April

The Importance of Staying Organized in the Recording Studio

Posted In: Band Management, Career Building, Recording, Uncategorized by claybutlermusic

A while back, I wrote about my efforts to make my home studio more ergonomic and my workspace more organized. Today, I want to take that concept one step further and talk about informational organization.

Right now I’m teaching a recording class at a local college, and the students’ task is to produce a song demo for a songwriter. So far, I’ve noticed the old notion that musicians are the least organized people on the face of the planet. What’s worse, is that I find that I, myself, fall into that same category when it comes to producing a project. It seems that I have to force myself to do the small organizational tasks that ultimately help increase productivity in the end.

So, I’m going to share a few organizational necessities with you guys (and gals) to help you on your next recording session. I wrote about some of these in my book, Recording Basics: A Beginner’s Guide to Producing Music, but I feel it important to go into a little detail on the blog as well.

Recording Budget

The recording budget is perhaps the most important guide in a recording project. Even if it’s a small project, a budget helps you stay on track with how much you’re spending and where the money is going. Having a detailed budget form helps you to see certain expenses that you may not have thought of, like equipment cartage or album art.

Song Arrangement Matrix

When you’ve written a song, it’s a good idea to know what your arrangement will be for that particular song before you start recording. NEVER jump into recording a song without spending a decent amount of time fleshing out your arrangement. At the very least, decide when certain instruments play or drop out. Use a song arrangement matrix, which is essentially a grid that has blocks for each song section by instrument. Shade in each section (verse, chorus, bridge, etc.) which gets played by each instrument.

Track Sheets

Track sheets are vitally important to a recording session. We’re all tempted to think that we’ll remember every detail of a recording session, like which channel is Johnny’s guitar and which one is Bill’s, or that flub the bassist made in measure 149, but the truth is we simply forget those things. It may be weeks before a song gets edited after a session. Track sheets help you keep track of those important details.

Recording Session Checklist

It happens to us all. We drive an hour and a half to the studio only to realize that we’ve forgotten our [insert vitally important item here]. Use a checklist to make sure you have all the essentials and extras that you want to have handy. Include the even the littlest things like picks, sticks, strings, batteries, and a camera.

Equipment Inventory

Similar to the checklist, be sure to make an inventory of each piece of gear that you take to the studio. Not only will you see what you need (or what you may be missing) before you leave for the studio, it will ensure you keep track of what you must take with you from the studio. After an exhaustive eight-hour session, you might not be as alert, so check your equipment against your inventory to make sure you leave with everything.

Check this out!

After falling victim to a few of the aforementioned pitfalls, and after seeing my students do the same, I’ve created package of all these necessities called The Recording Session Toolkit. Now you can have easy access to budget forms, track sheets, song arrangement matrices, checklists, and inventories all in one place. I’ve done the work for you. Simply fill them out and put them in your project notebook. I’ve even included a handy studio prep guide to help you and your band get the most mileage out of your recording studio time. Try it out. Download it before your next recording session. I guarantee it will help you get the most out of your recording project!

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