A-Room Studios - Services

Services

A-Room Studios provides tracking via Steinberg Nuendo, using the best microphone preamps, and converters available today, all bussed through a Neve summing amp for the highest musical quality available today. We have all the top pluging from manufacturs like Waves, URS Sony Oxford, Native Instruments and many more. We have all the top VSTi Instruments including The Grand, Akoustik Piano, B4 II, East West, and many more.

A-Room Studios provides everything you need to make your next hit record.

We are equipped with ISO rooms to handle live recording and can accommodate any style of music you can offer. We also have a large supply of new and vintage amps, drums, and instruments that you can use free of charge.

Things to Consider Before you Record
This is mainly written for people new to recording, but can be helpful for anyone!

What is your objective?
You need to know what you intend to do with your product. Are you putting out a full length album? Do you intend to send it to record companies, management agencies and promoters, or sell it to friends, fans and family? Or are you just doing it for fun? THIS NEEDS TO BE DETERMINED BEFORE YOU RECORD! We've seen too many bands come in to record a simple 5 or 10 song demo, and once the drum and bass tracks are done, they say to themselves, "Hmm... this thing sounds really good... Maybe we should spend some time on the guitars and vocals, and really get it right." So this is the new direction, and the further they get into the guitar and vocal tracks, they realize that the rhythm section really lags compared to the new tracks. Then the thought is, "It will all work out fine in the mix, right?" Unfortunately, the fact is that there is nothing that can be done in mixing to fix sloppy playing, unchanged drum heads, old strings, bad timing or any number of other things. At this point it is too late to go back and do it right. At this point they are way too far into the recording to change it now, so they just keep on going and finish it. It will probably sound fine... not too bad, but they should have just have stuck with what it was going to be, a demo. Then, after playing some more shows and more rehearsals come back in 6 months, do the album, and get it right from the start - spend some real time tuning the drums, making sure all of the guitars have new strings and have been setup recently, etc... Most importantly RECORD WITH A CLICK TRACK! This will ensure that adding or changing parts later will be easy, as there will be no timing issues.

Make sure you know your music!
Be prepared. If you still have to read your lyrics off a piece of paper, you are probably not ready to record. You need to know your music so well that you don't even have to think about it while you're playing. How can you get a good track when you are thinking to yourself, "now how does this part go," while recording? Also rehearse with and get used to using a click track! (Unless of course your name is Neil Peart!) It will be very useful to have all the tempos written down for the songs you plan on recording.

Do your pre-production!
It's a good idea, whether you're doing a live demo or a full blown album, to have a recorded version of the material before you go into the studio. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, a $75 dollar 4 track and a few mics would be fine (something better than a $10 Radio Shack tape deck). This will let you really know what your music sounds like, and let you listen to it when you're not busy playing it. This will help ensure that you're not doing the drum tracks in the studio and realize, "hmm.. maybe we should add a bridge there...." Changing your songs in the studio can be very frustrating, costly, and even worse, what if you don't like the changes when its all done and pressed on CD?

Have everything ready to go!
Have all of your gear in shape. Get your instrument's intonation setup by a professional - trying to do it yourself with your $30 dollar tuner you bought from Guitar Center just does not cut it! If you plan on using your own amps, have them in good working order - re-tubed, biased and ready to go. If your gear sounds like crap, that's what it will sound like when it is recorded. We have plenty of high quality amps, drums, and guitars that you are free to use. If we don't have what you need then try to borrow it from a friend, or rent it. Believe me, it's much better to spend the extra money paying to rent quality gear than it is spending hours in the studio trying to mix it so that it is presentable. Have plenty of supplies like strings, drum heads, etc. on hand. Does your girlfriend really want to spend 45 minutes going to Guitar Center saying "umm... my boyfriend sent me here to buy a drum head...."?

Are your vocals ready?
Vocals are always the hardest thing to do. Do you really know what you sound like? You can't get a good idea using the PA in your garage that keeps feeding back when you try to turn it up so you can hear yourself over your drummer. When people sing out of tune, nine times out of ten they are usually flat rather than sharp. This is where the 4 track recording you did comes in. I once had a person that came in to record say to me, "I think there is something wrong with your mic cause the pitch is all wrong. It doesn't sound like this on my $10 dollar Radio Shack mic, through our band's PA!" Keep recording yourself on that 4 track until you are happy with it. THEN go into the studio. The best thing to do is to get a vocal coach. If you don't want to spend the money, you can get free lessons from a church choir. About a day or two before you record your vocals, try to drink a lot of HOT tea with honey in it. When you come into the studio, bring the tea and honey with you to drink while you record. If you smoke, try to smoke less for about three days before you record. And make sure you don't get drunk the night before!

Final check list
Make a list of everything you will need to do before you record, then go through it and check them off one at a time. Also, the studio is not a place to bring all of your friends over to hang out. You want to be able to concentrate on your music, and not have your drunk friends running around distracting you.

Everything written here is just my recommendation for a better recording experience. You don't have to do any of this to record here, but I do recommend it if you can. Also remember that being in a band is just like a business... you can write everything off. Your strings, repairs on amps, gas, food, and recording time so keep all of your receipts. I hope this has helped you better understand recording.