You’ve rehearsed a lot, and are ready to lay down some tracks at a nice, or not so nice recording studio.  You’ve probably like I did, paid a bunch of money to have someone engineer the demo and are really wanting things to go well.

Here are just some thoughts about what things to think about once you are ready to go and get everyone together to play.  I recorded some pop songs, and so these are the things that I had to keep in mind, but I guess that the process would be slightly different say if you were recording a hip hop track, or classical concerto, or anything in between.  But for us, it was all about planning…

ARRIVE ON TIME and READY

To me, nothing gets me more aggravated then not having the little things in place before I go and spend money for all the minutes that I’m at a studio.  Most studios charge by the hour, so every minute counts, and if your guitars need to be restrung, or people in your group show up late, it can be expensive and annoying.  My thought is to be overly prepared and ready, because inevitably, setting up the studio itself for a good sound takes time away from playing.  And if you are on a low budget like me, then it pays to have some things good and ready to go.  Here are just some things that I had planned and ready…

1. PRINT OUT A SONG LIST / MUSIC CHARTS marked with verse, choruses, etc.

Even if your band doesn’t need them, it’s a good idea for the engineer to follow them easily with lyrics and all so that she is on the same page as everyone else.  Not to mention at the very least, the engineer will know what to title the ProTools project.

2.  BRING A TUNER, CHANGE STRINGS DAYS BEFORE SESSION

Just do it, have it ready, with cables and everything in an organized place so that the quicker you can set up, the quicker you can get to playing.  No earrings (because of headphones), and no jangly pieces of clothing (because the mic might pick it up).  Everybody turn their cell phones off.

NOW PLAY

Hopefully, as you all are about to play, you’ve been rehearsing with the band by playing with a metronome.  Most likely you will play with one during the recording, so know who will count off the clicks and how each song will start and end.  So, if you are going to fade out a song once its’ mixed, you all need to know to keep playing at the end of the song so that there is enough to fade with.

Stay loose, and try to react to the players around you, and not focus too much on your own part.  Now is the time when all the rehearsing comes in, and if you have rehearsed in a way that it beneficial to the playing now, or if you didn’t rehearse enough.  Your own part should be second nature by now, and the differences between a good take and a bad one have more to do with feel with each other.

Also be very polite to your engineer.  I feel like people in the music world have to deal with too many attitudes and egos.  You generally will be able to get the engineer on your side by being nice.  Just a thought.

SING LIKE YOU MEAN IT

So, my problem when I started was that I was focused on “blending” which is a term used for choir singers to match the tonal quality of the person next to you.  Thereby giving it like a more “rounded” or smooth sound.  When you add 50 people to it, it sounds large and reverby.

However, when you use that technique for rock singing into an SM57 or some other microphone, all that comes out is this wash of a sound.  I think that onstage microphones used for rock, or hip hop, reward staccato ryhthms and “sharp” sounds.  Sounds that are able to cut through the loudness of the stage itself, and the din of live music.  If you have a band, and the bass is taking care of the lows, and the keys, and guitars are in the mids, and cymbals are in the highs… it really doesn’t leave very much frequency range for the human voice (which reside somewhere in the mids).  So, “blending” to get a round sound doesn’t do very much except add to the wash of sound.

I believe that the correct path to take is to sing as if you were the lead singer with your parts.  With conviction.  And try to produce a tone that is clear and bright.  The blending should be taken care of by the reverb and other effects of the PA system.  One important note about that is that it’s important to be sure that the rythms of the melody are in the right place.  That way, things will sound locked in.

PUT YOUR MIC WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS

Another common mistake that I see people do is to sing “across” the mic, rather than into it.  In the rush to setup for a gig, in New york there is like five minutes of time from when the other band leaves to when you have to go on, I’ve seen some people point the mic to set it up and then leave it for the rest of the show as they play their instrument and sing “under” the mic.  Maybe pointing the mic at their eyebrows or something.

Every mic has it’s sweet spots for where it picks up sound the best, but to make it simple, in most live situations, you’ll find a mic not unlike the Shure SM58 or something like that. 

So, Just keep in mind that you want to point your mouth directly into the mic.  Pretend you are singing into the bottom of the mic.  As if you were singing into a paper towel tube. If that means adjusting the mic on the stand and at a lower level than you may be accustomed, then so be it.

I think you’ll find the sound more to your liking.  Good luck.