Preparing for Studio Session .... need advice

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kflow77

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Hello All,

My buddy and I are currently working on two 5 song EPs in my basement.
The first EP is his rock project and the second one is my Hip-Hop project.
We usually work on one song a week, from each project.

My plan is to do as much work as I can at home and then take it to a professional studio, so a professional can finish it up.
He wants to do the same, but at this time. I guess I'm going to be the guinea pig.

We are using cool edit pro, and we both acknowledge that we can only do so much since the tool is no "Pro-Tools" or the like, and we are no experts at recording.

I am seeking advice that can help me in this endevor. What should I make sure that I have done with all my tracks before going to a professional studio, etc etc. For example, should I make sure they are all normalized to a certain value, etc etc.

I am trying to maximize my efforts at home, in order to minimize my time and money spent when I get to a professional studio. I don't want time to be burnt on something I could have done at home using cool edit.

And also, does anyone know of any good studios in or close to Rochester, NY ?
 
I don't know of any studios in that area, but regardless, I'm just replying because it's good to hear of other northern new yorkers playing some music. I live far up near ogdensburg if that's of any help.

As for Cool Edit Pro... hrm... I use that program. I have for 5 years or so now and I'm always getting better and always making better music with it. Personally I think the program has more endless capabilities than it is given credit for. All it is is a matter of experimentation.

Though this is also easy to construe as an advertisement for my music, I don't intend it as such. Since you're doing a hip hop album, check out www.enderhq.com and in the blog (after you've clicked the main image), go to Feb 14 and download "Manipulation Under Stress". This is more dancy, obviously, but it's along the lines of hip hop. This was done with Cool Edit Pro, and for drums I used a free program I've had for years (but can't find on the net again) called Hammer Head.

And since your friend wants to do rock, check out
- this is a song that's coming on an album of mine probably end of this year beginning of next. I used Line 6 Pod XT for guitars, the advice of the people on this board for some EQ tweaks, Wave Lab for mastering, and Cubase/Battery to program and play the drums. All of it was recorded track by track into Cool Edit Pro.

Sounds pretty decent neh? Not perfect, but it's getting there. You can use www.enderhq.com/scarletdawn which was an album i did in 2003 as a comparison to these afore-mentioned works, and you can see the difference in how i'm coming along. I've finally decided I'm going to invest in a home studio. I've really come as far as I can on my own without actually picking up some books and working with others so...

Keep this all in mind. I'm obviously no pro, but I stand by Cool Edit Pro right now. It's all in the equipment, imagination, and willingness to learn that you have. If it can be done, it will.

Ender
www.enderhq.com
 
Probably best off finding a place and then asking them how they want the tracks as it may differ slightly from place to place.

I'd imagine most would want to work with unadulterated WAVs so don't do any additional processing to them (I can't imagine any would want them normalised :eek: ).

Also, don't get sloppy with your tracking with the thought that a pro mixing engineer will make it sound good again.

You can't polish a turd.
 
The primary requirements for taking your tracks out of "your place" to a studio for mixing are as follows:
- Consolidate your tracks - i.o.w. make sure all the tracks in one session are one file per tracks, all starting and finishing at the same time.
- The formats used can be AIFF, SDII or WAV. Any pro place should be able to import / convert any of these standard formats into their system. If you have decided where to go, ask them what format they use.
- Make sure you clearly state the bit / clock data of the recording (16/44.1, 24/96, whatever you are using).
- Check every single track for problems, it will save you time and money.
- Do not process the tracks. By all means do a rough mix yourself as an example of "where you want to go" with it, but leave the processing to the mixing studio, as they will (should) be able to do it better.
- Don' 'normalize' - instead learn that if you need to normalize a track - you most likely did not record it at a proper level.
Hope that helps a bit
Sjoko
http://www.tantrumrecords.org
 
I've been throwing this out there as an idea for some time now ...

But I think one way to save a lot of time tracking would be to record all of the guitar and bass yourself ... only do it direct. Use a Morley box or similar splitter in order to derive an unamped, straight DI on the guitar.

Play along w/ a click track or programmed beat.

Then take that in to a decent studio with an experienced engineer, and have the guitar and bass DI's re-amped there. And have the drummer play along to the reference tracks (could even have him track as the guitar and bass are re-amped), because you definitely want to track drums professionally.

You could also rent a nice vocal mic and preamp, and just track the vocals outdoors if you live where weather cooperates. As long as it isn't too noisy. Leave plenty of headroom, and you've got something a good mixing engineer could work with and you could save a ton of time overdubbing, punching in, etc. etc.
 
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