StudioPros

There are a few organizational steps you need to take to clean up your session before sending your files off to our Studio Pros engineer.

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

At Studio Pros, we provide you with professional players, producers and engineers for the production of your songs. When it comes to recording the vocals on your song, it’s your time to shine and sing on tracks that our Los Angeles based studio musicians have laid down for you.

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.

Many songwriters have their own home recording studios and double as the producer, engineer, songwriter, and recording artist.  Most songwriters don’t also fall into the category of “studio drummer”, and that’s where Studio Pros comes in to save the day (or the album you could say). 

 

 Gettin' It Down: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 Everyone: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 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.

The Studio Pros musicians are still shaking the sand out of their flip flops after working on a music production for talented singer/songwriter Sean Murphy.

 

 Dream To Be: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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.

Matt Ryd, a Chicago based singer-songwriterjust recently finished up a 3 song EP with Studio Pros and took a few minutes to let us know the artist behind the song.

 

 Thought Was Wrong [3:44m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 All Would Change [3:12m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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.

Gospel music is something that’s been around for ages. Originating in the south, you can step into any southern Baptist church and hear beautiful choirs singing their hearts out on Sunday mornings. But have you ever heard of Jewish Gospel?

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?’”

 

 SoulAviv: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 

 SoulAviv: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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.

So he lives all the way in Sweden? No big deal. Studio Pros spoke with our favorite Scandinavian songwriter about getting his song produced online.

 

 Let Me Go: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I’m 34 years old with a huge interest for writing music and performing my songs live. I started playing guitar when I was 13 years old and I wrote my first song when I was 23. I play at some local pubs with a friend of mine and sometimes we play with our two acoustic guitars and harmonica at company parties. I live 20 miles from Gothenburg in Sweden and a couple of my songs have been played on the Swedish radio stations here.

What inspired you to write this particular song?

I was playing around with the acoustic guitar and then it just “came to me” as it often does when it comes to write music & lyrics. I have built a small home recording studio where I record my music before I send them out. I’ve been actively involved in music for about five years now as a songwriter. Once I have a good recording of my material I send the songs to different record companies and radio stations.

Do you recommend recording online for other artists? Why?

Absolutely, it’s a great tool to use and it gives you a lot help if you don’t play instruments that well and if you want something really special.  Having the studio musicians come in and take my ideas and form a finished song was unbelievable.   I can say that StudioPros.com helped me in every way with my song and I can’t thank you guys enough for being so professional!

 Learn more about Studio Pros music production service.