1. Preparation for the studio
Make sure you are well rehearsed. This will cut down on your studio time. If you are bringing in files either on cd, dvd, or hard drive, please make sure that you have all the data necessary for your session. If you are bringing .wav files or the like, make sure your disc is not damaged and that you yourself are able to extract the data. If you are bring ProTools data, please make sure that if you’re bringing data from versions prior to ProTools 7, please check the MAC/PC COMPATIBILITY box to ensure trouble free loading.
2. Analog gear vs Digital gear and mixing in the box.
The great debate, much like the PC vs MAC debate.
<A quick note on the OS debate, the application, whether it be Pro Tools or any other program – once in the app, functionality is very similar; outside of the quick-key commands and the ‘right-click’ ability, most applications just want to make sure their product runs stable. Which you prefer is your choice!>
Now concerning the big beautiful analog boards with racks of outboard gear vs. the digital studio with a single computer and a plethora of plugins:
There is no correct answer as to which is better. TRUTH! If you like the sound your engineer gets, then use what he likes to use. That’s always the best advice. But there are known differences between these formats. The best of the analog boards with their large, complex circuitry and its necessary outboard gear will no doubt shadow the cost of even a ‘hot-rodded’ Pro Tools rig – which is not exactly inexpensive in itself! But, for the most part, the purists would says the analog board produces a ‘warmness’ a buzzword which most have no idea of its meaning! Also, they would say they like the sound of the preamps in their board along with the built in processors like gates, compressors and equalizers. From that point, the signal can either get outputted to a DAW (like a Pro Tools) or to analog tape. If it’s the latter, then the signal will most likely make its way to the digital realm after hitting the tape for easier manipulating of the audio – cutting, pasting, vocal correcting, etc., (try doing that with tape!) This is all to give a certain sound this whole process has been known to give over the years. It’s a process that definitely takes longer and involves actual media (like tape) so of course, it is more costly. It also involves several conversions from analog to digital and back. All of these conversions irrefutably DO degrade the original audio – how much depends on the quality of the converters.
Now, with the advent of faster computers, better and more complex plug-in design and coding, high quality analog/digital converters, and the intelligent tweaking of the crazy amount of third party plug-ins out there, that ‘sound’ can be attained with a speed unheard of in the analog realm. There have been quite a few comparisons put out there where ‘can you tell the difference in the mix’ when the same song was mixed on a ProTools system and a top of the line board. You’d be hard pressed to hear the difference with the best sound systems!
So if the same sound can be attained, the digital realm offers an incredible amount of additional benefits like: speeding up the audio with or without changing the pitch, saving automation data to the most infinitesimal parameter and instantly recallable, copying and pasting audio… just too many advantages that we, nowadays, take for granted. Along with that, the DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) has the ability to get rid of the ‘warmness’ which sometimes in certain types of music can sound dull and lifeless. Full-bodied and big – yes, but sometimes without punch and presence. All sounds, depending on what the artist prefers, can be attained – all with the engineer’s ability of course – and that goes with both formats!!
The links below were something we’ve found after our entry above about mixing in the box opposed to full analog console mixing. It’s a very interesting video with a few points we happened to have mentioned above. It’s nice to know we share similar views with these prominent engineers and programmers.
3. Gear
There is a reason why there are a veritable infinite amount of manufacturers for mixing boards, workstations, monitors (speakers), microphones, preamplifiers and production gear. Because everyone’s ears are different and what sounds pleasing to one set of ears might irritate another set of ears. DO NOT get caught up in the buzzwords of brands. Yes, it is true that the above mentioned manufacturers make very fine equipment and just like any manufacturer, relish the idea of an artist using their gear to give it even more brand recognition. It’s great business for sure! When you record, you expect a certain level of equipment quality, no doubt, but trust your engineer. He’s the one that knows his equipment, hopefully he has tried the latest and greatest and uses what he thinks is best for he or she to get the best possible recording. One engineer prefers this mic because mixed with his equipment gives him the ultimate sound while another prefers a different mic because his combination of gear with his monitors with his amplifiers gives him the ultimate sound to HIS ears. Equipment is a very personal thing and as long as he or she can get ‘the sound’ … it makes no difference what was used. Believe that plenty of today’s top songs and soundtracks were produced on DIGITAL PERFORMER and CAKEWALK and not necessarily PROTOOLS or an SSL Console!
4. Copyright information
It is now best to upload your songs to the copyright office rather than mailing the paperwork in with a copy of your song. It’s faster, easier and cheaper. Check the LINKS section for their address.
5. Checklist when buying beats from producers
For the best quality, it is always best to get beats ‘tracked out’ or ‘stemmed out’ where each instrument (kick, snare, hihat, guitars, keys, etc.) are given to you separately so that you can tweak the beat to its sonic maximum! If you only get the ‘2-track’ or the stereo wav or mp3 file, there is no easy way to make the beat sound better and hit harder and are more or less stuck with the producers mix of the track. Sure, there are ways around this but they are more time consuming and come with a finite gain of enhancement.
6. Is Pro Tools the only format INSANE can accept to mix/master?
We can accept ADATs, DATs and data from any DAW. With DAWs other than ProTools, you must export each track to .wav from the start of the song so that we may import those files into our system and all files line up at ‘0’ start time.
7. What happens if I have songs recorded at different studios and need them to sound similar for my final CD?
Most times we can do it by mastering each track and adjust the levels of equalization of each song so that they all sound pretty similar, sonically. In the most extreme cases, we might have to visit the mix to change something so that the sound will fit better in the lineup of songs.
8. Is smoking allowed in the studio?
We do not allow smoking in the studio although we are “vape friendly” as it is less invasive on our equipment, the smell does not penetrate and linger in our sound absorption treatment and get circulated through our air conditioning system.