1. You’ll need to hide all muted, inactive, midi or any other track that you didn’t intend to play in the  final mix.  Set up the files as clearly as you can by making sure the tracks are clearly labeled.
2. If you do have midi tracks, you must record the midi sounds to an audio track.
3. If you have special effects that are part of your audio track, bounce the track to a new channel by clicking: File > Bounce To > Disk.
4. * PLEASE NOTE: We will not be able to take off any processing or effects you have applied to an audio track.   We prefer to do the effects or processing for you within the mix.  Please be sure to mention the sounds you had in mind in the description of your order.  You may also include reference tracks from similar artists to clarify the “mix sound” you had in mind.

Cleaning up your session

1. Make sure to double check all edit points throughout your song and make sure there aren’t any noticeable clicks or clips that would make your edit obvious in the final mix.
2. Remove all plug ins and automation you may have applied to your song within your own session.  This will ensure that all of the files will transfer over to us correctly, and we’ll use our own plug-ins and automation techniques in our mix.
   

   

Consolidating your tracks within your session

1. When you have all your tracks lined up and ready to send to mixing, it’s important to listen to your project from start to finish.  Double check for errors in your song before consolidating your tracks.
2. Then, select all the tracks, first by clicking on the first channel, holding the shift button and clicking the last tracks, and then by clicking Apple (or control) A, and consolidate them by clicking: Edit > Consolidate.
3. Now you should see all your tracks from the same starting point in your project from beginning to end.

Exporting your tracks as wav files

1. To finally export your tracks as wav files,select all of your tracks like in step 2, and  export your   tracks by clicking:  apple+shift+K. That should open the export pop up  window.
2. Make sure to select a destination that you’ll remember at a later point, and click the Export     button.
3. To check you got everything alright, create a new Pro-tools project, drop the exported  files to the new project and play to make sure everything sounds OK.

Zip your wav files and upload

1. Congrats!   Now you have the files exported and ready to be sent to our Studio Pros’ mix engineer.
   Zip the folder of the exported files by holding control+clicking the folder, and then > add to archive (On a PC it’s: right-click on the folder and > add to archive)
2. Upload the zip file to your order.

You are finished!

If you have any questions, call me at 888-571-6878. I’d be happy to answer any questions you may have.  We look forward to mixing your songs.

Learn more about Studio Pros Mixing and Mastering Services

You have 3 options for vocals before we mix your tracks at Studio Pros:
1. Hire one of Studio Pros’ professional vocalists to sing your song.
2. Record your vocals at your home recording studio.
3. Record your vocals at a local recording studio.

If you’re planning recording your vocals at home, or at a local recording studio, here are some tips to get the best quality recordings:

Recording Vocals at Your Home Studio:

A few things to consider when you’re recording at your home studio are the environment you are recording in and the overall acoustic sound of the room you’ve chosen for your tracking room. If the room produces a lot of reflections, you may want to consider treating your room acoustically to absorb the reflections and deaden the sound. Remember that we are always adding our own processing and effects to your vocals.

Singing your tracks dynamically is good, but only up to a certain point. If the volume of your tracks is going from piercing loud to quiet as a mouse, this will make the mixing stage very difficult for the engineer. To get the maximum sound out of your vocals, control your dynamics by paying attention to volume and stepping away from the microphone if you’re singing louder than in quiet sections.

Sound quality is determined by the overall chain of sound which is your microphone, pre-amp, convertor/soundcard, then the recording software you’re using. If any one of these links in the chain is not up to par, you might want to consider taking your tracks into a local studio and have an engineer help you get a quality vocal take.

Recording Your Vocals at a Local Recording Studio:

If you wouldn’t consider yourself a technological wiz and don’t have a home recording studio, don’t worry. Save yourself money and time on home recording equipment and take your productions to a local recording studio to track your vocals for our productions.

When you’re choosing a local studio, make sure you’ve done some background checks on the engineer and facilities you’re about to use. Don’t book studio time without checking out the studio and getting referrals from friends, listening to demos or reading reviews. Get some rates from the studio and make sure it fits in your budget while still delivering a quality result. The average rate you should expect to pay for a vocal session is $50-100/hour.

