In today’s digital age, home recording has become increasingly accessible. Software and hardware are more affordable than ever, leading many musicians to ponder if they should record from the comfort of their own space. While home studios offer convenience, there are compelling reasons why musicians should consider professional recording studios. Let’s dive in.
1. Superior Acoustics:
One of the most significant advantages of professional studios is their tailored acoustics. These spaces are meticulously designed to capture the best sound possible, from soundproofing to minimize external noise to room treatments that enhance sound quality. In comparison, home environments might introduce unwanted echoes, room noise, or a lack of clarity in recordings.
2. High-end Equipment:
Professional studios invest in top-tier microphones, preamps, outboard gear, and monitoring systems that can be prohibitively expensive for the average home studio. This equipment captures recordings with greater fidelity and depth.
3. Experienced Engineers and Producers:
Having a seasoned recording engineer or producer can be transformative. They bring expertise in microphone placement, sound shaping, and can offer guidance on performance. Their trained ears catch nuances that might go unnoticed by less experienced individuals.
4. Focus on Performance:
Recording at home comes with distractions. There’s the potential to get bogged down with technical issues or everyday life interruptions. At a professional studio, musicians can immerse themselves fully in their craft, ensuring the best performance is captured.
5. Collaborative Environment:
Studios often become hubs of creativity, where musicians, producers, and engineers collaborate. This can lead to new ideas, insights, or even fortuitous partnerships that wouldn’t occur in isolation.
6. Post-production Services:
Beyond just recording, professional studios often offer mixing and mastering services. These critical steps ensure that the final product is polished, balanced, and ready for distribution.
7. Time Efficiency:
With all resources in one place and experts at the helm, the recording process can be more streamlined and efficient in a professional studio. What might take days to troubleshoot at home could be resolved in minutes in a well-equipped studio.
8. Credibility and Networking:
Being associated with a renowned studio can add credibility to a musician’s portfolio. It also provides opportunities to network with industry professionals who frequent these studios.
9. Inspiration:
There’s something to be said about the vibe of a professional studio – the history, the artists who’ve recorded there, and the ambiance can be deeply inspiring and elevate a musician’s recording experience.
10. Investment in One’s Career:
Opting for a professional studio signals a commitment to producing the best work possible. It’s an investment in one’s career, showing fans, fellow musicians, and record labels that you take your craft seriously.
Conclusion:
While home studios certainly have their place, especially for demos or early drafts, professional recording studios offer unparalleled advantages for serious musicians. The combination of top-notch equipment, expertise, and an environment tailored for music production ensures that artists walk away with the best version of their work. For those looking to make a mark in the music industry, a professional studio isn’t just a choice; it’s a pivotal step towards excellence.
Whether you’re a musician, singer, or simply a music enthusiast looking for high-quality backing tracks and music, the internet is a treasure trove of resources. In this guide, we’ll explore various online platforms where you can discover and download backing tracks and music for your creative projects. From free options to paid services, we’ve got you covered.
Description: YouTube is an enormous repository of user-generated content, and you can find countless backing tracks and music covers. Many musicians and producers upload their own tracks or versions of popular songs. Simply use the search bar to look for specific tracks or artists.
Description: Karaoke Version offers a vast collection of backing tracks across various genres. You can purchase and download individual tracks, and they also provide custom backing tracks.
Description: FMA is a platform that hosts a wide range of music, including instrumental tracks and creative commons-licensed material. You can use their search feature to find specific genres or moods.
Description: SoundCloud is a platform where artists and producers share their music. You can find instrumental and remix tracks here. Use the search bar to discover tracks and artists in various genres.
Description: Bandcamp is an excellent platform to discover independent artists and purchase their music. Many artists offer instrumental versions of their songs, making it a great resource for backing tracks.
Description: Jamendo is a platform that hosts music from independent artists and offers a selection of free music downloads, including instrumental tracks.
Description: While Spotify primarily offers music streaming, you can find a variety of instrumental tracks and playlists. Simply search for instrumental versions of songs or browse curated playlists.
Description: Apple Music is another music streaming service that often has instrumental versions of popular songs. Subscribers can access a wide range of tracks and playlists.
Description: These services specialize in providing high-quality backing tracks for various genres and are excellent choices if you’re looking for professional-grade tracks.
