Making A Quality Record

With recording technology being so affordable today, just about everyone knows someone that considers themselves an artist or producer. It seems that when people don't want to really work for a living they think that being a producer is an easy out. These people go out and by buy tons of gear and recording software and begin to make a bunch of musical junk and pawn it off as product. If you are going to be in this industry and compete you must know how to make a quality recording. Now the first thing to consider has nothing to do with your gear. The first thing you need is a good song. A good song is a song that tells a great story in the simplest way with a great melody. It doesn't matter what genre of music, this still applies. Once you have a great song, you have to be sure that you are using the right sounds to convey the message of the song. Now, you do have to be aware of your market. For instance, if you are doing anything in r&b or hip hop, you know that the drum sounds have to be banging. I'm not saying you have to use the exact sounds that everyone else is using but just make sure that your sounds hit as hard and can compete sonically. Once you have your sounds, you have to record them as clean as possible. Only use effects when you are sure of what you want but most of the time it's best not to use any effects in the recording phase so that you can have more options in post. Be sure to critique every part of your recording. I mean don't get in the way of the vibe but just be sure to get each part cut as well as you can. After you record your song you need to contract a professional mix engineer and mastering engineer. I know you may think that you can do it since you have all of the software and plug ins but for the most part you are wrong. You can practice on mixing but I advise you to take it to someone who does these things and has a proven track record. You can compare your mixes to what you get from the pro mix engineer as a way to test your progress but you need to go to a pro first to insure your quality. The mastering phase should never be compromised. This is a totally different step than mixing and it requires another kind of ear. You definitely want to use someone who does this exclusively. These are just a few points to keep in mind to insure you are making a quality record. We will go into much more detail in our music industry guide to be published this fall. So keep working, stay focused and go write a quality song.

The Truth

All Rights Reserved by Airtight Productions