Once you’ve chosen the engineer and studio to record your vocals, bring in the keyboard preview mp3 from the production as the instrumental backing track to begin recording your vocals. Once your recording is complete, you’ll then export each individual wav file of your vocal adding the 2 bars of clicks as described below.

How Do I Send the Vocal Tracks once they’re finished?

Once you’ve completed recording your vocals, export or bounce each vocal track as an individual mono wav file at 44.1 khz, 24 bit without any processing or effects. You’ll need to copy and paste the 2 bars of clicks from the keyboards preview onto each individual vocal track. Then, archive (zip) all the vocal tracks into one zip file. Log in to view the production order within your account, and upload the file.

To read more about Studio Pros vocalists.

To read more about Studio Pros Full Music Production.

Bennet Henry is the classic example of a talented songwriter who was keeping his songs to himself.  This Pacific Northwest business man is not a musician by profession, but loves music just as much as any other songwriting enthusiast.  He started out working with the Pros last fall by sending us his traditional country melodies a cappella without any instruments.  He had a slew of old crooner sounding songs he’d written on long plane rides, and compiled from various experiences in his daily life.

Studio Pros’ production manager Kati O’Toole heard promise in his melodies, even though his recordings were very rough and encouraged him to move forward with his music and get some guitar tracks to accompany his vocals.  Our talented guitarist Adam Rodeh took Henry’s melodies and created the backing guitar parts to transform his swooning melodies into full sounding songs. 

Having fun getting his ideas transformed into songs, Henry ordered layers of guitars for all of his melodies and eventually posted up his own music website where others could hear his work.  Now Henry shares his music with people across the country, not just his wife!  He’s even completed a full production of his song “Where’s Your Alaska” based off of the Jon Krakauer novel ‘Into The Wild’. 

You can be like Bennet and get your songs recorded. Remember, you don’t have to be a professional musician to get professional quality sounds.  At Studio Pros, we can help meet your goal of getting your songs produced.  Did you ever think you could have professional session players from Los Angeles play on your tracks?  Now you can.   No matter where you live, we can help you.

Send us what you’ve got, and we can help you transform your ideas into fully produced songs.  You may be the next closet songwriter brought into the public eye.

Click here to check out Bennet Henry’s site.

Learn More about Studio Pros music production service.

 Don’t waste time struggling to knock out a midi drum track on your song when you can have our studio drummer come help you!  As many of you may have realized, getting drum tracks recorded may be the most difficult step in getting your album finished.

 Aaron Frisbee, a Kentucky based songwriter, fits the above description to a tee.  He was in the process of recording his album “ReDISCOVERY” and found the drums to be the hardest part to master from his pro recording Studio640 in Louisville.  Frisbee’s songs, simple and lyrical with textures that include organic guitars, pianos, strings, anolog synthesizers and layered vocals were screaming for organic live drums to compliment the sound.

“I found the Studio Pros session drummers after working endlessly to try to sequence drums with a “human” feel. I found working with the pros studio drummer was great.  We talked about the style and approach I had in mind for the album. I sent some songs to give him an idea, a vibe (Beck’s Sea Change meets Abbey Road). Many of the drum ideas were original and the recorded sounds were great. It really made it easy to for me to bring them into the final mix.”
 
Aaron found the pros to be very approachable in the collaboration process of his drum recordings, “I would discuss revisions with the drummer and try different versions until we got it right.  I wanted ReDISCOVERY to have a classic analog sound but with modern touches – it just made sense to record live drums on most of the songs.”
 
Once Aaron had a drum track that he approved and downloaded, he had no problem importing the tracks into his Pro Tools set up from his Louisville, Kentucky home recording studio.  “It was easy. In many cases I would continue to arrange the song even after the drums were cut because we were working with a click. I would also choose my favorite fills and move them around in the song. In the case of “Believe”, I reversed some drum parts for cool transition effects.”

