Choosing a music producer and recording studio (Before your record your music: part 2)

“Choosing a music producer is hard, man.”  The lament came from one of the artists I consult.  He’d had some great experiences with recording sessions in the past and then struggled through some difficult ones.  Finding the right person who could help him realize the vision he had for his music was not a cookie-cutter process.  Just because they worked last time, didn’t mean they would work for this project.

Whether you're new at recording or have been down the road numerous times, there are some essential elements that you can take to help ensure that your recording experience is the best it can be.  In the last article, “Before you record your music, part 1,” we listed three foundational steps for preparing to make the most your studio experience:

Step 1: Listen carefully to other recorded music that you think fits your style and learn from what they did that worked;
Step 2: Arrange your songs before you go in the studio; and
Step 3:  Establish the right BPM (beats-per-minute) each song during your rehearsals and be able to play them to a click track (electronic metronome).

The fourth step is a natural evolution from there.

Step 4:  Rehearse like mad.

If you’ve heard stories or have the notion that recording is supposed to be a grand experiment in the studio, let those ideas go.  Nowadays, with recording budgets cut and cost savings viewed as an essential part of being successful, efficiency and effectiveness are key. So do yourself a favor and consider the following tips.

• Practice the songs you’ll record until you can do them as flawlessly as possible in one take.
• Remember the goal is not to attain "technical perfection", but to gain a level of total comfortability with a song so you can generate the feel and the vibe you want at will. By having this ability, you'll also have the freedom to innovate or use multiple takes to improvise and get creative, instead of struggling to "get it right."
•  As you rehearse, record on a 4-track (or similar recording device) so that you can get some separation to the sound and begin to sense what is working and what is not. 
• Listen back to your quick recordings and really pay attention to where you’re in groove and where you’ve fallen out; what works, where does the song need tweaking?
• Explore ways to create the variation throughout your arrangement that will keep it interesting and compelling.
• Make sure you’re making the best possible use of your hooks and choruses in terms of how you set them up, and turn around back into the verse or into a bridge for example.

For a more detailed look at the rehearsal process, go to Artist House Music’s article, “How to Rehearse a Band”

Step 5: Choose your producer purposefully.

Deciding who will serve as producer for your recording is one of the most critical decisions you’ll make in terms of your project’s outcome.  If you are experienced at recording projects you may already have someone who really gets who you are and works well with you.  If not, make sure you’ve given this decision a lot of thought before you commit.  Here are some factors to consider:

• While you may want to produce the recording yourself, if you’re not experienced at it, you could be doing yourself a huge disservice.  Experienced producers can help you stay on budget and enhance your sound.  They can offer arrangement suggestions and help you tweak your music to bring out its full potential.
• Another option is to utilize a talented recording engineer as a co-producer with you or your band.  The objectivity and knowledge they could bring and their ability to create the right soundscape are critical advantages that come from having someone other than yourself involved in producing.
• If you don’t have a producer in mind, then go shopping.  Check around locally and find out who other artists or bands have used that they liked.
• Listen to what they’ve produced in the past and ask yourself if those recordings are suitable for you; do they demonstrate an ability to be versatile, or do they all sound alike?
• If you have the ability to pull someone in from a broader region or with a national track record, do your home work with others who’ve used them.
• Play your rough recordings for your prospective producers.
• Choose someone who really gets you and digs your music—a person you can work with (they may have ideas, suggestions, or constructive feedback for you and they should be excited to work with you on your project—jaded people will only bring your session down).
• Make sure that whomever you consider describes back to you a vision of a recording and a sound that you feel good about (they might also play you other artist's songs that have a feel or sounds that they have in mind).
• If possible, do rough pre-production sessions with your producer before you start the clock and start recording in the studio.  This will give you a good feel of what it's like to work with them and what you might create together.
• Check their schedule as to availability and make sure it lines up with your schedule (sounds basic, but I've seen scheduling mishaps that end up putting projects on hold).
• What’s their price and can you afford them or will they eat up too much of your recording budget? 
• Do they want points (a percentage of your record royalties)?  Almost without exception, a producer’s points will come out of your share. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t go with a producer who wants points, but just make sure you’ve chosen someone who’s going to plus what you do and that the points they’re asking for are reasonable (the range is typically anywhere 2 to 3 percentage points depending upon the prominence and experience of the producer).
• If a producer feels that it's essential to co-write or re-write some of your songs with you, make sure you delineate exactly if and when this would be appropriate and how that process would work in terms of songwriting credit, publishing rights and royalties.  How much of the song did they write?  What percentage of the song do you both agree they should get of the songwriter royalties for that song—33%, 50%, 10%? Create a signed memo between you that details your mutual understanding for each song.
• Get your overall deal with the producer in writing and, if at all possible, get some legal advice about the deal you’re signing (I can’t emphasize this one enough and it doesn't have to cost a lot to get some basic advice).  Agreeing to multiple record deals, giving away rights to your material, granting them exclusive rights to shop your music are all things that you should be very careful about before saying “yes” to, especially if you’re being asked to make these decisions, before you’ve had the chance to work with them (remember everything always seems awesome upfront—the real test is what happens when you begin to work together).
• Do you have a reasonable performance clause or an “out” in the producer agreement?  In other words, if they don’t perform or you’re having creative differences that you just can’t resolve or they are impossible to work with, you should be able to fire them and retain the rights to the music you’ve recorded and paid for (in such cases, you will still have to give them credit or acknowledgement if you release the music they helped you record).