Review: BeatStars is one of the largest and most popular beat licensing platforms. It provides a marketplace for producers to sell their beats, making it easy for artists to discover and license high-quality beats. The platform offers a wide range of beats across different genres and styles.
Review: Airbit is known for its user-friendly interface and features that allow producers to customize their storefronts. It offers a broad selection of beats with various licensing options. Artists can search for beats based on genres and moods.
Review: Traktrain is a platform that caters to both producers and artists. It offers a wide range of beats and exclusive licenses. The platform is known for its clean and minimalist design, making it easy to navigate.
Review: SoundClick is a long-standing platform where producers can upload and sell their beats. It offers a vast selection of beats, including free downloads and premium licenses. The site also hosts artist pages, allowing you to connect with potential collaborators.
Review: Beat Brokerz provides a marketplace for producers to sell their beats directly to artists. The platform offers a variety of licensing options, making it easy for artists to find beats that fit their budget and needs.
BeatStars (again, due to its popularity and extensive library)
Review (continued): BeatStars is worth a second mention due to its extensive library and features. It offers a range of licensing options, including lease and exclusive rights. The platform also provides tools for artists to collaborate with producers.
Review: Producers Planet is known for its user-friendly interface and diverse selection of beats. It offers both lease and exclusive licensing options. The site is easy to navigate, and you can quickly find beats based on genre and mood.
Review: Soundee is a relatively new platform that offers high-quality beats and licenses for artists. It’s known for its responsive customer support and user-friendly experience. The site includes a range of genres and styles.
Review: Gemtracks specializes in providing exclusive beats for artists and musicians. It’s a valuable resource if you’re looking for unique and custom beats. The platform also offers stems and trackouts for more control in your music production.
Remember to review the licensing terms and agreements on each platform to ensure they meet your specific needs and budget. Whether you’re an emerging artist or an established musician, these beat licensing sites offer a wide array of beats to enhance your music projects.
Conclusion:
Finding backing tracks and music online has never been easier, thanks to the wealth of resources available on the internet. Whether you’re a musician, singer, or just looking to explore new music, the platforms mentioned above offer a diverse selection of options, from free tracks to professional-grade services. Dive in, explore, and let the music inspire your creativity.
Each piece of the recording studio sums up to one big musical instrument -from the microphone, to the control room of computers and machines, to the facilitating engineer, all the way to the comfy couches in the lounge. Also, let’s not forget the most important part of this musical instrument: you, the creator. At Studio 11, providing the service of a studio session to musicians is a creative process we have optimized through technology, communication, and decades of musically-focused innovation. We’ve witnessed countless Chicago locals, as well as some of the world’s most cherished artists, use the studio at its highest potential. Throughout it all, I can assure one thing: the key to maximizing the musical potential of the recording studio is efficiency. If you’re efficient, you can create more. And if you can create more, your art can impact more people.
Below I’ve compiled a list of tips, insight, and common mistakes to avoid for making the best use of a studio session – from setting up an appointment to walking out the door with an amazing record. Some tips may save you 1 minute, and some may save you 30 minutes.
First, choose a studio with expertise in the music you’re creating.
Do your online research! I regularly meet rappers come to who come to Studio 11 after booking time at facilities with engineers who have no idea how to mix rap music. When this happens, we say welcome home.
When booking studio time, get to know the studio staff.
Believe it or not, even in this fast, modern era of screens and images, speaking to an actual human being on the phone is the best way to book studio time, especially if you have any questions. A brief conversation with professional studio staff will help you get adequately prepared, as well as book the perfect amount of studio time. Schedule your session in advance. Introduce yourself when calling, be ready to discuss what you want to work on, and be ready to make a security deposit. Know what exact dates and times work for you and your team before calling. A good first impression on the phone can go a long way in your musical career.
Arrive on point.
Plan your travels to arrive on time, not early or late. Also, while it may seem obvious, make sure you and your team know exactly where the studio is located. I often see artists arrive on time, but then waste time (or even worse, become interrupted during a good recording) by answering the phone to direct a lost team member.
Make sure your instrumentals are ready for the engineer.
