Letter No. 34 [recording your first single, part I]
Dear Friend,
I’ve been pretty quiet about recording my first single, but most of the process is completed now—recording, mixing, and mastering—and I wanted to share a little bit of that process. I can’t speak about doing it all yourself, because that’s not what I did (and something I don’t ever want to do), but I can share what I did do. :) I’ve split this up into two parts so I can be more detailed—when I was looking for information about this before starting, I couldn’t really find anything like this, so I want to share it with others who might be in the same boat. I’ll talk about finding a producer, the first steps, and recording in this first part.
Going into this, I had no idea what I was doing. I had bought some recording equipment, but couldn’t figure out my Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), or the equipment, and ended up getting frustrated and overwhelmed and letting the equipment sit unused for months.
Finding a Producer
Then in July, I connected with Joel Schwartz through Instagram. Joel is a producer and multi-instrumentalist based in Toronto, and we started chatting about production.
Now, I know there are countless online scammers, and a lot of people were cautious when I told them I had started working with a producer I connected with through Instagram, but I did my research. A few tips if you’d like to do something similar:
-first of all, go to their page. What is their community like? What kind of posts are they posting (like recording videos of them working with other musicians, promotion of that music, insight into the producer’s daily life)?
-What kinds of artists are they working with? Check out each artist’s page—is their music on online streaming platforms, and in their recording/releasing process, do they mention anything about working with the producer?
-Listen to the music these artists make—does it sound like something you would record? Producers can of course be versatile in what they create, but there will be a general style that might not match what you’re looking for.
-Then check out the producer’s website. They should have this linked in their social media profile. If they don’t have a website, I wouldn’t consider working with them (especially in a solely remote situation!). Their website should look professional, give you a clear idea of who they are and how they work, and provide a way for you to contact them.
-If all of these points check out, but you still feel uneasy about working with someone online (or just that specific producer), I would trust that gut feeling. We live in an age where networking and connecting are readily available—there are other producers to work with.
You can find a producer other ways, but this was in the middle of quarantine, and it was also just a seamless process for me, so I think it’s far from a last-resort solution.
First Steps
One of the reasons I loved working with Joel is that he walked me through each step, and before we even started recording, we chatted over Zoom about what I envisioned for my music—aesthetically, musically, and content-wise. Then he had me pick and send five recordings of songs I was thinking about recording for this single to him.
After deciding on one, I finished writing the lyrics. I had just written “Weatherman” a few days ago, but loved it and really wanted to work on it, even though it wasn’t complete yet. Joel also helped me decide on the order of some of the verses, the interlude, and different parts of the ends of verses/transitions. Looking back, I think it would have been a more stream-line process if I had already had my song finished and memorized, but he worked through that with me.
A few tips about this step:
-have five completed songs ready to show somebody (melody and lyrics complete)
-write down on a piece of paper what you want your aesthetic to be. Ari Herstand has a great book about music business called, How To Make It in the New Music Business: Practical Tips on Building a Loyal Following and Making a Living as a Musician, and in this book, Ari gives brainstorming questions to ask yourself to help you find out what your brand is. Some of these include: clothing, mood, colors, and location. I had already done this and had a clear idea of what I wanted mine to be, although it needed to be specified a bit.
-have a list of artists whose music has elements you want in your music. Joel asked me this in our first meeting, and while this seems like an obvious thing to have prepared, it caught me off guard. As soon as he asked me, I couldn’t think of anyone. Ha! So have a list ready.
-have a list of questions for the producer you’re working with. They can be about anything related to the process—contracts, work-flow, what to expect, how your producer works. If your producer has a blog or book or other content, make sure to read it and find out everything you can before asking them questions you could have discovered answers to beforehand.
Recording
I recorded two tracks in my studio—guitar and vocal. I have a small studio in my closet where I recorded. I used Reaper (and still do—I love it!), and it was fairly straight-forward to record. There were many tutorials on YouTube about recording and specifically using Reaper (as there are about most DAWs).
However, there was a bit of a learning curve with this, and I became very frustrated. There were many times when I wanted the tracks I sent to be the final tracks, but Joel kept pushing me to create the best tracks I could. I was frustrated because I was overwhelmed with how to record and wasn’t used to the process, and I felt bad for all of the mistakes I was making. I remember sending in tracks and waiting for a response, and then getting an email saying we needed to record again because of something I needed to change. Then I would cry, and then I would calm down and say, “Okay, how do I do that? How can I make this better?” And I was always glad he didn’t let me stop until I had given him something I could be proud of.
After we were happy with my guitar and vocal tracks, Joel added tracks on his end. We communicated by email and Fileshare. On Fileshare, you can listen to the tracks and write time-stamped comments, which was very helpful. There was some back and forth after he added the tracks where we talked about small changes. Thoughts about this stage:
-be patient with yourself if you’re jumping into something new, like recording. You’re not going to produce perfect work at first—accept that, and accept the instructive criticism from those working with you that will help you produce something better.
-find online resources to learn more about your DAW, recording, and the production process. Joel also has some great blog posts about production that I found helpful.
-don’t be afraid to voice changes you want to make. Just because you’re new to recording and production doesn’t mean you don’t have a clear idea of what you want your single/album to sound like—you are the artist. You shouldn’t feel pressured to make it sound a certain way if it’s not what you want. Don’t settle for something you wouldn’t be proud of at the end of production.
In part two, I’ll share more about the other tracks we added, the mixing and mastering stage, and then release strategy. I’m looking forward to it!
Tara