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What To Do Before You Go Into The Studio To Record Your Independent Album<\/strong><\/p>\n Written by: Cliff Goldmacher (www.EducatedSongwriter.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n When it comes to recording a CD project where you\u2019re the artist, you\u2019ve got a lot of big decisions to make that will ultimately influence the way your project sounds.\u00a0 In other words, the more you do to prepare yourself before the record light comes on, the more enjoyable the process and the product will be.<\/p>\n PreProduction<\/strong><\/p>\n Pre production is everything that you should be taking care of prior to the first time you actually record something in the studio. This includes song selection, arrangement ideas, voice lessons, scheduling session musicians, finding a recording studio\/engineer and even starting the process of finding a graphic artist for the CD artwork as well as a duplication house to mass produce your finished master.\u00a0 This can be a daunting amount of work especially if you\u2019re new to the game, however there is someone you can turn to who can help make this process much more effective and significantly simpler.<\/p>\n The Producer<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019re wondering whether or not a producer is a good idea for your project, then it\u2019s important to understand what a producer brings to the table.\u00a0 In a word, it\u2019s experience. Let\u2019s assume the upcoming project is your first, second or even third independently released CD.\u00a0 This means that your studio experience is comparatively limited next to a producer who has often done dozens of projects. In other words, a producer has spent significant time becoming an expert at something that\u2019s still relatively new to you. With this production experience comes a variety of skills that the producer will use to help you end up with a polished, professional-sounding project.\u00a0 This skill set typically includes everything from knowledge of the craft of songwriting (useful in song selection and improvement), relationships with session musicians (which often includes the ability to play instruments at a very high level themselves), the communication skills to explain to the musicians what the overall \u201cvision\u201d of the project is, knowledge (or ownership) of a good recording studio and, last but not least, the ability to work with you as a vocalist\/instrumentalist to help you bring out your best performances in the studio. \u00a0Finally, the perspective that a producer brings to a project can be extremely useful as it\u2019s often difficult to make clear judgements about your own vocal\/instrumental tracks.<\/p>\n A question that I get asked often in my workshops is where artists should look to find producers for their indie projects.\u00a0 There are a variety of sources.\u00a0 The first is usually word of mouth.\u00a0 Ask other artists in your music community who produced their CDs and how their experience was.\u00a0 Also, if you have a CD of an independent artist and you really like the way it sounds, look and see who\u2019s listed as the producer then contact that artist to get the producer\u2019s information.\u00a0 If you\u2019re new to a community, you can always ask your performing rights organization (BMI, ASCAP or SESAC). They usually have a list of producers that they recommend.\u00a0 Finally, although always a bit of a reach if you\u2019re new to the game, you can look at some of your favorite major label CDs and see who\u2019s listed as the producer and then contact those producers as well.\u00a0 Although it\u2019s unlikely that successful producers will have time in their schedule to work with an indie artist, you never know and the worst they can say is \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n The Recording Studio<\/strong><\/p>\n Vocals<\/strong><\/p>\n Your career as a recording artist hinges on many things from the songs you choose to the musicianship on your records but the single most important thing for your artist identity is your voice.\u00a0 That being said, your ultimate goal as a vocalist is to sound exactly like yourself.\u00a0 In other words, the more relaxed and confident you are as a singer, the more people will know who you are and what you\u2019re about.\u00a0 Other musicians care about musicianship, but the people who will ultimately buy your CD will connect with your voice first and everything else much later. There are a lot of things you can do before you start the recording process to improve your chances of getting great vocal performances.\u00a0 First and foremost is practice.\u00a0 The voice is a muscle and the more you work with it the stronger it gets.\u00a0 No matter how good a singer you are, I\u2019d recommend working with a vocal teacher or coach on the songs you\u2019ve chosen to record.\u00a0 This way you\u2019ll be working with an expert to help you get the most out of your voice on the songs you\u2019ve chosen.