How professionals and amateurs can work together to benefit all.
It’s no secret that over the last 10+ years, digital technology has become more and more affordable and widespread – putting powerful technology into the hands of more and more hobbyists and untrained users. More music is being heard now than ever, thanks to the ability to produce a single or even a full album on a small budget, and electronically distribute the final product through the internet. Of course, being able to create and distribute something cheaply and conveniently doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to sound “professional” – in fact, some mastering engineers comment that they are receiving the worst sounding mixes that they have ever heard in their long careers.
While this boom of affordable technology has generally been great for the industry as a whole - especially the home studio market – it has also helped create new challenges for many professionals. A number of established studios around the country have closed down, and many others have had to diversify or make other changes in order to stay competitive. Some engineers who used to make a very comfortable living now find themselves working more hours and earning less money, and often competing with people who have far less experience, and inferior equipment.
With all these changes, it may seem natural for the seasoned professionals and the more inexperienced enthusiasts to be at odds with each other - but this kind of an attitude is exactly what limits many home and project studios to producing lower quality recordings, and contributes to many experienced studios and engineers losing valuable business opportunities.
There is a simple answer that is good for all involved: Compliment and cooperate, instead of compete. Work with each other, rather than against each other. Doing so benefits both sides, and also benefits the artists, and the people who will ultimately listen to them.
To the experienced professionals – don’t just do the work, mentor your less experienced counterparts and you’ll find friends who will want to continue to work with you and who will refer jobs to you that are bigger than what they are able to handle. You may be able to sell your services to them for the purpose of helping them improve their skills in the studio. As they get better, you may even find them wanting to rent out your studio so that they can tackle bigger jobs, and if you need an assistant engineer to help on a big job, they might provide a ready and willing pool of talent. Additionally, rather than just declining jobs you don’t want to take for whatever reason, you can refer your unwanted jobs out.
To the less experienced (and particularly to engineers who are also artists) – don’t let your passion, ambition, and pride get in the way of getting the best results possible. Working with an experienced engineer can expedite your own growth and progress. I’m going to provide (3) very specific examples of how you can benefit greatly by partnering with a more experienced professional. Keep in mind, that there are countless other ways that I’m not mentioning.
Record your album yourself, and let a professional mix it.
There are a number of reasons why you might want to do this, but the most important is probably this: If your band, or any member of your band, is not well rehearsed, gets nervous easily, or just doesn’t perform well under pressure, you might want to consider doing the recording yourself, or at another home or project studio, where you can focus on getting the tracks right, without worrying about what it’s costing you. This is one of the single biggest advantages. Additionally, if you find that your raw tracks all sound great individually, but you struggle to get a rocking mix, you should get help from a professional who can do it better and faster. In addition to more experience, a seasoned pro will likely have a better mixing environment, better processors, more processors to choose from, and a more powerful overall system. Why settle for a good mix, when you could have a great mix? Once your tracks are mixed, you can also learn to develop your mixing skills by taking your original tracks and trying to recreate the professional mix on your system, which is a great learning experience.
Record your album with a professional, and mix it yourself.
Do you have a great selection of microphones and preamps? Do you have a great sounding room? Are you able to be both the artist and the engineer at the same time? Do you understand how to best mic a variety of instruments? If you can’t answer yes to at least half of these questions, you should seriously consider getting an experienced recording engineer to track the bulk of your project. If you have good engineering skills but lack the good gear and room acoustics – just consider renting a professional studio. If you are an artist, keep in mind that worrying about mic placement and gain staging while trying to be creative can be very difficult, and having a dedicated engineer can allow you to focus on creating the best music possible while they focus on capturing your performance in the best way possible. If you are pinching pennies, you can certainly record all of your “core” tracks this way, and then do a few overdubs in your home or project studio to save money.
It is usually a joy to mix an album that was well recorded in a great room, with great gear, with good attention to levels. Usually, in these circumstances, much less processing is needed to get a great balance and great sound in your mix, and the mix will come together much more quickly. This is a completely different experience from mixing a track with poor mic placement, bad room acoustics, inferior equipment, or other problems. In these situations, an inexperienced engineer is quickly going to become overwhelmed and often will go to such extremes to try to get the sound that they may end up making the problems even worse. Do yourself a favor – hire a professional engineer, or rent a quality studio, so that your tracks will sound great before you even start mixing.
Record key tracks with a professional, and do everything else yourself.
This method is very popular. The 2 most common examples are drums and vocals. Getting a great drum sound can be challenging, and when working with poor room acoustics, an inferior drum kit, or limited gear, those challenges can be greatly magnified. Recording at a studio with good acoustics and good gear can make a HUGE difference in how good the drums sound, and as noted before, can make mixing much easier. If you have the right skills – rent a studio and do the engineering yourself. If you don’t have the skills, have the studio provide the engineer – It will save you time and money and give you better results.
With most popular music, and especially with country music, the vocals are the focal point of the song. Doing your vocal overdubs with a professional studio might make a world of difference in how they sound, and the experience of working with a seasoned engineer will help you learn how to cut better vocal tracks in your own studio as well.
In summary – the pro’s need not fear the amateurs, and the amateurs should not hesitate to lean on the experience of a professional engineer, or rent a professional studio. When you consider the amount of money you’ve spent on your instruments, lessons, your studio equipment, and other things related to your studio or your band, the small cost of hiring a professional to compliment your work is minimal, and it would be short-sighted to limit the potential of your work by trying to do everything yourself. You want great sounding material coming out of your studio – don’t be afraid to share the spotlight to make that happen. The artist wants to sound good, so help them by doing the right thing. The fans want to listen to a great recording, so deliver it to them. Don't let your pride hold you or your clients back.
If you are interested in having professional mixing, mastering, editing, or recording done for some or all of your next project, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
0 comments:
Post a Comment