Lately I’ve been working on getting three or four of my songs recorded in a professional manner. It’s been an intriguing and very eye opening process. If things go according to plan I should have songs to post here shortly. Here are a few observations:
- Technology goes a long way these days. We are producing the songs using a program called Cubase. A solid understanding of this program is almost more valuable then a sound musical understanding. You can edit and alter effects and tracks to the smallest detail. This software really opens up possibilities to the throngs of amateur musicians, such as me, who are looking to get their stuff out.
- At the same time a great degree of precision and detail is needed to get a track to sound right. I’ve learned the hard way about the need to have a sense of rhythm and timing. When you are literally synching up the 15-20 individual tracks in a song you’ve got to get everything lined up so it sounds seamless.
- If you’re paying some dude $30/hr to help you out you need to have a clear vision of what the song should sound like. If you don’t clearly communicate the intended emotion and texture of the song you are wasting money and run the risk of getting a sound based on the producers understanding of what you wanted.
- Don’t try to add too many unnecessary layers or effects to the song. Only choose what adds the right emotion that you are going for. Don’t be enamored by all of the options, effects, and potential sounds and fall prey to the sirens song of putting too much into a song just for the sake of it. Some songs need little in the way of production others may need a lot.
Since I’m very new to this process you can take all of my observations with several grains of salt.
No comments:
Post a Comment