Step 6: Select the right recording studio for your project and lock down the prices so that it fits your budget.

Much of what applied above with producers, should also apply here.  In addition, you want to include the following:

• Check out the facilities that are available in your area.  You may have a friend who has gear or even runs a studio.  That doesn’t mean it’s the best situation that allows you to be at your best and record the most effectively.
• Know what your budget is and map out with the engineer how you’re going to get it done within your budget (do you need to do fewer songs, do you need to do a studio “live” version that potentially enables you record more quickly—if you’re well rehearsed and very tight).  If you’ve selected a producer, they can also help you do this, but make sure you feel good about the plans.
• See if you can sit in the control room for another session or two and see how the engineer works with artists and what type of technical issues come up.  Are these people you would feel good working with? (This same tip can apply to producers as well.)
• Negotiate your rate up front and ensure that you get it in writing and that in “down time” the studio experiences for technical issues are not counted as time in the studio (seriously, get it in writing).  Don’t be afraid to comparison shop with other studios you feel good about.
• Make sure you do not give away or grant any publishing rights or songwriting rights to your material to a studio owner (who wants to “publish” your material in exchange for a discounted rate).  Any time someone else is tied to your rights, it can become baggage that gets in the way of you doing what you need to do with your music.  The only reason do such a thing, would be if a company or person can verifiably demonstrate how they have successfully helped a number of other artists get signed to major deals in the past; they have a plan and current connections and time to make it happen; and your music attorney thinks it's a good deal and signs off on such an arrangement.

If you’re new to studio recording and would like to get a good basic overview of the process and what’s involved, check out the HowStuffWorks.com articles on recording sessions.

Notes:

Thanks to those of you put the word out on previous articles via twitter, Facebook, myspace and the like.  In following that trail, I found a couple of interesting twitter heads you may want to check out: Dan09, who offers tips on recording and runs Snake Oil Recording Studios in Richmond, VA, specializing in e-sessions; and Iam Tanisha who tweets on all things music biz and entertainment related (with the occasional economic updates thrown in for perspective).

There were also some interesting comments that arose from one of last week’s articles, “20 questions every band should answer.” One of the readers, Gordon Kaswell, a studio musician himself, stated that the chances of achieving stardom are astronomically small, regardless of one’s level of commitment.  He went on to point out a number of other ways one could participate in the music industry on their own terms.  I heartily agree. For that reason, I always encourage bands and artists to make the most of their current experience today—to enjoy the journey, as the saying goes. 

At the end of the day, whether one records a song that ends up at the top of the charts or gets listened to by friends and local fans; whether one tours the world playing large arenas or masters the bars and clubs of their region, if we’re not out there playing because of “the sheer love of playing music,” as Coby Regehr stated, then we’re not doing ourselves or anyone else a favor.  Remember, it’s all about creating opportunities that allow you to keep playing the music you love.  If you get paid well for it, awesome!  If you have to keep your day job, but still get to play, that’s cool too.

If you liked this article, you might also like: “Want the recipe for band magic?”  “What’s a band to do? Advice from the other side” and “So you want to make it in the music business?”