\u00a0 This is not something that is limited to beginners.\u00a0 Multi-platinum selling artists use vocal coaches as often as, if not more often than, beginners.<\/p>\n Artwork\/Graphic Design<\/strong><\/p>\n Putting out your own CD is a big job.\u00a0Not only are you the artist but you\u2019re playing the role of record label, too.\u00a0That being said, it\u2019s worth considering starting the process of finding a graphic artist to work with and getting the artwork together even before the CD project has begun. This means collecting the necessary information for the CD insert like pictures and computer files of your lyrics.\u00a0I mention this because if you don\u2019t start this process early then you\u2019ll be adding months of additional work after you\u2019ve finished the actual recording of your project.<\/p>\n Final Thought<\/strong><\/p>\n Making a CD is like taking an audio snapshot of where you are as an artist at a given moment in your career. Since it\u2019s expensive to make a quality recording, it\u2019s Good luck!<\/p>\n Bio<\/p>\n Cliff Goldmacher is a songwriter, producer, session musician, engineer, author and owner of recording studios in Nashville, TN and Sonoma, CA. Cliff\u2019s site, http:\/\/www.EducatedSongwriter.com<\/a>, is full of resources for the aspiring songwriter including monthly online webinars. Go to http:\/\/www.educatedsongwriter.com\/webinar\/<\/a> for the latest schedule.<\/p>\n Cliff\u2019s company, http:\/\/www.NashvilleStudioLive.com<\/a>, provides songwriters outside of Nashville with virtual access to Nashville\u2019s best session musicians and singers for their songwriting demos.<\/p>\n You can download a FREE sample of Cliff\u2019s eBook \u201cThe Songwriter\u2019s Guide To Recording Professional Demos\u201d by going to http:\/\/www.EducatedSongwriter.com\/ebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n Facebook: www.facebook.com\/EducatedSongwriter<\/a><\/p>\n Twitter: edusongwriter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What To Do Before You Go Into The Studio To Record Your Independent Album Written by: Cliff Goldmacher (www.EducatedSongwriter.com) When it comes to recording a CD project where you\u2019re the artist, you\u2019ve got a lot of big decisions to make that will ultimately influence the way your project sounds.\u00a0 In other words, the more you do to prepare yourself before the record light comes on, the more enjoyable the process and the product will be. PreProduction Pre production is everything that you should be taking care of prior to the<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20456"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whisnews21.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"faders\"](\"http:\/\/whisnews21.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/05\/faders.jpg?w=300\")
With the advent of improved recording technology and affordable, high-quality equipment, great recordings can be made almost anywhere.\u00a0 Recording is no longer the exclusive domain of the big, multi-room complex.\u00a0 That being said, there are a few things you should consider before choosing a studio for your project.\u00a0 First and foremost is sound quality.\u00a0 Ask the studio owner\/engineer for a demo of something that\u2019s been recorded in their studio.\u00a0 But you should be more specific still.\u00a0 Ask that the music on the demo be in the style of the project you\u2019re planning to record. \u00a0In other words, if you\u2019re making a country CD, it doesn\u2019t matter if the studio has a great-sounding R&B demo because that doesn\u2019t necessarily translate into a great-sounding country recording.\u00a0 Secondly, make sure you\u2019re comfortable in the space where you\u2019ll be working. Although working in a big, beautiful studio can be inspiring for some, it can be intimidating for others.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to be spending a lot of time in this place, make sure you feel at ease there so that you can relax and deliver great performances.\u00a0 And, lastly, don\u2019t forget to ask for any and all fees.\u00a0 The obvious would be the hourly rate but it\u2019s important to ask the owner\/engineer what other charges you\u2019ll be incurring.\u00a0 This can be everything from a separate engineer charge, cost for burning CD\u2019s and even separate charges for certain pieces of studio equipment. A studio ought to be able to give you a decent estimate for what your overall project should cost.\u00a0 Some studios simplify the process even further by giving you an all-in project fee that is decided up front. It\u2019s always better to know all of this at the beginning of a project so that there are no unpleasant surprises when it comes time to pay.<\/p>\n
\nvery likely that you\u2019ll be using this CD to represent yourself for a long time.\u00a0 The better prepared you are the more fun you\u2019ll have making your recording and the better your CD will sound.<\/p>\n