You’ve written some songs, you’ve had your friends listen to them, you’ve tried them live to see how they land with an audience, and you showed them to your mom and she thinks they’re great! Now it’s time to record these songs and release them into the world. But what will it take to record your songs? Let me walk you though the process used at Magic Room Music.
1. Record Basic Demos of Your Songs
The first thing you should do before you contact Magic Room Music (or any other recording studio or music producer for that matter) is to capture a demo of your song. This is very simple to do today by using voice memos on your phone. It doesn’t have to be a great or perfect recording. Just you and a guitar or piano (or whatever instrument you choose) showing the bare bones of the song. So take some time, sit down, and record your songs and store them on your phone so they are easy to share when the time is right.
2. Contact the Recording Studio
The next step is to contact us (or whatever recording studio you’re interested in) and talk through the following things:
- SCOPE OF THE PROJECT - Are you wanting to record a single, an EP, or a full length album? What kind of instrumentation are you planning on having? Are you a singer-songwriter with just a guitar and vocals or are you planning on having a whole band play on the album? Do you want to fill it out with extra sounds and instruments that the studio has available to use?
- PRICE - How much is this going to cost? Ask about how the recoding studio structures its pricing. Some charge per hour while others charge per song. Magic Room Music typically works on a price per song cost structure based on the scope of the project.
- WHAT’S INCLUDED - Ask about what is included in the price. Does it include mixing and mastering? Does it include a producer? What kind of files will you receive?
- GAME PLAN - If all this sounds good, talk about how you want to tackle recording this project. Do you want to take it in smaller chunks maybe a few hours here and there to work through it a little more slowly? Or do you want to put your head down and get it all done in a few days? Figure out your approach and talk about how that could work.
- SCHEDULING - Once you’ve talked through all of this, it’s time to book the studio time. So schedule your recording session(s) based on your game plan.
3. Practice and Prepare
Now that you have selected your songs and have booked the studio time, you need to practice and prepare for your recording session. Make sure you have your parts figured out and nailed down. Have the format of each song figured out too (ie. verse, verse, chorus, verse, bridge, etc…). Some of these things might change a little bit in the recording session and that is completely fine (It’s part of the creative process!) However, the more you have figured out before hand and the more prepared you are, the smoother your session will go and the more time you will have to be creative in the recording session. The last thing you want to do is waste your studio time figuring out parts and how to play your song. Your recording engineer will thank you for being prepared too!
4. Recording
Getting into the studio for the first time can be exciting and scary at the same time. You’re about to bring your songs to life in a brand new way for the world to hear, which is very exciting! However, every note you sing and play is now going to be heard very clearly by you and everyone in the studio as you record it, and that can be very intimidating. But don’t worry! Everyone always needs multiple takes to get it right so just enjoy the process and have fun!
5. Mixing and Mastering
When you have finished recording the tracks for all your songs, it’s time to move on to mixing and mastering. This is where the songs come to life! Parts are edited, effects are added, and the song is polished up and made ready to release. This is either done by the studio or you are given the raw tracks to bring to someone else to mix and master them.
6. Final Masters
Once you are pleased with the final masters of each of your songs you will be given the WAV files and any other files or versions you discussed earlier. These will be digital files that are yours to keep to upload to your website and streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube.
The process of recording your music can seem intimidating, but if you find the right studio, with the right engineer and producer, it can be one of the best experiences of your life. You will also walk away with songs to release into the world that can last forever.
If you would like to explore the idea of recording your music, CONTACT MAGIC ROOM MUSIC. We would love to talk with you about your project and help you on your way to recording and releasing your music!