With this blog, I am going to share the knowledge I've learned over the last 20 years. My hope is that I can hopefully help you with the recording project you are doing either at your personal location or at a studio. I start with some basic, bt very valuable, advice and elaborate on it.
Make sure the instrument intonation is the best it can be.
When all your instruments are set up correctly, and you have had time to practice with the correctly set up instrument, there is more freedom in the recording session to concentrate on the creative side.
1. Tune all your instruments to the exact same tuner
When all instruments tune to the same exact tuner, their is a greater sounding result when all the instruments are mixed together in the recording. A strobe tuner, like the Peterson Strobe Tuner (not affiliated with Peterson, I have just trusted this tuner on every session). There are many tuning modes for almost every situation and they just work.
2. String players (bass, guitar, violin, viola, cello, etc...)
It is a great idea to have new strings on your instrument when you are going to record, but make sure that they are settled before you click record. If your stings are not settled before you
record, your instrument is going to go out of tune very quickly. I tell my clients that they should buy at least one new set of strings on a few days before the session and play them for a few hours each day, re-tuning the strings as they slide out of tuning. By the time they get to the session, the strings are settled and less likely to have tuning issues. STILL, check your tuning after every take. It will make a BIG difference.
3. Selfies, Social Media, Video taking, etc...
It's the times we live in, and nothing wrong with having some selfies and other photos and videos taken during your session. You're excited you've gotten to this step and you want to share it with your followers. The professional way to have content, while you're still creating an album, is to have a friend that is behind you and this project 100%. They are designated as your social media person. That should be their main reason to be at the session. Have them discuss with the engineer(s) how they can do their part and not be in the way.
4. The Song
When it all comes down to it, it is the song that is the most important. If you don't have songs that connect with your targeted audience, you're not going to get very far. There is relationship building, and if you don't build the relationships with your fans, you're making it extremely difficult for yourself to be successful.