7. Upgrade the right stuff.
I’ve been covering this in recent installments of my Guitar Tracks column here in
Premier Guitar, but it bears mention in this space, as well. Upgrading or improving
certain things in your signal path will make more difference than others. For
example, I’m a firm believer in having the best monitors you can afford. You hear
everything through those speakers or headphones, so you have to be able to trust
them. I’m also a firm believer in capturing with the best quality possible at the
source. This means great mics and preamps. And a few key pieces of processing
gear, such as a nice analog compressor, can go a long way toward making the later
digital representation of many of your signals that much better.
Monitor Speakers
Under $300
Samson MediaOne 3a pair $99 street
M-Audio AV 40 pair $149 street
Alesis M1 Active MKII pair $239 street
$500 to $1,000
Tannoy Reveal 601a pair $499 street
Focal CMS40 pair $790 street
Dynaudio BM 5A MKII $998 street
Over $1,000
JBL LSR4328P $1,559 street
Neumann KH 120 $1,499 street
Sonodyne SM 200Ak $1,590 street
Microphones
Under $250
Shure SM57 dynamic $99 street
Audio-Technica AT 2035 large-diaphragm condenser $149 street
Rode NT1-A large-diaphragm condenser $229 street
$250 to $500
Sennheiser MK 4 large-diaphragm condenser $299 street
Blue Microphones Baby Bottle large-diaphragm condenser $399 street
Shure KSM32 large-diaphragm condenser $499 street
Over $500
Mojave Audio MA-201fet large-diaphragm condenser $695 street
AKG C 414 XLII large-diaphragm condenser $999 street
Neumann TLM 103 large-diaphragm condenser $1,099 street
Compressors
Under $150
Behringer autocom pro-XL
mdX1600 $109 street
alesis 3632 $149 street
dbx 266xs $149 street
$299 to $500
art pro-VLa ii $299 street
dbx 160a $429 street
drawmer mXpro-30 $497 street
Over $500
Chameleon Labs 7720 $535 street
aphex model 240 $699 street
tL audio 5021 $999 street
Preamps
Under $150
Art Tube MP Studio V3 $69 Street
PreSonus TubePro $129 Street
Studio Projects VTB1 $149 Street
$150 to $500
dbx 286s $199 Street
ART Voice Channel $399 Street
Focusrite ISA One $499 Street
Over $500
Grace Design m101 $565 Street
Chameleon Labs 7602 MKII $719 Street
JoeMeek twinQ $949 Street
the room still matters. The iconic drum track from Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks” has been sampled innumerable
times over the years, and a huge part of its classic vibe is due to where it was recorded. In this scene from the
2009 documentary It Might Get Loud, Jimmy Page stands in the foyer of Headley Grange, the East Hampshire, England,
home where Zep recorded tracks for four of their most famous albums. Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics
8. The room
still matters.
This is a corollary to item 7: One of
the best investments you can make
in your digital tracks is to acoustically
treat your recording and control
room. You’d be surprised how
much the sound of the room affects
what you do, and digital captures
all that roominess with perfect clarity
… so make sure the space you
are working in is doing the job.
9. Hygiene is key.
In the analog days, you had to
demagnetize tape heads, clean the
tape path, wind the tape for proper
storage, and perform other routine
maintenance tasks at the beginning
and end of every session. The same
is true with digital—the tasks are
just different. Lots of takes and
edits can result in a ton of files
scattered around your computer
and slowing down your system.
Unused mixer channels and plugins
can end up hiding in the system,
weighing down the project,
and eating up CPU and memory
resources. Lots of small apps running
in the background on your
computer will also sap it of precious
processing resources. Keep it
clean and organized, and your system
will always perform its best.
But basic maintenance extends
beyond this to installing current
versions of software, having
plenty of space available on your
recording drive, installing plenty
of RAM in your computer, and
otherwise optimizing your system
for maximum performance.
However, don’t do those things
the night before a critical session—
give yourself plenty of time
to learn and test new versions of
software or plug-ins before you
put them to work for real.
digital data is fragile. Saving multiple versions of a project
under new names provides some protection against corrupted
fi les—and it’s a great organizational tool—but for real protection,
you must back up your work regularly.10. Digital data
is fragile.
The virtual ones and zeros that
make up digital data are not robust.
One small mishap and your hardwon
tracks can vanish. For this reason,
it’s imperative that you save and
back up your data constantly. By
habit, I hit the save command in my
DAW every time I make a change.
And when I’ve made a significant
number of changes, or I’ve gotten
to the point where it would be
extremely painful to have to recreate
my work, I save a new copy under
a different name. (Project 1, Project
1a, Project 1b, Project 1c, and so
on.) This way, if a project file gets
corrupted, I can always step back to
the last version and work forward
again without losing everything.
Likewise, at the end of every
work session, I back up the project
to a separate hard drive. That way,
if the hard drive in the computer
goes down, I’ve still got my work
on a second drive and can quickly
recover and begin working again.
It’s all about the outcome.
Digital has been a true godsend for musicians who want to capture and distribute pro-quality recordings without waiting for some major label
to finance the dream. It’s made super-powerful recording tools available to pretty much anyone. But it’s about more than just the tools. Keep
these 10 simple tips in mind during all your future recording adventures, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much the quality of your
digital projects improves as a result of such straight-ahead measures. More than that, you’ll find they make studio life easier and less stressful—
which can only portend good things for your creativity and performance quality. Good habits are good habits, whether you’re working with
analog or digital, and in the studio, good habits lead to great recordings!