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Recording and Releasing Your Own CD
(03 Oct 05)
Choosing A Studio
What to look for - Because the computer is used mostly these days rather than tape, the process is a lot faster. When things were recorded on tape, half your studio time was spent rewinding each take. It may seem trivial but when you record nine or ten songs four or five times each, puch-in solos, separately record the vocal tracks several times each and edit them, you spend an enormous time rewinding tape.
Since studio time is expensive definitely pick a digital studio over an analog one. Whether or not you record at home or in a recording studio, there is also one more great advantage to using Pro-Tools. Since it is pretty much standard software for recording, you can send the data out for various purposes. Mastering is one example but also imagine this, you could record your tune and send the data to me, and then I could record in a guitar solo and send it back to you. You could send your data all over the world and have different people record different tracks. Couldn't really do that in the old days.
Generally the medium sized studios will charge you on average four of five hundred dollars a day including an engineer. Less if you bring in your own engineer but of course you will need to pay him separately for his time. The big studios will charge you more and may be less interested in the project.
A word on digital recordings - Remember how I was saying that engineers like old crappy outboard gear? Actually there is a pretty good reason for their obsession with these old compressors, limiters and pre-amps. It is because of the new digital revolution. You see, most engineers, especially the ones in their forties, feel the sound of all the digital components plus the SSL board gives off a very cold, sterile sound. To compensate for this they like to use older outboard gear, tubes included to add some warmth back into the mix. I personally buy this argument. The older recordings definitely have a warmer tone but recording in a completely analog studio seems impractical.
Best of both worlds - There are some guys that combine both the "do it yourself at home" and "traditional" methods for spectacular results. Keyboards and sequences are recorded at home, the data brought to the studio, drums, guitars and vocals added, data brought back home, tweaked and tweaked again, etc.. This method is also very cost effective as it reduces your time in the studio.
Once It's Recorded
Mastering - Don't screw up here. You get in the studio, record a great session, mix it down, and add the perfect blend of equalization, reverb, delay and whatnot. Now you have to get it mastered.
When you master a CD this is what happens, the data goes to a mastering studio, the mastering engineer will then arrange the songs in the proper order, do fade-outs on the songs he is supposed to, make sure all the songs are the same level, EQ the whole thing, compress the music so there is no jagged edges sticking out, and raise the general volume.
He basically makes it easy to listen to. My general rule of thumb is that I never let the engineer who mixed the music master it. It is a whole different thing and it is best to let someone who listening with fresh ears to master it.
Mastering takes four to eight hours and costs between four hundred to a grand depending on the mastering studio and amount of songs that need to be mastered. I would suggest you wait at least a week to master your CD. You should listen to it a bunch of times in different stereo systems before to make sure you like the mix first. Studio monitors sound great so don't let them fool you, compare it to some other CDs at home in the same stereo that you always listen to.
Is it worth it? - I would guestimate that five days in the studio, with an engineer, including the mixdown will set you back about five or six grand depending on what studio, what engineer and producer you use.
Lets see here, fifteen dollars per CD multiplied by one thousand CDs equals fifteen thousand dollars, which in turn will make you ten thousand dollars in profit. If you sell them all you can re-press another thousand.
Lets say the whole thing costs you five thousand dollars to do, you will need to sell three hundred and thirty three units. If you have four guys in your band, you would each have to sell eighty three CDs each (and you can probably sell more than a few to your own mother). If you can put together a good CD, a website and gigs it is not a tremendous undertaking at all. Imagine if the CD where to hit and you sell ten thousand of them, $150,000!!!!! Stranger things have happened.
Whichever recording method works best for you if for you to decide and both methods have their advantages and disadvantages. My final advice is this: it is easier making music than selling it so be not only an artist but also be a businessman. Do the math, homework and all the preparations you need and finally sell enough to make a profit. Let me know how things turn out.
© 2005 Chris Juergensen/chrisjuergensen.com. All Rights Reserved.
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Native New Yorker, long time studio musician and session guitarist Chris Juergensen is in constant demand as a sideman, front man and clinician. After teaching guitar for six years at the prestigious Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, Chris left the states to become the Director of Education at Tokyo School of Music in Japan where he still resides. Visit Chris's website
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