Van Atkins / Chief Engineer

As a Recording Engineer I wanted to share some tips for artists that are getting ready to record your first project. There are many things you can do to get the most for your money when booking valuable studio time.

1. Pre-sessions

If the budget allows, book a day with your producer to do a pre-session. This time is set aside specifically to go over your song material, making sure the song keys are right for the particular singer. Many times I have been recording a vocal session only to find out that the song was cut in the wrong key for the singer and at that stage it is, too late to do anything about the key (unless you want to spend the money to hire the session players again and book studio time). If you’re like me, money is precious! Also this is the time to work up arrangements of each song. After you have decided on the feel for the song and key, your producer will chart out all of your material and will distribute it to the session players on the tracking day(s). Then it’s all about fun and creativity!

2. Provide a Rough Recording

If it’s not in your budget for a pre-session, you will need to provide a rough recording for the session leader a week or so prior to the tracking day. This is a simple recording on CD or mp3 of the general layout of your song. All you really need is just piano or a guitar and vocal so the session leader can chart your songs out for tracking day. Again I stress, make sure you have the right keys for your singer(s). This doesn’t mean the songs can’t be changed on tracking day but it will help speed along the process.

3. Get comfortable with your material

At the end of the tracking day or days your engineer will give you a rough mix of your tracks for you to rehearse with for a week or two prior to vocal tracking days. Take this time to get familiar with each cut so as to feel good with the arrangements and be comfortable all around with the material.

4. Provide Lyrics to the Producer and Engineer

On vocal days, one of the most important things you can do is provide the engineer and producer a copy of lyrics for each song. This will help speed up the vocal recording process, making the best use of your studio time.

These are just a few tips to help make the most out of your recording experience and to overall save you time and money in the process. I look forward to working with you.