Preparing for Studio session ..... need advice

Hello All,

My buddy and I are currently working on two 5 song EPs in my basement.
The first EP is his rock project and the second one is my Hip-Hop project.
We usually work on one song a week, from each project.

My plan is to do as much work as I can at home and then take it to a professional studio, so a professional can finish it up.
He wants to do the same, but at this time. I guess I'm going to be the guinea pig.

We are using cool edit pro, and we both acknowledge that we can only do so much since the tool is no "Pro-Tools" or the like, and we are no experts at recording.

I am seeking advice that can help me in this endevor. What should I make sure that I have done with all my tracks before going to a professional studio, etc etc. For example, should I make sure they are all normalized to a certain value, etc etc.

I am trying to maximize my efforts at home, in order to minimize my time and money spent when I get to a professional studio. I don't want time to be burnt on something I could have done at home using cool edit.

And also, does anyone know of any good studios in or close to Rochester, NY ?




[This message has been edited by Breaka (edited 02-22-2005).]

My only advice would be to make sure the tracks are all clean...that is, no effects. that includes EQing to a degree.
Good Luck with your efforts

...'come on guys...more help?

------------------
...L

Thanks for your input shboom

Basicly Cooledit Pro contains all the tools you need for mastering.
In other words you can master yourselve.
BUT....
CoolEdit does not provide THE EARS and Experience of a professional.
Which can be a good reason to go to a studio.
An experienced professional will master in a way that the production will sound decent on any device (transistor radio to 100.000,-- equipment)

Thing's you don't do and thing's you will have to avoid before mastering!;

1. Do not normalise!
2. Do not use the limiter
3. Avoid clipping/pops (watch the record level!)
4. Try to record as clean as possible
(start at -15 db if you have 3 or more tracks)
Too loud recorded is not really reversable and will destroy all dynamics and headroom
the studio needs to master well.
5. No equalising.
If a track needs equalising it means the
record settings were wrong.
6. If the professional studio has Cooledit software, do not mix down and leave all tracks in tact.

Ofcourse I would recommand to experiment with the mix down untill you are satisfied with it, but make sure you save the original tracks each time!
Then when you are satisfied take the mixdown and the separated tracks to the studio.

Fred

Hey Fredd,
thanks for the reply



Why is that? I have heard this same point made elsewhere but with no explanation.

Normalising is one of the final steps in Mastering so if you are not going to master yourselve you don't do this as it's pretty hard to reverse for the studio in case the optimum volume and balance is wrong.

Fred

Fred said it! Normalizing is one of the final steps while mastering. In my case (I'm a poor homerecorder ) the normalizer is used as a part of burning master CDs. It sets the output level of all tracks at an average level (methode RMS = root-mean-square).
My Nero's burning ROM doesn't have a compressor/limiter filtering, so I have to compress and limit the recorded tracks before I burn them down on CD.


------------------
Greetings from Frankfurt (Germany),
Sheriff ;-)

[This message has been edited by Sheriff (edited 02-24-2005).]