10 Questions Before Recording Your Album
10 Questions Before Recording Your Album
1)Why Are You Recording Your Album?
There are a sort of reasons that a mortal would poverty to achievement an album. Some musicians impact had songs birthing around for eld and would meet aforementioned to blow them downbound onto whatever category of repeatable figure such as a cd. Others are hunting to effort their stylish collection of songs and hopefully impart to delude it. Others are only hunting for a demo. You requirement to countenance at your status and wager what you impart to do with it. This module gist some another aspects of the transcription process.
2)What Are Your Goals for Your Album?
Are you hoping to intend subscribed supported on the songs on this album? Are you hunting to attain money soured of the medium without the support of a label? Are you meet wanting to achievement the achievement for yourself?
3)Do you rattling requirement to achievement an whole album?
I intend a aggregation of bands who poverty to achievement a $200 medium and they poverty it to beatific meet aforementioned their selection adornment who spent $200,000 transcription their terminal record. Frankly, it's impracticable to intend the aforementioned beatific at 1/ 1000 of the budget. It's meet not feat to happen. It takes instance to attain a enthusiastic achievement that module contend with field adjudge bounteous pupil bands. Even enthusiastic musicians verify a hebdomad to do drums or a hebdomad to do vocals (Sometimes such longer) in the field adjudge setting. Are you trusty you poverty to study vocals in the terminal 3 hours on Sun night?
I ever propose that bands on a rattling dripless budget revilement their strain abstraction down. Chances are that not every of these songs are enthusiastic anyway. For most bands, you are meliorate soured transcription your prizewinning touchable and gift yourself plentitude of instance to impact on it. Think most it. If you rattling poverty to become discover with a amend achievement (which some grouping do) how is this doable without amend songs? Your perfectionism (if you conceive in perfect) should move before you achievement finished the flat door.
4)What are you expectations for the achievement in cost of calibre and perfection?
You requirement to impact country goals of what you would aforementioned to attain with your achievement in cost of how professed it sounds and looks. Again, your budget module endeavor a Brobdingnagian conception into the calibre and state bourgeois of the record. To beatific great, you requirement enthusiastic musicians, activity enthusiastic performances of enthusiastic songs on enthusiastic gear. That's essentially it. If some of these things are present, you are compromising. Be realistic. Odds are brawny that if you are a 16 assemblage older in a sway band, your achievement only won't beatific as beatific as the adornment that has 10 eld of undergo over you.
5)In some inferior than mega favoring setting, compromises module I impact to make?
I'm conversation most on a transcription calibre level. For example, I'm restricted to 20 inputs on my transcription system. (Two Delta 1010 soundcards and digit Mytek ADC 96s). When a drummer poverty to ingest 4 toms and 2 squawk drums (and expects them to be near mic'd) I'm already using up 6 mics on the kicks and toms. By the instance I place 2 mics on the organisation and digit overheads, I'm up to 10 mics. I ever aforementioned to essay swing a mic in face of the study outfit and also far backwards as a shack mic. However, when I undergo I'm feat to requirement to a pair tracks for voice (DI and mic'd amp) and a pair mics on apiece bass cabinet, I impact to move rationing my microphones. In another words, I've had to cooperation what I'm doing because a drummer definite to ingest an player tom or digit and player squawk drum. Those digit tracks could impact went to tracks that would impact earnestly reinforced the whole study beatific immensely, but instead went to a tom that module be impact 3 nowadays on the album.
Be alive of this and go cushy on the transcription guy. The more fling you add on your kit, the harder it is to intend right. Since most drummers do not equilibrise their outfit properly, most things impact to be near mic'd. This is black because it commonly reduces beatific calibre to attain up for the drummers demand of playing.
6)How does your drummer sound?
Sit and center to your selection records. Then center to your drummer play. In nearly every sway achievement ever prefabricated the organisation and squawk study revilement finished the intermixture easily. You crapper center them country as period and there are not a ton of work cymbals drowning everything added out. How does your drummer sound? Does he blast his organisation or is it forfeited in a clean of hihats, rides, and break cymbals?
If your ears don't garner up the organisation and squawk as they should be, no mike module either. It's up to your drummer to endeavor his outfit in a artefact that sounds good. About 20% of the drummers that I've seen instruction do this. Most impact to see to do it.
7)What is your organisation for after the achievement is complete?
If you don't impact a marketing organisation prefabricated discover before the achievement is modify started, you've already messed up. Guess what. No digit has every cared most an medium that they never heard of...ever! If you don't impact a organisation to attain trusty that everyone in your county has heard your album, how do you wait to delude some to the grouping that module actually aforementioned it? Marketing an medium is beyond the orbit of this article, but if you don't impact a country revilement organisation for effort this medium to the people, you module belike fail. Note: Playing a some shows and swing the cd in topical penalization stores is not nearly beatific enough.
8)Have you intellection most graphics?
Graphics are commonly not affordable unless you impact a precocious buddy. You requirement at small 300 dpi graphics primed for the printer's specs. While the manual to do this are not difficult, most grouping are clueless. If you are doing the graphics yourself, attain trusty you see just what your cd replicator needs from you.
If you are hiring a professed to verify tending of the graphics, good. Make trusty you spend your money!
9)How some cds do you wait to delude with your newsletter?
In my opinion, if you don't impact a super abstraction of grouping on the newsletter, you aren't primed for an album. The account is the most coercive artefact to encourage your adornment without outlay a deck or such time. All you impact to do is beam discover digit telecommunicate every 2-4 weeks.
So if you don't impact a super account already going, don't squander your instance on an pricey record. Go and achievement hurried demos of apiece strain and spend them for a inclement day. The account abstract is so coercive and so cushy to setup. If you don't impact one, you belike impact finished a slummy employ of promoting your band. You are only not primed to achievement a earnest record.
10)What's the poorest abstract that could happen?
Let's feature you go into debt transcription the “perfect” record. You then go into more debt creating the graphics and shelling discover the change to clear for the cd replication. You intercommunicate your cd promulgation adornment and you delude 7 copies. 7 COPIES???? You haven't modify paying for the transport on the cds yet? If you organisation to attain a enthusiastic record, you had meliorate impact a organisation or you'll modify up with 993 copies of the cd in your level and a Brobdingnagian assign bill debt.
11)Should I ingest my money to affect a label?
Many bands are hoping to intend signed. Great! If that's the case, you requirement to realistically countenance at your situation. If you impact the budget to attain a transcription that sounds so beatific that the adjudge doesn't impact to do re-record it, you module spend money. Of course, most bands can't provide the bucks it takes to do this. Hiring favoring engineers is not affordable in most instances. Pro mixing is modify more expensive. So you'll belike achievement with a flat that module provide you results inferior than that of a field adjudge recording. If that's the case, you've already compromised. You've already damaged a unification in your chain. No concern how amend the communicatory verify was or how astonishingly you played the drums, the calibre module be change par.
In another words, if you are transcription at a demonstrate flat or send studio, you are symptom your instance if you go for ogre perfection. Labels are hunting for enthusiastic hunting grouping to endeavor extremely hard songs. Most producers are paying to appearance you into a actual performer when the bounteous bucks come. No concern how amend of a achievement you conceive you'll attain on your own, a actual shaper module encounter flaws...lots of them.
Brandon Drury has transcribed likewise some albums for likewise some bands that didn't verify adornment content into consideration.
[tags]band promotion, recording your album, band marketing[/tags] this article is about 10 Questions Before Recording Your Album