The Recording Studio Processes

Recording Studio Stuff

A song doesn’t come out of a studio in one go. It goes through stages, and the people involved change at each one. Knowing the order makes a studio booking far less confusing, because you can see where your money and your time are going.

This post lays out the usual stages, using Sound On Sound’s pre-production feature, Wikipedia on overdubbing and mastering, and Berklee’s career pages for the roles. It describes a typical sequence. Real projects often overlap or skip stages.

1. Pre-production, before anyone presses record

Sound On Sound’s Neil Rogers asked several producers about this stage in a May 2017 feature. They disagreed on what to call it, but according to Rogers they agreed on the basics to have in place before a session: familiarity with the song, its key and tempo, and some arrangement decisions. Producer Steve Osborne said they would like to know the tempo, arrangement and key of each song. Producer Hannes Bieger asked for rough demos first, because they help pinpoint the direction.

Osborne also warned about rehearsal rooms: stuff that sounded great with the band playing loudly often didn’t translate when listened back on the control room speakers, because “our ears are too easily tricked by volume”.

2. Tracking: recording the basic parts

Wikipedia describes “tracking”, or laying the basic tracks, as recording the rhythm section, usually including drums, first. It says this method has been the standard technique for recording popular music since the early 1960s.

A drum kit in a large recording room surrounded by microphones on stands

Image: A drum kit set up with microphones in Studio A at Blackbird Studio by The Blackbird Academy, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

In Berklee’s description, the recording engineer oversees many technical and aesthetic aspects of the session and is responsible for the overall sound of the recorded tracks, making sure the mixing engineer has good material to work with and the artists and producers are satisfied.

3. Overdubs: adding to what is already there

Wikipedia defines overdubbing as playing back pre-recorded tracks while recording new, doubled or augmented parts on to other tracks. It is usually used to add richness and complexity. After the rhythm section, the article says, solo instruments such as keyboards or guitar go on, and the vocals are added last. The process can be repeated many times, and because it involves pre-recorded material, performers never need to have met. The article’s example is Natalie Cole’s 1991 “virtual duet” with her late father Nat King Cole.

4. Producing, alongside every stage

The producer isn’t a separate stage. Berklee’s page on music producers says they work alongside musicians as creative partners, offering input and guidance from the earliest stages of pre-production to the final mastering touches. In a small project the producer, engineer and artist may be the same person. (That last sentence is my own observation.)

5. Mixing: balancing the parts

Mixing combines the recorded tracks into a finished stereo balance by adjusting levels, tone, space and effects. That one-sentence description is my own summary rather than a quote. The series post Mixing Basics: EQ, Compression, Panning, Reverb and Levels covers how it works in practice.

A close-up of a large mixing console covered in rows of knobs, buttons and level meters

Image: The controls and level meters of a mixing console at the Studio for Music Production, Cologne by Prof. Pod, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

6. Mastering: the final preparation

Wikipedia describes mastering as preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, from which all copies will be produced. Mastering engineers, it says, often apply equalization and dynamic range compression to optimize how the sound translates on all playback systems, and results depend on the engineer’s skill, the accuracy of the speakers and the listening environment. Berklee puts it similarly: mastering engineers make the final adjustments to a piece of recorded music before release. The series post Mastering and Loudness: LUFS, Streaming and the Loudness Wars goes into loudness and streaming.

A short checklist

This is my own suggestion for using the stages when you book time:

  1. Say which stages you want from the studio. Tracking only, tracking and mixing, or mastering by itself are all common.
  2. Do the pre-production before the clock starts. Songs, tempos and keys are cheaper to settle in a rehearsal room or on a sofa than at studio rates.
  3. Ask who does each job. A house engineer might record and mix, but a separate mastering engineer is often used for the final step.
  4. Plan for the overdub stage. Vocals and solos usually go last, so leave time for them.

Sources