Image courtesy of Periphery
There are plenty of blog posts, tutorials, and even textbooks about how to record music the right way. If you want to know how to do things by the book, all you need to do is seal yourself off from the world for a few weeks, study your ass off, and you'll emerge as a walking encyclopedia of recording knowledge. But what you won't know is the lessons that are only learned the hard way: by spending countless hours in the studio and making a few mistakes along the way.
Fortunately, Periphery bassist/producer Adam "Nolly" Getgood is here to share his wisdom on the biggest challenges and mistakes bands face in the studio, and Periphery's tips for overcoming them. To learn even more of his studio secrets, tune into Periphery's online class on CreativeLive, August 26-27 – sign up here to watch it free.
1. Not paying enough attention to the minutiae
A couple of songs into an album, with the clock ticking, it becomes incredibly easy to start letting things slide. It can be anything from letting slightly sloppy performances through ("I'm pretty sure we've got what we need to edit something together…"), to not putting quite as much care into maintaining perfect tuning on your instruments ("You can't really hear that bit of wobble once it's in the mix, can you?"), to even scrapping parts that require extra recording time ("Actually, I think that part sounds great just single-tracked… let's just leave the double and harmonies out!"). As justified as you might feel those decisions are at the time, you will almost without a doubt regret them further down the line.
While we were recording Juggernaut, we tried our best to make sure that everything that was committed to the final version of the song was exactly the way it should be – in tune, in time, delivered with conviction, and engineered without technical flaws. Sometimes that meant re-recording whole instruments for a song – we tracked the drums for the song "Alpha" a second time after we decided the snare tuning wasn’t ideal for the song, and countless fully formed guitar parts were sent to the trash upon review.
It's my opinion that the biggest separation between amateur and professional productions is simply the level of attention to detail maintained throughout the process. It'll drive you neurotic, but it'll be worth it in the end, believe me!
2. Paying too much attention to the minutiae
With all of that said, there is a point where you can disappear down the rabbit hole if you're not careful, never to return. Make sure that your mindset is as objective as you can possibly manage, to be sure you're not allowing your mood or external factors to cause you to totally lose your perspective and leave you running around in circles second-guessing every decision. It's so important to have a clear vision of what all of your material should sound like, or to have someone at the helm who you trust to have that vision on your behalf. I know I'm not the only person who has seen artists actually go beyond the point of improving their track and to actually start making it worse as a result of tunnel vision. Don't let that happen to you!
3. Burning out
Pulling incredibly long days and late nights in the studio every day for a month or two will drive anyone insane. When you start on a record, the initial buzz can have you up all night in a flurry of productivity, but it's important to remember that recording an album is a marathon, not a sprint. Set strict working hours that make sense for your lifestyle (11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. is my standard – easy to maintain a healthy morning routine, and you're done in time for dinner so you can unwind at night), and give yourself a minimum of one day off per week. It might feel like you're not grafting as hard as you could be, but trust me, the resulting motivation, positive mood, and attention to detail is going to make your recording process as smooth and awesome as it can possibly be.
4. Dealing with "demo-itis"
If you've done your pre-production and demoing dutifully, there are undoubtedly going to be certain moments of magic in those recordings that are going to be nigh-on impossible to recreate in the studio. I'm a big proponent of using tracks from demos in the final version of the song if they have the right feel and are suitably in tune. To make this as easy as possible, try to record a dry DI of every guitar and bass part while demoing. (This has the added bonus of allowing you to experiment with various amp-sims and effects after the fact to find the exact sound you’re after, so you can concentrate on the music while you're writing.) That way, when it comes to the final mix, you can reamp the parts to get the perfect tones that are totally coherent with the mix – the best of both worlds!
Next up:
- 10 Things You Should Know Before Going Into a Recording Studio for the First Time
- How to Choose the Perfect Recording Studio for You
- 5 Tips Every Musician Needs to Better Prepare for a Recording Session
- 5 Crucial Rules for Recording a Demo
Adam "Nolly" Getgood plays bass in Periphery and spends his downtime in the studio engineering, producing, mixing, and mastering for an exponentially increasing number of clients within the rock and metal world. With a modern and portable approach to music production that often challenges conventional wisdom, he has managed to craft a sound as progressive as the bands he records.
Nolly will host a free CreativeLive “Studio Pass” workshop on August 26 and 27. Sign up for the free live-stream here.