“Drum parts are usually really hard for singer songwriters and getting quality performances and well recorded parts can take a tremendous amount of energy if you don’t work with pros. The problem is most people can’t afford to put together a team (drummer, studio and engineer) to get their drum parts. Studio Pros makes it easy and affordable and their live drum parts definitely raise the bar of the production allowing performing producers like me to focus on one or two input recordings like vocals, guitar and keys when finishing the songs.”
 
So follow Aaron Frisbee’s lead and send your album’s tracks on over to the Pros.  We are here to help you finish your album with a professional touch! 

To buy “reDISCOVERY” go to Aaron’s website: http://www.frisbeemusic.com/

Frisbee will be touring this year as well, so check up on tour dates and locations on his site.

Click here to order Studio Pros drum tracks.

Born in Lanikai, Hawaii and later relocating to Laguna Beach, California, you can hear the sound of the ocean in Murphy’s voice and the influences of his laid back beach lifestyle. Sean got in touch with us at Studio Pros and needed to add a more professional edge to the demo of his latest work of art “Dream To Be”.

First finding out about Studio Pros in a recording magazine, Sean took the plunge and sent out his song to the Pros. The studio musicians layed down the backing tracks to support his Jack Johnson-esque vocals which he recorded at his home studio, “I thought the musicians made very creative yet tasteful choices in keeping with the spirit of the song.”

Collaborating with the Studio Pros production team and studio musicians was Sean’s first try at producing his music online, “I actually was very surprised about how easy this was to do, and how great my music has turned out. It is very efficient in comparison to going to the studio.”

Sean didn’t stop at just letting the studio musicians come in and lay down the instrumental tracks, he also turned to our one and only Racquel Roberts to compliment his laid back melodies with her soothing backing vocals.

Sean is currently working with a New York based record label, and has continued to work with the Studio Pros on more productions. Keep your eye out for Sean in the future, as he has high hopes of hitting the road with his songs and bringing a bit of sunshine to your town.

You can check out more of Sean’s music at: www.myspace.com/seanmurphyguitar

Click here to learn more about Studio Pros music production package.

I’ve collaborated with singer/songwriters and recording artists from around the world and a universal question seems to be “Now What Do I Do?”

If this question has at one time or another crossed your mind, you are not alone. This is a common question that we deal with on a daily basis at Studio Pros.

Writing is not the only thing that goes along with being an artist, but getting a great quality recording is just as important. If you have a hit song, and a bad recording, you aren’t doing yourself any favors. Being a songwriter takes hard work, and we’re here to make it EASIER for you.

It’s important to be confident in your product before you even get to the stage of sending it off to publishing companies . Are you 100% sure your song is finished? Make sure that you are not rushing your recording process and have taken the necessary time to get your project finished. The Pros can help you get a broadcast quality demo to send out to A&R representatives, record labels, and publishing companies. We’re here to help you get your songs forwarded or meet that goal of making that debut album you’ve been putting off for too long.

You need to invest in your product and be confident that it is recorded correctly. As we all would love to record from start-finish ourselves, there comes a point in a songwriter’s life where they have to realize that there sometimes are players out there that bottom line “are just better at it”. If you write a killer song, but aren’t the best guitarist, send it to the Studio Pros session guitarist. You’ll still be involved, but just getting a higher quality sound. There is no shame in this. Even the stars do this.

Instead of being frustrated with the A&R people who aren’t biting at “your song”, think back to the source of the problem. Are the songs as well thought out as they should be? Are you keeping in mind the current market for your work? Are your recordings up to par?

At Studio Pros we keep our ears open to current sounds, and apply them to your songs to bring them an up-to-date twist. We know the songwriting market and keep our ears fresh to the current mixing sounds artists are using. Send us a song you’ve written and try it out for yourself.

Many singer/songwriters have had the satisfying feeling of getting their songs produced at a professional level after using our music production service at Studio Pros. We hope you will be our next success.

Click here to find out more about the Studio Pros music production service.

