Are You REALLY Ready For The Recording Studio? A 5-Point Checklist Sessions

Stepping into the studio to record new music is one of the most exciting and rewarding parts of being a musician. And it’s a particularly special moment for a band at the very start of their journey.

Concert of a musical rock band. Silhouettes of musicians on a set background.

A recording studio is like a microscope. It will expose your strengths and weaknesses in equal measure. If you want great results, you have to prepare before taking your music from the rehearsal room to the recording studio. Here’s how.

While the recording studio is a place for musical freedom, creativity and self-expression, it’s also an environment where we often have to work to strict schedules and deadlines.

Whether you’re recording a single, an EP or a full-length album, it’s important to be prepared and pragmatic.

With the right preparation, you can confidently produce the best music you’re able to, and take significant strides forward in your music career. But without sufficient thought put into pre-production, your magical moment in the studio can turn into a trainwreck.

In 2017, my own band, Familiar Spirit, flew from the U.K. to New Jersey to record our debut release at a studio called Graphic Nature Audio. Throughout the experience we felt incredibly passionate and creative, enabling us to form the beginnings of a body of work we are exceptionally proud of. But it wasn’t as simple as just picking up some gear, hopping on a plane and showing up.

In this article I will share with you some of the most important things you will need to consider before stepping foot in a recording studio for a successful session.

1. Find The Right Music Producer

If you love your music, you will probably want to record it to a professional standard. Demo tapes just don’t cut it anymore, and to be heard clearly in a sea of other artists, your music needs to stand out from the crowd. This means that both your music and its production must be top-tier.

Compromising on quality will almost inevitably be to an artist’s detriment. There are lots of artists trying to break through in the music industry, and in an age where attention spans are lacking, nobody will take your songs seriously if they don’t exude the kind of quality that listeners have come to expect.

Great music is the core requisite to gaining fans and build a following, but whether they realize it or not, modern listeners have developed a high standard for just how good that music should sound. In addition, to gain the attention of music professionals such as record label A&R, management and agents, you’re going to need a production of a very high caliber.

As a band, decide on a budget you will be happy to spend on recording costs. Once you have a budget in mind, perform research to find a handful of exemplary studios that have a record of making music you vibe with. If possible, reach out to studios and producers that specialize in your chosen style of music. Think about how you envision the final product sounding, and find a producer who you believe can truly bring that vision to life.

For a guide to choosing the right professionals to help you in your path, see the recent SonicScoop post, “How to Choose the Right Producer or Engineer”

2. Choose Your Best Songs To Record

Working with proven talent at a good recording studio can be expensive—there’s no two ways about it. So if you are working to a smaller budget, then you might want to look to record less music. It’s important to work with only your very best songs if you’re on a tight budget. One awe-inspiring single will make significantly more waves than a whole mediocre-sounding album.

It’s great to enter the studio with a catalogue of music that you feel inspired by, but at this point in time it will work in your favor to be discerning with your material. Though being a professional musician is a long and continuous learning process, this is also an industry that is undeniably difficult to break into, so you can’t afford to make mistakes early on with your choice of songs to focus on.

It might be difficult to relinquish emotional ties with some of your songs for the time being, but taking initiative to decide which of your songs are your best efforts and are the most likely to resonate with audiences will increase your chances of success.

Music industry professionals—and even casual fans—make judgments based on tangible statistics such as the number of streams and views achieved. Leading with what is likely to be your best-received music will allow you a greater chance of accumulating more impressive numbers and more engaged fans, giving you the shot to keep things going so you can release more and more music over time.

When assessing your music from an analytical perspective, it can be wise to make judgments on which songs you feel demonstrate your biggest strengths as a band, and display your originality as an artist. Sometimes, getting distance from your own work can be tricky, and soliciting the opinions of a trusted producer can be invaluable in selecting the right tracks to lead with.

3. Demo the Songs, and Learn Your Parts Inside and Out

Once you have selected the best material to record and chosen the right producer to work with, the next most important step is to prepare for your session by fleshing the songs out as demo tracks, and putting in the hours to master your performances. In a recording studio environment, time is money, and a lack of preparation on this front is the biggest cause of frustration and wasted time and opportunities in the studio.

Demo the songs well in advance of the session, even if it’s with a cheap interface and cheap microphones. It doesn’t matter if the tracks are clipping and the levels are all over the place—a demo isn’t meant to be perfect. But make sure the demos are as musically accurate as possible, and that they reflect what you want the final product to resemble. Establishing BPMs and setting up tempo maps will help a drummer play in time to a click track when recording. Once you complete this stage, you should feel so good about your parts and your demo performances that you wish you had recorded them for real.

Failing to prepare for the studio is preparing to fail in the studio. You have to be ready to do this blindfolded and under the gun—and that means each member must know his or her parts inside out. The time and effort has simply got to be put in in advance of your session to deliver exceptional performances in the studio.

The quality of the input will always affect the output, and there’s only so much editing that can mask a poor performance. At the end of the day, you will regret looking back and thinking, “I wish I played that guitar lick better”, or “I wish I went more out of my comfort zone on that drum fill”.

Demos are also vital for pinpointing a direction for a producer or engineer. A great producer will identify the unique strengths and aspects of the band and nurture these while making the music sound more refined and higher-budget than it is.

4. Play Great Sounding Instruments

If you are going through the effort to record music professionally, you will want to use the instruments and equipment that will help you make that music sound great. In addition, your choice of guitars, amps, cymbals and microphones will all contribute massively to your work’s sonic identity.

As a drummer, I know how important it is for drummers to play cymbals that suit the type of music being performed. This is because a cymbal’s sound cannot be altered or tuned. Each cymbal resonates with its own distinct sonic quality. Because cymbals play a huge part in a professional mix, quality cymbals are a necessary investment that is required for a professional-sounding mix.

Tuning drums and guitars accurately and diligently will also result in a significantly more polished record. Even ever-so-slightly out of tune drums and guitars are noticeable and can really expose amateur tendencies.

It’s always best practice to play with brand new guitar strings and drum heads in the recording studio, and to set up guitars properly to ensure they are intonated correctly and that they play at their very best.

If you don’t happen to own your favourite sounding guitar amp or vintage snare drum, that’s OK. It could be a good idea to rent or borrow your desired equipment for the duration of the recording experience.

5. Be Flexible While Staying True to Your Vision

Professional producers typically possess a great ear real experience when it comes to developing an artist’s sound. An informed and tasteful outside perspective can truly add something new and exciting to your music that you might never have considered before.

The recording studio is the perfect environment for this kind of creativity and musical self-expression. But sometimes, we can be at our most creative when we are open to ideas from others. Keep a positive attitude, avoid being possessive, and you will see for yourself how a healthy and light atmosphere can truly increase both productivity and creativity.

Although it’s never wise to compromise your vision or musical values, new ideas from band members or the producer should be welcomed and listened to in earnest. Provided you are cultivating healthy relationships in your work, suggestions from trusted producers and bandmates are intended to add something new and exciting, and to improve an aspect of the song.

You might be a songwriter or artist with very clear and decisive musical ideologies, but that kind of inflexibility can be to your detriment when it’s coming from a place of stubborn attachment.

Adopting a more open and collaborative process can help bridge gaps between members, and allow for the vision of the band to be delivered effectively while helping to satisfy all the individuals involved throughout the process.

Gideon Waxman is a London based drummer with over 13 years experience. Since completing a music degree at the University of Westminster, Gideon has been touring with metal act Familiar Spirit. You can find more of his advice over at Drum Helper; a free online resource dedicated to helping drummers achieve more from their playing.