life but, it was definitely something that affected the final product not in the best way. Every sound is different and you shouldn’t really compare or strive for a similar tone. That was a mistake that cost me the big live sound that I usually have. The recordings, despite still having a rich sound full of harmonies and instrumental layers, sound much more huddled – almost as if I were playing in a room instead of a hall. As I said, it wasn’t something that totally ruined my CD, but next time I will make sure to stay away from any comparisons and trust more in external opinions. In all honesty, when it comes to mastering, there isn’t much to do for the artist. Stay home and stop being an obsessive control freak.

That brings us to the end of my guide to your first record. I really hope it will help you avoid some pitfalls and will save you quite a bit of time and money. Be creative, listen to your gut, plan in advance and you will produce some amazing tracks!