Services

Recording

What does recording actually entail?

Well lets start with the definition. Recording, is often referred to as Tracking.

Tracking is essentially the process of recording the instruments that make up the songs. The name comes from the fact that each instrument is recorded individually and given it’s own “track” in the mix. That’s done so that the balance and sound of each instrument can be controlled later.

Microphones or Direct Line capture the sounds.

Performances can be recorded “live”, with all the musicians playing at once; or each instrument recorded one at a time, layered on top of each other (preferred); or in some cases a mixture of the two.

Recording is essentially capturing a musical performance. Most importantly – catching your best performance!

That’s where we come in. We’ll help coax the best performances out of each player, using the best tools (microphones, preamps, etc.) for the job, and placing them in the best environment for the instrument being played.

Editing

Editing is using the tools of the trade to manipulate the recorded audio to our liking. This means quite literally cutting out unwanted/accidental noise, shaping/fading beginnings and endings of tracks, quantizing drums and bass, correcting pitch if necessary, trimming tracks, time aligning, compiling takes, etc.

Editing is not the sexiest part of the process but it is a very important part of achieving a professional sound!

Mixing

What really happens during the mixing process?

Here again, lets start with the definition. Mixing is the process of blending all the individual tracks in a recording to create a version of the song that sounds as good as possible – the “mix”.

During the Mixing process, each individual track is being blended together to create the balance, further processing will likely occur to each of those tracks. Processing such as:

EQ, Compression/Parallel Compression, Normalization, Saturation, Automation, Delay, Reverb, Creating Busses and Sends, Balancing Levels, Panning/Stereo Imagining, Etc.

At the core Mixing is making each track sound great on it’s own, while also making each individual track sound great with all the other tracks - as a whole.

Mastering

What is Mastering?

Mastering, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via methods such as pressing, duplication or replication). In recent years digital masters have become the norm.

Thanks Wikipedia… That’s the end result. But what is the actual process doing to your music and why is it important?

Well to start everything you’ve ever heard on the radio or any major release you’ve heard has been mastered. All your favorite “big time” bands/artist have had their music mastered.

Mastering is the process of turning a collection of songs into a cohesive album or EP. Combining all the songs to create a final unit for distribution. Think of it as the glue between the songs.

Does anything happen to the sound of each of the songs though? Yes, it’s the last phase of production that makes your music sound the best it can be, affecting the song as a whole with similar processes like mixing; EQ, Compression, Stereo Imaging, etc. Then combining processes like Limiting and Maximization to enhance the sound quality of your mixes.

In mixing you are balancing the instruments and their tones to get a great blend of each song, in mastering you are balancing all the songs against each other to get a great sequence, as well as shaping the tones of each song to match.