After a friendly welcome, beats are the first thing the studio engineer will ask you for. The most efficient way to provide your beats is using a flash drive or hard drive. Literally, you can enter the studio, hand the drive of beats to the engineer, upon which he or she will load the first beat into Pro Tools, and in as short as 4 minutes you’ll be getting set up behind the mic, ready to rock. If your beats are coming from YouTube, email the links of the beats to the studio before your session. 5 minutes on YouTube finding that “J Cole Type Beat” is 5 minutes less for creating. Moreover, when leasing beats from online beatmakers, its crucial to download the purchased beats immediately. Usually, internet beatmakers provide download links to their beats once a transaction has been made. I’ve been in plenty of studio sessions where clients forward these download links to our email without downloading ahead of time, only to find out that the links have expired or contain a wrong instrumental.
Additionally, if you’re a beatmaker bringing in a tracked-out beat, or even an artist coming in with vocal files recorded elsewhere, always double check that your stems sync up, are in Wav. format (44.1kHz, 24 Bit), and that no files are missing or out of order. Do not come in with a ProTools session or project file. Bringing your computer along to a studio session, just in case, is never a bad idea either.
Ask the studio what resources are available if you plan on integrating live instruments, such as electric guitars.
Be prepared. Trust, but always verify.
If you have a demo track for the song you’re working on, leave it on the back burner.
There’s no such thing as using the studio to make a demo that already sounds bad sound good. Sorry, folks. Parting ways with a demo track can be tough, especially if you’ve listened to it constantly. In reality, if you listen to anything long enough, eventually something that sounds bad can appear to sound good. Using a demo track as a guide when recording or mixing also hinders efficiency, since referencing the demo interrupts more important tasks of the studio session. Ultimately, demo tracks can crystallize ideas and stall the creative, imaginative process. Prepare to re-create and reinvent ideas. One of the greatest assets of the professional recording studio is the ability to create with a fresh slate, alongside an objective engineer who has never heard your song before, therefore acting on instinct from years of experience. Trust that the creatives you hired (and researched before your studio session) will meet your vision without ever needing to hear your demo, or anything for that matter. Similarly, when a mechanic starts working on a vehicle, he or she doesn’t need to know what the problems are. Surely, there are instances where demo tracks are helpful; however, if you do have the condition of “demoitus,” rest assured, the cure is simply entering the studio with an open mind.
Prepare to perform.
Make sure your song lyrics are written down, memorized, or well-defined in your creative mind before stepping up to the mic. Rehearsing ahead of time is imperative. A song full of hot punch lines and riffs may seem well-composed written in a notebook or iPhone notes, but quite the opposite when performed out loud (a microphone will reveal even more kinks). You can write endless punchlines down, but you can’t evaluate their rhythm without rehearsing out loud. Extra, little words which aren’t the rhymes or punchlines are what usually throw things off. Written lyrics also don’t account for the need to take a breath! So, rehearse loudly and fully, again and again, until you truly know the best, most consistent way of performing your song.
Perform with passion.
Perform as if its your last chance to ever record. Perform with every part of your body. Use your chest and diaphragm. Say it like you mean it. Get emotional.
The best artists in the world are shockingly passionate when performing in the studio. Hands down, your performance is the most important part of a studio session. An inadequate performance can’t be fixed when mixing, so take your time to execute at your highest potential. If you want to sound like Kendrick Lamar, perform like Kendrick Lamar. There’s no such thing as a Kendrick Lamar button when mixing. Furthermore, if you want feedback from the engineer, or someone else in the room, ask away. By the same token, if someone is giving a distracting opinion, tell him or her to be quiet – or to leave the studio. Dim the booth lights if this makes you feel creative. Have the engineer put autotune or reverb in your headphones if it brings out a better performance. Make the studio your sanctuary when recording – not only for comfort, but also as a means for stepping out of your comfort zone when performing.
Know your Ps and Qs when in the booth.
When tracking vocals, familiarity with studio lingo such as stacking, in-outs, punching in ,or ad-libs allows for a better flow in the recording process. Your engineer will be happy to explain what these aesthetics are, however becoming familiar with them in advance saves time. Think ahead about the building blocks of vocals you want to make up your record. I/e – do you want background vocals in your chorus, or do you prefer to not have them?
