Alex Brubaker

So I was just in the studio this past weekend and thought it’d be good to share some insight for those of you who may want to someday record some music and also for those who just want to know what it’s like. I’ll summarize my time this past weekend and throw in some tips as well.

Over three days (Friday-Sunday), I was at MR. STUDIO (Jeremy Bentley) in Lancaster for about 21 hours. In that time, I laid down guitar for 7 songs, totaling close to half an hour of material. These ranged in complexity from one or two track songs to some that had 6 or so. I’ll need to go in for one more day/weekend to finish up the project, but it is coming along well.

Overview:

Friday:

I tend to try to get the hard stuff out of the way first. It makes sense to me.  So a song that uses two stages of looping, distortion, delay, and some crazy polyrhythmic stuff made sense. Between setup and this song, I ended up going over by an hour.

Saturday:

I started with some easier stuff on Saturday. Starting off with something straight forward made sense after Friday night’s work. After one easy one, I did one that had a bit more percussion involved, so it was a little more difficult to lay down and get dynamically correct.

Then I started on another complex one. Looping, reversed loops, distortion, delay, and surprises were all involved… And by surprises, I mean, you’ll have to wait and the wait will suck. In any event, this one took the cake for hardest. Some 6 hours later, both Jeremy and I were frustrated and didn’t have a complete recording.

Sunday:

Sunday started with an easier song that ended up with some extra goodies. I’m excited for this one. It didn’t take too long until I decided to start playing around with it. Then ideas just started popping up.

After that, I did an old one that really didn’t take much time at all. It was easy and straightforward. Then, one with some looping and some percussion that wasn’t too hard either. This one brought out some new ideas that drastically change how awesome the song will be, so playing around there took some time.

Finally, the song from Saturday was revisited. It took us up until the very end of the session, totaling somewhere between 7-8 hours on that one song… Frustrating, but a great final product.

Tips:

Guitars:

Get them professionally set up. This was the first time that my Taylor was set up (big thanks to Penn Avenue Music in Reading). I keep it in a pretty well controlled environment, so it wasn’t out too bad, but with the neck true, it plays noticeably smoother.

Restring your guitar. This will be done with the setup, unless you’re going to skip that step. Don’t experiment with a new type of string – use a gauge and brand that you are comfortable and familiar with. And break them in! No one wants a tinny sounding recording, so make sure you’ve got 20 hours or so on them.

Also, go into the studio with options. I never go in with just one guitar. This weekend, I only used one guitar, but I had another, as well as a bass, just in case I felt inspired. You don’t want to think up some great idea and not have the means to execute it. Sure, it sucks lugging tons of gear into the studio, but it sucks more when you want something that’s not there.

Electronics:

With acoustic, you generally just mic the guitar. You don’t use an amp, and, even with electrics, you want to avoid effects. The idea is that it is easier to add stuff later than it is to take it away. Ever try to take out reverb after it’s been recorded? Ha!

What you’re looking for with the electronics is that everything is working properly. This may mean a new set of tubes in your amp (or preamp, as was my case), isolating and eliminating any noise from your pedals, changing the battery in your guitar (for active p’ups), or servicing your vintage echoplex (mine needs to be cleaned). This will ensure that you’re not messing around trying to fix stuff during your studio time. When you do it there, it costs you money.

Practice:

You’re going to be playing your instrument for extended periods of time. And you’re going to be trying to get everything right the first time. So figure out what you want to play and then you’ve got two focal points: accuracy and endurance.

Accuracy is hitting every note correctly. In your practice time, focus not only on the right notes, but also on tone. At least with guitar, there are a number of different sounds you can get from the same note. You want the best one. So practice that way.

The endurance required may vary. For a solo instrumentalist such as myself, 20 hours in a studio means upwards of 20 hours playing guitar – in two or three days. If you’re in a band or also sing, you’ll have some relief. If not, you’ve gotta be prepared.

The first time I recorded with Jeremy, my fingers were raw after day one and I was in excruciating pain at the end of the weekend. I actually had to take time off of playing to let my hands recover. This time? My hands felt great at the end of every day and Sunday night, when I got home, I got out my guitar and started playing some more. The key was that leading up to the weekend, I put in quite a few 4-5 hour practice sessions, some on back to back days. Earlier I mentioned putting 20 hours on a new set of strings. I did that in a week. Including the time recording, I played for nearly 40 hours in a 7 day period. That’s a full week’s work.

Rest:

Don’t go in tired. Recording is mentally draining. Even if you are physically prepared, your mind needs to be in the game or you’ll get nothing done.

For vocalists, I hear you’re supposed to rest your voice. I don’t know, I’m not a vocalist.

Documentation:

This is a big engineering thing that has carried over to my music. I’ll never be one to write out my songs, but make sure you include any relevant details, so that you know them when you’re recording. This includes song names, tunings, effects used, effect settings, etc. I went a step beyond and made a chart that listed these things. Ultimately, it helped me to visually see which songs made sense in progression, giving me my album order. Sending this to Jeremy gave him a good idea of what was coming where as well. Be sure to keep track of anything that changes in the studio as well.

Be Open Minded:

Sure, I mentioned above that you want to have things figured out beforehand. The point there is that you shouldn’t be writing the songs on studio time. That doesn’t mean that they can’t change. Be open to changing things last minute. You may accidentally hit an extra note somewhere, but if it sounds better that way, then change it. When you’re sitting in a studio listening to the same section of a song a million times in a row, you’re bound to come up with some new ideas.

Let the Engineer Do His Thing:

These people record for a living. They probably know more about recording than you do. Accept that. Once I was in position with the mics, I was told not to move. Sure, I moved in between playing, but while playing I was in the exact same position EVERY TIME. Don’t screw that up.

Finally, here’s the gear setup that I used: