OUR PROCESS
New to recording at Strata? Here’s a breakdown of our process, so you know exactly what goes into making your next single, EP, or Album.
PRE PRODUCTION
“Pre-Pro” as we call it, is a crucial part to the recording process. It is first stage of making a great recording. To sum it up, Pre-Pro is the process of working through a song or album with your producer before you start recording.
You may be wondering, why is this necessary? Good question - and I’ll note that it isn’t always necessary. However, we can often work together to improve your songs before we start recording final tracks. Arrangement, Song-Structure, Melodic ideas, Rhythmic concepts - these all go into making a great song. In Pre-Pro we address any areas of your song that could be enhanced and do so before final record takes place. Additionally, it can actually save you time and money on your project.
Pre-Pro gives the artist and producer/engineer a chance to work out the fine details of a project before recording, ensuring that studio time for recording is used effectively. Typically pre-pro can take a few sessions on a larger project. When you request a quote for a Single, EP, or Album, we factor all of this into the pricing. (It is also your call whether you would like to do pre-pro).
Note: Some artists handle pre-pro on their own, or chose not to do pre-pro for their records - and that’s okay! We fully support the decision when artists prefer to self-produce. We do find that artists who allow us to Produce/Co-Produce tend to get better results and have a more seamless in-studio experience with less revisions and re-recording of parts.
RECORDING
This step is pretty self-explanatory. During recording we will focus on capturing your best performances possible, with the best tones possible. In other words, we get to experiment with cool tones, mic placements, and tracking techniques to get inspired performances that will stand the test of time.
We have several guitars, basses, drum kits, and virtual instruments to help you express yourself to the fullest. These are all kept in excellent condition and ready to record. If you choose to use your own instruments in the studio, we ask that you have them prepped for studio use. This means that guitars and basses are intonated, and with new or new-ish strings (especially for rock and metal artists). This helps us get the best tones possible. We encourage drummers to have new drum heads on their kit when it’s style appropriate to use new heads. These topics are often covered in pre-production, or upon booking your session. If you have any concerns now, don’t worry - we’ll address them before recording!
EDITING
Editing is often an overlooked and unsung hero of the recording process. This takes place throughout the recording process to guarantee that the performances are tight, in time and on pitch. Whether we’re talking drums, guitars, bass, vocals, keys, etc. They often need a little editing to lock them in, and deliver a polished and professional sound. A majority of modern records (even dating back to the 70s) have utilized editing of some kind to create the best recordings possible.
While editing is an important part of the process, we are very careful about how we execute our edits, especially depending on context. There is no “one size fits all” approach to editing, in our opinion. Certain styles of music call for heavier editing than others. The amount of editing on your music is something we can address prior to the recording process. That way we can get your music feeling exactly how you want it - because ultimately what editing impacts.
MIXING
Once we’ve completed the tracking and editing processes, it’s time to mix. It’s important that all creative decisions with regard to song structure, recording, and editing are completed before this stage. Making changes to the song in the mixing stage can send a record over budget quickly, so we make an effort to make sure everything is perfect before mixing begins.
Mixing is an incredibly important part of making a great record. Great mixes often require great source material, so this when all of the effort we put in at the beginning of the tracking process can shine. All of the time spent on mic placement, tone choices, etc. are all for good reason. The best sounding records sound great because the source tones are great. Once we have great source tones, we can dive deep into mixing to enhance the sounds we’ve captured.
The mixing process can take various forms depending on the project. The project type often dictates the mix rate for a project. We prefer to charge a flat price per mix, with a set number of revisions included. This is discussed and agreed upon prior to the mixing stage.
MASTERING
Mastering is the final stage of the record making process prior to release. There is often confusion between mixing and mastering. Mixing is when we combine all of the audio tracks for a song in a pleasing way. Mastering is the process of taking that final mix (a single stereo audio track) and then applying processing to that for further enhancement. This often means EQ’ing, compressing, clipping and limiting the mix(es) so that they are at a competitive level in terms of loudness. Additionally, this is when all of the mixes on an EP or Album are sequenced. Lastly, we make sure that the sonic curves from song to song are consistent, and that the loudness of the record is appropriate for the style.
If you have any questions about the record making process, let us know! We are always happy to help.
