To many artists and bands, recording in a studio can feel exciting, but at the same time feel nerve-racking. You’re about to record your masterpiece. Exhale. That’s it, breathe. Here are six tips to help you when going to record there:
#1 – Set Your Budget
Before even booking a studio and hiring an engineer, have a budget in mind. Or even better, write it down so the number is more real. If you have never recorded before and don’t know what everything costs on average, you will need to do your homework and get prices from the various people you will require to complete your project. You may find that your budget is higher than it needs to be, but more often than not, artists budgets tend to be lower than what it actually costs.
When it comes to setting your budget, add a small percentage as a contingency fund. With any type of project, there can always end up being some extra costs that go unaccounted for. It can be as expensive as wanting to re-cut a vocal because the singer wasn’t at their best the day of recording to simply the shipping 
costs on your vinyl records you ordered having gone up since you were originally quoted. If you don’t end up using the contingency money, you’ll already have money ready in the bank to put towards things like marketing or a music video.
A quick note about cutting costs, though. As cliché as it is to say, “You get what you pay for”, it holds true to a large extent. If your aim is to have a “radio ready” commercial recording, you will need to hire the right person/people to execute this. You may not have to spend 15 thousand dollars to record one song but expecting to pay 150 dollars is not realistic either. This point leads to the next common mistake many artists and bands make when going to the studio…
#2 – Hire the Right Team
You are the band or solo artist that is the face of this music and who had the original vision. And it is you who will have to play the songs you record forever at your shows, so it is extremely important to make sure you hire the right people for the job.
Before even booking a studio to record in, you may want to hire a producer whose job is to help you see your vision through and put it all together. This person’s role is key to the overall success of your recording as they will make sure to keep everyone involved on the same page throughout the process. Once the songs are ready to record, you may need to hire an engineer, session players, a mixing engineer and a mastering engineer. All of these people are important pieces to your puzzle and if there is a breakdown with any one of them, your project suffers. Have conversations with all of the people involved in your project. You want to feel comfortable with them personally, but also with their ability, their efficiency, and reliability. You and/or your band are the CEO(s) of your own company. With great power comes great responsibility, so use it wisely!
#3 – Have Your Writing Splits Settled Before You Record
Many times, as artists, we don’t always think about the legalities of our music until it’s too late. You can avoid a lot of headaches and heartache if you have all your writing splits and work-for-hires signed off before you go into the studio to record.
All of the people you are employing may or may not want a “piece” of your song/album. It is important to discuss these matters beforehand and have written and signed agreements in place. There is no worse feeling than your producer or even a session player coming out of the woodwork after your song is released and gaining traction and income and he/she is asking for a percentage now because they “had creative input” in the song. It happens too many times and a lot of artists can risk losing all of the rights. Negotiate all of these terms before you start recording anything. If you’re hiring a producer to do some pre-production with you, you should negotiate terms with them before you start exchanging any creative ideas.
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#4 – Be on the same page as your bandmates and/or producer
“No man, I’m not going to play such a basic bassline!” or “The song needs vocals over your guitar solo!”
The number of arguments that can occur in a studio between bandmates as well as solo artists and bands versus the producer is overwhelming, not to mention costly!
To avoid all of this, it is crucial to be on the same page with everyone involved in the recording before the record button gets pressed. Bands have broken up in the studio, producers have been fired in the studio, and even physical fights have broken out in many studios, all because everyone involved was not clear with the vison, goal, and direction of the song/album.
Do the hard work before you go into the studio to record. Have the hard conversations with everyone before you invest your money into recording. Although arguments or disagreements may occur, at least you won’t be paying for them by the hour!
#5 – Be prepared to record
So, you’ve booked the time at the studio and you have your team in place and you can’t wait to get your masterpiece recorded! Don’t throw all of that hard work away by not being prepared to record. Here are a few ways you can be prepared for your recording session:
1) Know your part(s) inside and out. You should have everything memorized as this allows you to focus more on the sound and feel while recording than focusing on reading chords or lyrics. Believe it or not, confidence does come out in recordings. And the opposite can come out if you aren’t prepared.
2) Get a good night’s sleep before you head to the studio. Playing music requires your whole body to be awake and energized. You also want to be in a clear and alert headspace.
3) As a singer, avoid food and drinks that dry out your throat. Items like really salty foods, coffee, and alcohol are not good for your vocal cords before you sing. As a musician, you want to be at your peak performance level as well, which means avoiding drugs and alcohol and to some people, even coffee and energy drinks. No one wants to have the drummer playing 60 bpm faster than the set tempo of the song because they’re too hyped up!
4) Arrive on time to the studio and ready to work. Recording days can be long as it is and you also don’t want to be wasting money while the engineer is sitting there just waiting for you to show up.
#6 – Have Fun!
The time to record has finally come. You’ve done all of the recommendations and work mentioned above. At this point, you are confident and ready to make the best recording you possibly can, so just have fun! Enjoy the process and trust that everyone on your team has done their prep work as well and everyone is ready to work together to make a great sounding recording. There’s no better feeling than listening back to the music you created and it sounds amazing. And on top of that, you had a blast with the people around you. Everyone will remember that day and will be excited to repeat the process on the next recording.
Recording and releasing music under the artist name Songsbury, Mat Teofilo is a Toronto-based singer, songwriter, guitar & piano player, and producer who just received his first gold record. The guest on Episode 368 of our weekly “Now Hear This Entertainment” podcast, he has had many notable collaborations in addition to his own catalogue of music. He has also composed music for film projects and is also opening a new recording studio this year. He also spent four years living in Los Angeles.