Recording
Because we live in the era of recorded music, it seems the logical endpoint is to want your songs to have a recorded version. Something to play for those who might want to hear it, in all its sonic glory (hopefully). Something to be remembered by.
Then there's the nuts and bolts of it, which most songwriters and performers are unfamiliar with. The good ol' tech stuff.
Me, I record my own music. I do it because in the beginning I couldn't afford to rent time in a studio. 10 grand was a lot of money, and still is. So I got a 4-track recorder and over time taught myself how to make a decent recording. These days I have a 32-track digital studio (Tascam) on which I work my magic. I have outboard gear and pedals that I run the mics and instruments through; guitars, keyboards, and drums to perform on (I don't program the sounds mainly because I haven't taught myself to, and I'm reasonably proficient as a player so I shouldn't need to).
The Process
Once I have to chords and lyrics to a song, I create a scratch track of the main instrument, which for me is either a guitar or a keyboard, and one for the lead vocal. From there I put together the song. Usually at that point I have a good idea of how I want the song to sound, which additional instruments to add, vocals, and the like. For the most part I get what I'm going for, but also I find that which I did not expect, which is the beauty of experimentation. Frustrations happen, but as you work through it, good things come through. Some might find this a fascinating process, others bored to tears. Playing the part requires you getting a clean take without mistakes, which sometimes means multiple takes. And every blue moon you get to the end of recording the parts and realize it's not going to work and you have to start over. I've been fortunate that that hasn't happened too often.
Pretty exciting, huh?
Like I said: nuts and bolts. How long a song takes is usually dependant on how simple or complex the arrangement. A guitar and vocal generally go quick. Multiple guitars, voices, keys, percussion, take more time and make mixing a more time consuming affair.
Mixing/Mastering
Mixing is putting it all together into something that sounds great, which isn't as easy as it sounds—exactly. It's like officiating: do it well and no one notices; do it poorly and everyone complains. I personally go for clear and clean, rather than loud and compressed, which often lends itself to muddy thick recording or all low end, some high end, and no real middle.
I record with the mix in mind, meaning I add whatever effects directly to the track when recording it. The only variable then when mixing is reverb, which I do through the board so it can be adjusted in the mix. This makes the mixing easier because you're basically panning (moving the sound left and right) and setting track sound levels, while not also trying to find the right effects as well. Mostly this is because I don't have a beautiful Neve mixing board and a big room of outboard gear.
Mastering is a fancy term for setting the right amount of compression across the entire song versus individual tracks after setting the final mix. I'm not a fan of all the massive compression found in pop and rock music these days. I run it through a standard program that's part of my recorder.
If you've gotten this far and haven't fallen asleep, congratulations. Like I said, nuts and bolts.
Next, making sense of what you've got.
©2022 David William Pearce
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