CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR GREAT RECORDINGS
Having the microphones you need and your favoured recording medium (hard disc or tape) are, of course, essential for making successful recordings. However, having all of the gear in the world won’t help you unless some other, often overlooked considerations are addressed too. Firstly, look around at your recording environment. If you were visiting to come and record here for the first time, is it a room in which you’d like to work? Have you tidied up? Are there old coffee cups now growing live cultures, or ashtrays over-spilling in the corner? Are your collaborators likely to trip over a trailing cable and have you cleared somewhere for them to sit between takes? Is the room acoustically treated and, if not, what steps have you taken to ensure that your recordings aren’t blighted by unwanted sonic reflections? Do those coming to record know the music they’re going to be performing already, or are they about to hear it for the first time? If the latter, they’re going to need to spend some time becoming familiar with the music, so have you thought of some interesting ways to make that a fun, inclusive experience rather than an intimidating one? How long do you think the session will last? Have you brought food and drink to ensure that when energy is flagging, you’re in a position to offer nourishment and refreshment? How are your diplomatic skills? It’s not uncommon for artists to be nervous when they come to record, so teasing out their best performances might require a delicate balance of constructive criticism, set against plenty of encouragement and some non-gushing flattery. Are you completely familiar with your DAW from an audio recording point of view? Do you know how to arm and monitor audio tracks, and set up some monitor reverb or a vocal effects chain to allow your artist to feel more connected to the track as performances are recorded? Have you checked the microphone is producing a clean sound long before your artist arrives so that you don’t have any ‘I don’t know why that isn’t working…’ moments? Smooth recording sessions rely on great preparation.