A microphone is also a sensitive musical instrument, making mic technique an invaluable thing to consider. Closer proximity to the mic will have a different sound than performing a step back. If you’re performing at a relatively constant volume, and are about to get really loud, simply back up on the mic to avoid distorting and having to record another take. Rapping toward the phone you’re reading lyrics off of, rather then aiming your voice at the mic, never sounds good, either. The same goes for turning your head back and forth too much. The pretty, pristine, high-end microphones found in professional studios will highlight poor performance qualities as much as the good ones. Great mic technique is another trait among the best artists in the world.
Also, a side note for headphones: cover both ears because the mic will pick up and record music from the phones. When all is done, headphones are rested on the music stand and never on top of the microphone.
When your engineer is mixing, provide input at the right moments.
The moment you finish recording vocals is an excellent time to pop a bottle and take shots with friends – only away from the control room where the engineer is working. The quieter an environment you give your engineer, the better your record will sound. By no means am I saying festivities shouldn’t happen in the studio – they absolutely should; however, keep in mind, mixing and mastering is a task requiring lots of focus and tranquility. If you do have specific, imperative requests for your record, that’s totally cool, welcomed, and expected – but first give the engineer a few minutes after recording to do his or her thing. I promise you, your record will not embark in any sort of wrong direction during this short period of studio time. Patience is necessary for efficiency. Certain aspects of a sound or mix may take a few minutes to become fully developed or understood, so making a premature critique of the sound could be distracting to the engineer, and ultimately unnecessary. Of course, feedback during mixing is very important for creativity in the studio; however, we also must be sensitive about when and when not to speak up. The idea is to be involved without helicopter-parenting the record. Yet, I will say, if you happen to hear a word or line that’s mispronounced, such that you will be unable to sleep at night, please speak up immediately to get back in the booth.
When the mix is finished, the engineer will bounce or export the song, giving you a chance to hear the final product start to finish on the glorious studio speakers. If there are changes, or sections you want to specifically listen to, let your engineer know before he or she bounces your song.
Be prepared to receive, store and share your music.
At the end of a studio session, you should expect to receive a final product of your song in the form of an mp3 and 16 bit Wav file. Your engineer will be able to return your material by copying these files onto a flash drive or hard drive, burning a CD, or via email. Keep the files you receive safe and organized. I highly recommend backing up all files you receive from the studio on some sort of hard drive dedicated to storing your music. Utilizing cloud storage such as dropbox or google drive also is wise. Do not use your email as a storage locker for your music because emails disappear and passwords become forgotten. When the time comes to upload the music online, or to shoot a music video, always use the Wav file, which has substantially better audio quality than an mp3. Soundcloud and YouTube will compress the life out of any mp3. In fact, some streaming services strictly require wav file uploads.
Reflect on, and learn from your studio experience.
One of the best parts of engineering is seeing artists improve every time they use the studio. Each studio session, I witness my clients create with increased style and grace. Like any musical instrument, practice makes perfect.
Hopefully, this article was helpful to any creator interested in taking their art to the next level by booking professional studio time. I, too, once was new artist who had never been to a music studio, slightly nervous, with no idea what to expect. If you’re reading and have more questions, please reach out.
Chicago artists & boarders Bad Luck Kid (@_badluckkid_) and Lord Jaws (@lord_jaws) have been hard at work here at Studio 11 – throughout 2018 and 2019 with mixer Chris Baylaender. The duo recently came through, and each knocked out a fresh single in a late-night studio session: “Pain and Fear” for BLK and “Nobody” for Jaws. Each of the two artists contrast and compliment one another in style and performance, but ultimately the sound is new-wave hip hop, with a touch of authentic guitar. Each has a method (or lack of) to his musical madness.
For one, Bad Luck Kid regularly comes to the studio remarkably rehearsed, which isn’t surprising for the talented singer, who also has a few rap bars in his back pocket. Capturing BLK’s voice is a Townsend Sphere L22 Condenser mic, positioned accordingly for the upward-projecting vocalist – who sings into the sky, full volume, eyes closed. Passion. The kid is actually lucky if you ask me. Additionally, the “Pain and Fear” single features an original acoustic guitar performance by BLK, also tracked at Studio 11, topped off with crisp, hip-hop drums with the help & finesse of producer-rapper Immanuel OD (@odthatnigga) – a deep voiced, comedic Chicago homie also deserving of respect – recently covered by Elevator Mag .