Adrian Sakashita is a composer who spends his time between Los Angeles and London as well as an online business owner.  This is the perfect case for Studio Pros, as Adrian can manage his projects from all around the world and still be kept in the loop on his production, while not wasting too much time at a studio.

 Studio Pros just recently worked with him on his latest work “Seduction” and filled in the missing pieces of his recordings using our studio musicians, “Studio Pros helps make better music!  I simply couldn’t resist the temptation and dove in head first a few years ago.  Since then, I’ve turned my attention back to composition.”

While Adrian has a home studio set up where he can record, he’s found collaborating with other musicians helps him get the finished missing elements to his music in a professional manner.  “The better results come from collaboration… and it’s more fun.  In the long run you save both time and money!  I consider Studio Pros to be my on-demand musical collaborators,” Adrian says. 

As a keyboardist, it isn’t practical for Adrian to waste time on a bass track or clunking out a midi drum part if he can hire studio musicians to play his trouble instruments.  Though Adrian can invest time and money in getting all of the home gear to accomplish creating midi sounds, why do it if you he can hire a professional studio drummer and save money? “ Real instruments and real musicians are a hard combination to beat.  That’s why I count on the Pros to help me out.”

Along with collaborating with us here at Studio Pros, Adrian took his online project to the next level and documented his step to step project by creating a music blog.  “I thought it would be fun to chronicle a project from start to finish.  I think many people are surprised at how a song develops from usually nothing more than a basic riff.  It was cool way to generate some immediate content for my humble little blog, and will hopefully help answer many of the questions I get after the fact.”

Check out Adrian’s step by step documentation of using Studio Pros: www.fastonkeys.com 

Check out more of Matt’s music at: http://mattryd.com

How did you discover Studio Pros?
I actually saw a small advertisement and was immediately intrigued. I’m a multi-instrumentalist, so I’ve previously recorded all of the different parts on my songs. But I’m also a huge perfectionist, and the “one-man-band” approach led mostly to a lot of stress and unfinished projects that were never deemed “good enough.” The funny thing is that it’s a lot easier for me to be satisfied with recordings of my songs when there are other people playing the backing parts. And the Studio Pros musicians are extremely talented, so I can feel very confident about handing the reins over to them. It’s nice, because it lets me focus on my singing, my guitar part, and especially the overall feel of the song.

Tell us a little bit about yourself:
I was born and raised in the Chicago-land area (first in the suburbs, then finally moved to the city), and I’m really just a midwestern boy at heart – I can’t walk through a door without holding it for someone else, and I’ve got a total Chicago accent. My two favorite things in life are music and books, so it’s only fitting that I’m finishing a degree in English while continuing to write and record music. I absolutely love this city and got a street performer license just for the fun of busking among the amazing architecture.

How long have you been writing songs?
There’s definitely some home videos of me singing made-up songs at the tender young age of “4-ish.” The first song I remember writing happened when I was 9 or 10, and was called “Riding in the Car with the Ryds” — a first-person narration from the point-of-view of two Beanie Babies that my sister had just purchased.

I first started seriously writing songs in high school. At the time, I only played piano, so I wrote a series of pretty sappy and unfortunate piano ballads. Eventually, though, I picked up an acoustic guitar, and that’s been my primary instrument ever since.

What inspires you to write music?
Everything. My life. Other people’s lives. Stories I read. Cheesy reruns of “Gilmore Girls.” Old movies. Just…everything. I write because I can’t not write.

More than anything else, though, other music inspires me to keep creating. I’ll sit and listen to “The Joshua Tree” or “Revolver” or any great album, and as soon as it’s over, I need to pick up a guitar and start playing. Part of it’s competitive: like an “I want to try to make something like that” attitude. But I think that, really, it’s just that listening to music inspires something in all of us – when you hear a song that really touches you, it connects on a deeper level than almost anything else possibly can. And when that happens to me, I want to turn around and put something else out there to do that to others.

