If you’ve never actually worked in a studio before…
You probably have no idea of the enormous number of steps required to actually take a song idea in your head…
And transform it into a real mp3 file that you can share with the world.
So in the following 6 articles, I show you exactly how it’s done:
1. How to Record a Song
2. Recording Vocals
3. Recording Instruments
4. Microphone Polar Patterns
5. Stereo Recording Methods
6. Mixing on Headphones
Now let’s take a closer look at each lesson…
1. How to Record a Song
As I’m sure you can guess, recording a song is a complex process.
From beginning to end, its a series several hundred tedious tasks.
And for beginners it can be tough:
1. To remember those tasks, and…
2. To understand how they fit together to accomplish one goal.
So in the following lesson, I break down in full-detail, the 4 basic steps of music production, which are:
1. Recording
2. Editing
3. Mixing
4. Mastering
Regardless of your musical style, vocal recording is the one skill that everyone wants to learn…
Because its the one part of a song that ALL listeners pay attention.
But unlike other instruments…
Where the microphone positioning and recording technique lies in the hands of the engineer…
With vocals, so much of the control lies with the performer. Which makes it tricky when your singer is inexperienced in the studio.
And so, to find out how to help your singers discover their true potential, check out this post:
Once the vocals sound good, there’s still the matter of everything else.
In popular music, the 4 most common instruments you’ll need to record are:
· Guitar
· Bass
· Keyboards
· Drums
The problem is…traditional methods used to recording these instruments in pro studios, don’t always apply well to home studios…
Where a lack of adequate tools can make things more challenging.
When you start building your mic collection…
One of the first things you’ll notice in virtually every product description is a mention of the microphone’s polar pattern.
Cardioid, figure-8, and omnidirectional are the 3 terms you hear repeated over and over again.
Yet surprisingly, few people truly understand what these terms mean and how to apply them…if they’re even aware of them at all.
Which is unfortunate because the polar pattern is an absolutely critical piece of information that must be considered each time you pair any mic with any given recording situation.
Get this part wrong and your recording is doomed before you’ve even started.
Once you have a detailed understanding of microphone polar patterns…
The logical next step in your education is to learn the art of stereo recording.
While pro studio engineers use it on a daily basis to achieve the awesome wide sounds we hear in music and television…
The sad fact is that most home studio owners never even attempt it.
Either because they don’t have the right gear, they don’t have the right knowledge, or they’ve simply never even heard of it.
And as a result, they wonder why their recordings sound so amateurish.
While traditional wisdom tells us that mixing should ideally be done on studio monitors…
In today’s world of independent musicians working in bedroom studios…mixing on headphones has become standard.
And while it may not be ideal, the truth is, no one would do it if it didn’t have its advantages.