Going to the studio and recording music is one of the main things you'll be doing as a hip-hop artist. The more efficient you become at the recording process, the more likely you are to become a successful artist.
So, with that said, I'm going to give you a few tips that'll help you improve your studio sessions and make them more efficient and productive.
Why Make Your Studio Sessions More Efficient?
Depending on the process you currently have, there could be a ton of ways you'd benefit from having a more productive studio session. I'm not going to list each benefit you'd gain (or we'd be here all day), but I will list 2 of the benefits that I feel are very important – especially as an upcoming hip-hop artist.
1) Record More Music
The whole point of your studio session is to record music. The more efficient your session is, the more music you can record – and the more music you record, the more opportunities you have to give the fans what they’re looking for.
2) Save Money
Saving a few hundred dollars by improving your studio session might not be a big deal for a successful artist with a budget, but it is a big deal for an upcoming artist. Each hour of studio time is going to cost you the same amount of money, regardless if you record 1 song or 100.
Why not record as many good tracks as possible?
3 Tips for Improving Your Studio Session
1) Be Organized and Come Prepared
Being unprepared in the recording studio is one of the easiest ways to blow your money and have nothing to show for it. If that's your goal (which I doubt, because there's cooler ways to blow your money), stop reading this post – but if you're trying to get the most out your sessions, here's a few things you could do to be prepared:
Tips for Being Prepared and Organized:
– Have your music, beats, and anything else the engineer may need on a high-storage flash drive (an external hard drive is better) with a folder dedicated to this specific studio session (I recommend naming the folder with a simple format like this: Date - Studio Name).
– Have the structure and format of your song planned out. This means knowing exactly how your hooks, verses, and ad-libs are going to lay out in the song. To take it a step further, you can plan out what effects you’d like to use, as well as any modifications you’d like made to the beat so that it fits your vocals or style. This will eliminate a lot of the "What do you think I should do?" type questions.
Pro-Tip: After your studio session, you should have the engineer put all of your project files onto your external hard drive. There's nothing worse than leaving the storage and security of your music in the hands of someone else. Sometimes relationships go sour or hard drives crash (or get lost), and there's nothing cool about not being able to retrieve your files when you need them.
2) Delay Mixing
Record each song exactly like you want it, but tell the engineer to hold off on mixing it immediately. You should wait until after you’ve laid down a solid foundation for each song you want to record before starting the mixing process.
If you don’t have any time left in your studio session for him to start the mixing process, book a “mixing session” later. This mixing session will be about getting your music mixed like you envisioned it – not recording.
An additional bonus to using this strategy comes to play when you’ve been working with the same engineer for a while. He should know your voice frequencies pretty well, have custom go-to presets saved for your vocals, and understand your style and sound. If so, he should be able to mix and master your songs without you even being in the mixing session – saving you time and possibly even money.
3) Lose The Extra Baggage
Bringing your friends to the studio can be fun and helps set the vibe for your recording session, but it also has its downsides.
The more people you have in the studio with you at one time, the more likely you are to get distracted and lose focus. And when you’re in the recording studio, getting distracted or losing focus is literally costing you money every minute.
So, to help you keep your eyes on the prize and stay focus, don’t bring more than a few friends with you to the studio at one time while you’re working.
**This doesn't include the people that are on your team. You can and should have them in the studio with you while you're working.**
Now, if you’re headed to the studio for a “mixing session”, feel free to invite more of your friends to help give opinions on the overall mix. As long as the engineer can do his job, there are little downsides to having more friends in the studio with you during a mixing session.
The Most Important Tip for Improving Your Studio Session
As cliché as this is going to sound, the most important tip for improving your studio session is to have fun.
You've got a long road ahead and will be spending a big piece of your music career in the studio. The only way you're going to be able to consistently put in work for years is if you're having fun in the process.
So yes, make sure your studio session is productive and efficient, because like I said in the beginning – a more efficient recording process will increase the chances of you becoming a successful hip-hop artist.
But, don't sacrifice your happiness in the studio in order to pump out a few more records or save money.
