Phase 2: Pre-Production Recording

Welcome to the second article in our four part discussion on recording in a commercial studio. Hopefully, you have read the phase one article, have followed my advice, and are now ready to move on to phase two.  If you missed the first article, please go back and read it before continuing.

In this article, we will discuss the pre-production phase.  In this phase, you will make basic home recordings of the songs you plan to record when you go to commercial studio.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking. Why would you want to make a recording of your songs at home when you’re already planning to book and pay for a quality commercial studio with an experienced engineer? After all, if you could make great sounding recordings at home you would never book a commercial studio in the first place. But while this may be true, a pre-production recording isn’t designed to sound great. Its purpose is to provide basic guide tracks for you to play along with during your session in a real studio.

To follow the advice outlined in this article you will need to own some form of home recording equipment.  Practically anything with four tracks or more will work.  All you really need is a few tracks and the ability to get them on a CD. You can use a portable digital recorder, a computer based digital audio workstation, a reel to reel machine, an ADAT, or even an old four track cassette machine. If you don’t have a small home recorder, I strongly suggest you make the investment. Portable digital recorders are extremely useful, as well as highly affordable—and with some less than $200, they’re certainly a justifiable purchase.

Tracking the Pre-Production Recording

There are many ways to approach pre-production and there’s no way to list them all. Instead, I will illustrate the method which works best for me.  If you followed the advice in the last article, you have already decided on the speed of each song. Therefore, you already know the songs BPMs and are ready to lay down the first track, the click or drum loop track.

It really doesn’t matter if you use a click or a drum loop—just make sure the drum loop is a close match to the basic rhythm the drummer is going to be playing. Don’t just pick out a random 4/4 loop. Either find a loop that fits, or better yet, program your own on a drum machine.

If you use a click, I suggest making it in 8th notes, or double time. This means there will be 8 clicks per measure as opposed to 4. I have found this makes my playing tighter and also allows me to better swing with the beat when necessary.

Make sure to do a count in. I suggest 2 measures, or in our case, 16 clicks. In other words, the count in will be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, ready, go. The longer count in allows more time to get the feel of the beat. A simple 1, 2, 3, 4 isn’t always enough to get a feel for the correct speed of the song.

Once you have layed down the click/drum loop on track 1, you are ready to record down a basic track of guitar or piano, whichever is the main instrument of the song, on track 2.  It isn’t that important to get a great tone. You can worry about that when you get to the actual recording session. It is, however, important to get a good performance. Make sure the playing is tight, correct, and on the beat. If it’s off, it is likely to throw off you or anyone else who later plays along with it in the studio.

Finally, on track 3, lay down a vocal track. You don’t have to use a great microphone or give a mind-blowing performance. Just a good rough take is fine as long as there’s nothing on there which would distract or throw off a musician playing along with it later.

Mixing the Pre-Production Recording

Now you want to make a CD of the recording to give to your fellow band mates, as well as a copy to take with you to the studio.  I’ve found it’s best to separate the click/drum loop track from the guitar/piano and vocal tracks. Pan the click/drum loop track all the way to the left and then pan the mix of the guitar/piano and vocal tracks all the way to the right. When you do this you are essentially creating two separate tracks on the CD. This is important because later when you are recording, your engineer will be able to put the left and right information on separate tracks of his recorder and, therefore, adjust the level of click/loop to music.  If you don’t pan left and right, and later ask the engineer to give you more click or more music, he or she won’t be able to do it.

Don’t worry about compression, massive eq, or adding reverb when mixing. Just use basic corrective eq and make sure you have a decent, clear sounding mix.

Conclusion

Give a copy of the CD to each member of the band and ask them to practice playing to it.  Since everyone will be practicing to the exact same basic tracks they will be playing to in the studio, this should give you some great takes. It always has for me.

When you go to the studio, you will take a copy of the CD with you and tell the engineer you’ll be playing to the basic tracks contained on it. He will put the CD’s left channel (click or drum loops) on say, track one and then the right channel (guitar/piano and vocal) on track two. You’ll then record by playing along with these two tracks and recording those takes to tracks three and up. Then at the mix, the engineer will simply mute the click/loop and guitar/piano/vocal tracks and what’s left will be a tight, accurate, and well performed recording.

This technique has worked beautifully for me, as well as for many friends who use it as well.  Also, since you are creating your basic guide tracks at home or in your rehearsal space, you will save time and money in the studio. Plus, with the band practicing to the exact basic tracks they will be using during the session, you’re certain to get some great takes.

In the next article, we’ll discuss the tracking phase of the recording process and give you some tips which will same time, money, and frustration. Thanks for reading and stay tuned.