Band recording in a "pro" studio

I

iownrocknroll

New member
Hello my band "Atlas" is recording our debut in a large format studio.
Due to our budget we had two options.
Record the hole album in the studio with no producer or bring a producer in and record some things on our own.

We decided to record the following at the studio with the engineer and producer

Drums, Bass, Lead Vocals, organ, piano

We plan on recording all guitars and aux percussion @ our home studio.

We have done some decent sounding demos at home before. We are concerned with getting our guitar tones to "fit" with the sound recorded at the other studio.


Any tips? Has anyone worked this way before?


thanks,
Jon
 
No. I haven't worked that way, but a lot of records get recorded at different studios. I'm not sure exactly what you mean by making your guitar tones to "fit" with the other tracks. My guess is that you're talking about wanting the rooms to sound the same. As far as I can tell, decently closed mic'ed guitar amps don't catch a lot of the room (if you use a 57 or something similar) so you'd most likely be adding some sort of outboard Reverb. As long as you pay attention to what reverbs etc you're studio is using you can get close and you shouldn't have too much trouble. Just my guess based on how I understand your post.



-Nate
 
Recording in different studios shouldn't be a problem...as long as you guys know what you are doing to bring it all together.

But I'm kinda curious what the role of the producer was in all of this and your reasons for feeling the need to have one just for some of the tracks?

Does the producer have any idea of the type of guitars/percussion you will be adding and is he producing the other tracks with that in mind?
Are you just not sure what direction to take the songs in, and that's why you needed a producer in the first place?

My feeling is, if you're going to have a producer, he should be able to bring his entire vision to fruition...otherwise...will your add-ons without him gel with his vision and vice versa?
 
If you know what what your doing then dont be concerned. Its been done before. I know someone who gets live drum track done for him at a studio. He brings it home for the rest of the tracks. sends it out to be mixed. the results are very good. He puts out cds and people buy them.
 
Where and how you record your album should be thought of in the same way as what guitar amp you use or how you tune your drums. Any space will give your tracks a particular sound (more or less so, depending on how the instrument in question is being mic'd and such), and so it will affect the character of your record. That's why, even in the same studio, different instruments will be recorded in different rooms, or even different parts of the same room!

That said, if you're going for a more far-field sound with a bunch of natural ambiance, recording everything in the same space can be important.

Think about the space as a texture to be used.
 
Just curious, where does one find a studio producer who will work with amateur bands? (Seriously, I may need one someday.) I don't mean a guy who makes beats. I mean a real old school music producer.
 
I wouldn't call the band amateur or pro. I'd say, we have good connections.
It's a NYC guy, he's worked with The Roots, Alkaline Trio, Anberlin.

There was another dude from up there who was on the project at first who had to bail to work on a score for a film. In the end we kind of ended up with someone more well known.

We are bringing him in to help "trim the fat" per say. Also to work out string and horn arrangements, work on vocal harmonies and also help rehearse us before recording.

The Aux percussion will be things like shakers and tamborines.
 
iownrocknroll said:
I wouldn't call the band amateur or pro. I'd say, we have good connections.
It's a NYC guy, he's worked with The Roots, Alkaline Trio, Anberlin.

There was another dude from up there who was on the project at first who had to bail to work on a score for a film. In the end we kind of ended up with someone more well known.

We are bringing him in to help "trim the fat" per say. Also to work out string and horn arrangements, work on vocal harmonies and also help rehearse us before recording.

The Aux percussion will be things like shakers and tambourines.
Click to expand...

As long as you know and like his style...it's not bad having an unbiased person there to make some of the tougher calls.
Sometimes bands get bogged down trying to be too democratic, or the opposite, where everyone in the band has a big ego and wants more “me” in the mix... :D …and then either way, nothing gets sorted out.
An outsider than you can trust will be able to cut to the chase and hopefully remove only the stuff that was crowding the real essence of each song and that will leave you with a better product.

But if you guys have a pretty gelled view of your music and are not still kicking ideas around…just don’t let someone else totally change it on you. You still have the final say…it’s your music.
 
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