Recording Your Band

After listening to any demos you have, and discussing your musical vision and direction, Stuart will set the band up in the live room. He’ll mic everything up and get you to play through pretty much every song that might be considered for recording. Then you’ll come back in to the control room, and talk it through.

Stuart will have loads of questions – ‘why do the drums drop out here?’, ‘is this section a set length or do you change it each time’, ‘how come you two guitar guys are playing one fret apart this whole song?’. He will be analysing what you’re doing from top to bottom, and seeing how well it works together.

At this point, you’ll start to narrow down a shortlist. Then Stuart will send you back in, and start working through each song in detail. He might suggest you cut a section in half, or double a section. He might have some ideas on how the kick pattern could work better, orhow the guitars could compliment each other. The goal will be to try all of these ideas out and record a solid live version as a basic template for the rest of the recording process.

And don’t worry, you definitely won’t be recording the song ‘live’ in one take. Every player will be given a lavish amount of time to get their part sounding exactly how they want it.

Live drums is the most time intensive part of recording a band. Normally you can expect half a day to set up and mic the kit, and roughly half a day per song. This is where bands often go so wrong when booking a studio. They get to the end of the first day and realise the engineer is STILL dicking around with the mics on the drums. Then, three days in, they have the drums to two songs recorded. The rest of the band is at the back of the room, stressing that there won’t be enough time to record the vocals!

And so often in other studios, bands run out of time at the end, and compromise on the most important parts – the vocals, the extra layers of creativity and the mix. They underestimate how long it will take to get the basic tracks recorded, and skimp on the stuff that will make the biggest difference.

When you record at Analog Heart, you don’t have to worry. We leave plenty of time to get the drums RIGHT. If the drums aren’t tight and dynamic, then nothing will be, so Stuart will work like hell to get the tracks the song needs.

Stuart will most likely be recording your parts section by section. He might record one verse, and make sure that is completely nailed before moving on to the chorus. This will give you more time than you’ve ever had to think about what you really want to play in each part of the song. It will also give you time work out the very best fills you can play. The goal is to come up with the ultimate drum track, and something you will be proud of for years to come.

Remember as well, when Stuart mixes the track, he’ll often beef up the kick, snare and tom sounds with triggered samples, effectively giving you the choice of any drum sound you like.

This is pretty standard practice for any pro mixer / producer, and the basic secret of most great modern drum sounds. Even so-called ‘raw’ records like Nirvana’s Nevermind use extra triggers for a punchier sound.

You’ll need to be able to play with a click track. If you haven’t had experience with that before, it would be well worth doing some practice with a metronome or drum machine before you get here. The tighter you are, the better the drum track will be and the faster it will go down.

You should have a listen to Stuart’s audioblog Five Common Drummer Mistakes – most drummers find it enlightening.

Bassists should bring their bass (or better yet, basses), any pedals / fx, and if it’s easy, amp. Stuart is happy to use a DI with some tasty amp simulators, but if you have a really nice head and box, and a particular sound you really love, then bring the amp if you can. Bear in mind, Stuart will be looking for a particular sound for each song, something that will fill out the bottom and find its space in the mix. The challenge is to make it deeeeep, and clear.

Stuart has been playing guitar for over 20 years, so great guitar sounds and parts are definitely his passion. If you have a great amp that you’re fond of, you should make an effort to bring it. Bring any electric guitars you have too, plus pedals. If you don’t have anything all that decent, Stuart has plenty of guitars and gizmos to get the right sound.

If your music is likely to include acoustic guitar, make sure you bring any acoustics you have, even old beat up things – sometimes cheap acoustics can have just the right sound for a track. Just remember to string it up with fresh strings before you come. The studio has three very nice acoustics on hand – a Takamine, a Martin and a Cole Clark. We always mic acoustics, generally in stereo – acoustic pick-ups never cut it.

If you have a keyboard player in the band, they should bring any synths, modules, fx etc. We have a few modules, a small midi control synth, and a full 88 weighted key electric piano.

We also have lots of soft-synths – Omnisphere, Sampletank, Trillian, Orchestral Libraries and plenty more. We won’t be lacking in sounds! If you don’t have a keyboard player, but would like to hear organ / piano / strings / whatever on your tracks, Stuart is an experienced keys player, and can play whatever you need.

We’ve recorded all sorts of instruments, trumpets, saxes, trombones, harmonica, violins, pedal steel, cellos, full size orchestral harps, percussionists. Simply bring along your instrument and all relevant accessories, and we’ll take care of the rest. But let us know in advance!

We have a nice selection of shakers and tambourines on hand, plus a gazillion samples Stuart can quickly load up and try. Triangles, bell trees, guiros, cabasas, congas, all that stuff. If you have any percussion instruments, bring them and see if they find a place.

Stuart is known as one of the best vocal producers in Australia, and he certainly has a knack for recording an absolutely flawless vocal track. We’ll be using every trick in the book to make sure you leave with a radio ready vocal that you feel totally proud of. In general, Stuart records the song piece by piece, first the verses, then the pre-choruses, then bridges, then choruses, then ad libs etc. Often, we’ll do anything up to fifteen takes of each section.

Each time you sing a take, Stuart will be chopping it up and hanging on to the best bits. He’ll be asking for your input of course, but most singers appreciate the objectivity of someone else telling them what’s working and what isn’t.

Eventually, Stuart will piece together a take and give you a listen.

This is pretty standard practice for most topline producers. Don’t worry – he’ll be giving you plenty of feedback as you go – explaining what he likes, what he thinks can improve, and giving you unlimited time to get things right.

Don’t be concerned about getting everything straight off – your patience will run out a long time before Stuart’s, and he is absolutely committed to getting the very best out of you. If band mates or friends are with you, it might be worth asking most of the guys to head off and do something else while you’re recording. If they’re not going to contribute anything, it’s better to have less people in the room, so you can let loose.

Backing vocals and harmonies are a pretty essential part of most music, so Stuart will be planning on it. If you haven’t had experience singing harmony vocal, we’ll see if we can give you a crash course. Some people pick it up naturally – some people can sing along to the harmony when they’re singing with the radio. It just seems to be something you’re born with. You probably already know if it comes easy for you.

If you’re having a lot of trouble, Stuart can work out the harmonies on guitar or keyboard and teach them to you. We often use a harmoniser which can automatically works out a chipmunky pitch-shifted harmony which you can sing along with. One way or another, the backing vocals will be tight and right.

Stuart is an experienced engineer and has produced all types of music, covering all types of sounds. Even so, everyone has their own idea of a great drum sound, great guitar sound etc. It’s a good idea to bring some audio references to illustrate the kind of sound you’re after. He can use those to reference off when setting up drum mics, choosing amp sounds, and mixing the whole song.