Producing your album is a lot of work, and often we tend to underestimate the time and energy needed. The key is that the better we are prepared and the better we know where we are going, the faster and more efficiently we can go. Here are the six essential steps to produce your album effectively and in the best possible conditions.
Phase 1: Pre-Production/Preparation
This is simply the phase during which you will choose your titles, determine the tempo of each title, their instrumentation, fix their arrangement, etc … You will probably also record guide or witness tracks that will allow the recording musicians to find their way in each piece.
It’s super simple: if this phase is sloppy, you will have problems because you will find yourself in the studio having to decide quickly if you will record a second rhythm guitar if you record chorus and how much, etc. … You will find yourself discussing with your colleagues about the arrangement, arguing over the instrumentation, and finally losing valuable time.
If this phase is neglected, you will have to think. And think, it’s not good! At least, not when your time and money are at stake, and you’re here to record.
To stay productive, you have to separate the decision-making from the action. This phase is purely a decision-making phase. From the moment you enter the studio, you do not think (at least much less), and you run: you are there to record what you have decided to record.
Phase 2: Repetition
Once the arrangement is fixed, the instrumentation is decided, it is necessary to work. Again.
If you arrive at the studio without having REALLY prepared, it will feel. You will be tense, you will get your notes, you will be hesitant, and therefore the performance will suffer.
For this phase, it is better to train with the control tracks in the ears. This avoids surprises during the actual recording.
Phase 3: Sound Recording
It’s D-Day. You’re ready, so you have to take out the microphones and record your tracks.
It is during this phase that the instruments are recorded, usually in succession. Recording the instruments one after the other helps to keep more control over the performance and helps prevent the musicians from disturbing each other. It could happen.
It also allows you to focus on the choice and placement of the microphone to capture the best sound possible from one instrument at a time and therefore avoid scattering.
Spend some time testing two or three different mics and placements, and make sure you get the best sound possible. Once in the box, you can not go back. If you have poor tracks to mix, you will spend more time correcting defects than improving what already sounds good.
Phase 4: Edition
The tracks are saved. It’s time to prepare them for the mix. This phase is quite painful because you do not make music, but you have to go through it.
Editing is to clean the tracks to mix them better. You will cut the silences, adjust the timing of the tracks, make fades in opening and closing to heal transitions, tuning a little song, etc …
It’s tedious, but it will allow you to mix clean tracks and clear, without clicks and pops, without the noise of amps, without the singer’s coughing fits, etc …
Free from potential distractions, you will be able to mix.
Phase 5: Mixing
Mixing is the moment of truth. That’s when you will take your recorded tracks separately and build a coherent, clear, and punchy whole.
The mixer is a crucial step, but the ease with which you will mix and especially the quality of the final result will depend on the quality of your work on the previous steps.
If you did well upstream, mixing would be a pleasure, and you will hardly need to resort to extreme movements, such as a boost of 10db in the bass drum track or an overcompression battery or other.
Phase 6: Mastering
Mastering is an important step in which you will take your mixes to make an EP/album. You will adjust the volumes of the songs between them, add a little compression, adjust the mixes’ tone, boost the general volume of the EP, etc …
Mastering is the final touch that will allow you to release a product a little more “licked.” This is the frame around the artwork—the last finishing touch.
Once your songs are recorded, mixed, and the mastering is done, you can distribute your titles. The easiest way is to sell a digital album / EP on your own website. You can also duplicate your EP and sell the CDs at the end of your concerts.
The most important thing is that now you have a pro record in your portfolio that will allow you to sell yourself and increase your credibility. This is more important than the money that will be able to generate the only sale of your songs. Producing your album opens doors and offers opportunities that must be seized to boost your group.
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