Do you perform your music live?
Absolutely! I can be seen all over the Chicago area, playing anywhere from bars to coffee shops to living rooms to street corners. I love all aspects of being a singer/songwriter, but the live performances are what keep me convinced that this is what I was born to do.

Matt’s MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/mattryd

Learn more about Studio Pros music production service.

“British Rock n’ Roll”, as they called it, was a significant change in rock n’ roll that took place in the late 50’s/early 60’s in the UK and later spread around the world. Artists were taking from US rock n’ roll influences and giving it a British edge. This style became the characteristic sound of the Beatles , The Rolling Stones , the Who , Herman’s Hermits, the Dave Clark Five, the Animals, The Kinks , the Small Faces, the Yardbirds, and Donovan among many others. It worked. People obviously liked what was coming out of this new era and it changed the wave of music forever.

When we have an artist’s reference to the overall final sound they are going for, we are happy to help in any way we can to produce their song the way they had in mind. Of course, this is not the only sound that we can achieve with our studio musicians at the Studio Pros recording studio, but an option for those post “British Rock” enthusiasts.

To get that “British sound” we tend to use a lot of compression on our piano tracks, space out the drums (big drum sounds are big in this style) and give the overall mix a dark overall sound with compression.

We’ve just recently done a production with songwriter Finnur Bjarki called “Wake Up Now” in the style of “British Rock”:

Tell us a little bit about your songwriting and what you do with your songs once they are recorded.

“I´ve been writing songs since I was a teenager. I use my acoustic guitar to relax write melodies. Some of the songs just come to me in 5 minutes or so, others need time to develop and mature.”

What made you go for the British rock sound?

“I grew up with U2 in my ears, The Smiths and the British metal. I have always loved the British rock. Maybe because I find a lot of British bands use the conventional instruments more than most bands today so they have this live band element. I like the sound of Keane, Coldplay, Starsailor etc..

The roots are always there and they dont get caught up in the technology to much.”

What are you planning on doing with your songs once they’re all recorded?

We plan to release a new CD by spring and almost all instrumentation is done by Studio Pros. Recording this way is something totally new to me and I had to get used to it. The professionalism is great, it gives me a warm feeling to hear my songs performed and given life this way and this has saved me a lot of time.

To listen to more of Finnur’s work: www.porterhouse.is

To learn more about Studio Pros music production service.

Robert Raede, a recent Studio Pros music production service customer came up with the idea of his Jewish gospel group “SoulAviv” after a trip to the south. “My wife and I went to Memphis, TN and visited a gospel church one Sunday. I looked around at all the excitement and intensity the music was generating and thought ‘why not do this for Jewish music?’”

This was over a year ago that Raede got the idea for Soul Aviv and they’ve been going strong ever since. Based out of Santa Barbara, CA, Soul Aviv has begun touring around all of southern California synagogues, Jewish Community Centers and festivals ever since their start.

“SoulAviv songs focus on spirituality, celebration, and making the world a better place. When you mix that with soul, gospel and world music grooves you get a high energy show that grabs audiences from the opening note.”

Aside from touring, SoulAviv has just finished a slew of productions with Studio Pros.
“I first came across Studio Pros last summer flipping through recording magazine. I’d just finished writing a song I needed demo’d for another project, and had used the Internet before for hiring studio musicians. When I saw the Studio Pro ad, I gave them a call and liked what I heard and decided to try them for one song. It came out great, and so I did 3 or 4 more. Then when it came time to do the SoulAviv CD, it was natural to use the Studio Pros team for that as well.”

Raede is close to Studio Pros’ Los Angeles recording studio headquarters, but hates the drive to LA and has nothing but good things to say about working with studio musicians online, “The Studio Pros are really good about listening to what I’ve sent on the demo, plus the comments I’ve made and coming up with something that really fits my music. Collaborating with online musicians saves me time, gas money and hotel expenses. We’re very happy with the way the recordings came out, and we’ve already licensed 5 of the songs from the new CD to a Sound Library for possible placement in TV or Film. And the CD isn’t even officially released yet.”

Learn more about Studio Pros music production service.