Lord Jaws is next up to bat, except with this artist, its all about the moment and improvisation behind the mic. Jaws has been pretty influential in the realm of expanding the autotune sound we’ve grown to love. By the same token, we’ve also grown accustomed to tuned vocals, so its great Jaws is brining a new texture to the table. There’s a rock star vibe across the board on all his songs, giving engineer Chris an unlimited approach toward creative mixing, whether the autotune sound is spacey and stuck in a black hole, or in your face – on stage, like a rock star, with fuzzy distortion. There’s no hiding any emotion with this up-and-comer. The music is unfiltered and heavy on the heart, which, is really the only way to go about a proper freestlye.
Go big or go home is the motto here when skaters (how everyone met, many years ago) BLK, Jaws, and engineer Chris cook up in the studio . There’s hard evidence that Chicago skateboarders are coming just as strong in the studio as they are at Grant Park Skate Plaza downtown. Surprisingly, this has become an iconic spot for music videos, where heavy hitters like Young Chop have stopped by to chill. Bangers only, at least if you’re in the camp of BLK, Jaws, and Chris B.
Stay in tune for an official release of both singles in the coming days. For now, I’d encourage the Chicago community to feast on an already-released collab by Lord Jaws, Bad Luck Kid, and OD entitled “Right Now,” also recorded and mixed by Chris in the Studio 11 A room. Without question, the music is only accelerating. It mind as well be 2020 already.
These days here in Studio 11, one major misunderstanding we’ve heard from our clients is what exact role a music producer and audio engineer play during a session in the studio. This encompasses everything from the concept, writing and arrangement phase of the song, all the way to the recording, mixing and mastering process of the song. Though the trend amongst newcomers to the music industry lately has been a blending of the audio engineer/music producer job description, it is important to understand the specifics in duties for each profession so you can get the most out of your session in the studio, whether it be with us here at Studio 11 or somewhere else.
Generally, the biggest misunderstanding people usually have is what the music producer does. If we were to ask 10 clients what the producer does exactly, 9 out of 10 would say “Thats the genius who makes the beats!,” to paraphrase correctly. Though this can definitely be part of what a music producer does or is involved in, usually the job of music producer is much more involved in all aspects of creating the final product of the song. Some of the most sought after music producers in the world don’t even make beats, write the music, or for that matter, touch the mixing console or software. Its the advice, knowledge and understanding these people bring to a project that makes them sought after. Jedi warriors they are. Wikipedia defines the music producer as:
A music producer (also known as a record or track producer) overseas and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performer’s music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process. The roles of the producer vary. They may gather musical ideas for the project, collaborate with the artists to select cover tunes or original songs by the artist/group, work with artists and help them to improve their songs, lyrics or arrangements. A producer may also be involved with selecting musicians for accompaniment during recording, co-write music, coach musicians and singers during recording, and even advise the engineer or engineers during the recording, mixing and mastering process.
Also check out the additional article “The Music Producer” written by our in-house engineer Kris Anderson, which touches a little more in depth on the different kind of producers that exist in the music industry.
So with this understanding, the music producer is really the one with the overall responsibility of ensuring that the artist’s vision is transparent in the final product released to the public. From concept to commodity, whatever it takes, the music producer makes it happen. The producer’s role is generally the same over the course of different genres and sub genres of music. Its generally in hip hop, rap and r&b where their title is misconstrued as the person who only makes the beat. This mis-generalization has been in large part shaped by the trend of how hip-hop, rap and r&b are produced, especially over the course of the last 11 years.
In the beginning back in the late 80’s & early 90’s, it was definitely not as easy or affordable to make beats as it is now. Gear for music production was ridiculously expensive and you had to be both musically & technically skilled to use it. Unless you were in a major city, finding the stores to buy the right music production equipment was tough. Studio time, which was the only way to make your music sound good unless you had the gear, technical knowhow and space, took up lengthy time because of the tools used and cost a fortune. Remember, this was back in the day when computers weren’t really used in the studio. Not many people had the access or money for proper equipment or studios. So to be someone who made beats was a rare commodity. Artists’ in the hip hop, rap and r&b genres generally had their own team of people who provided the beat or music for each song. This person was generally referred to as the beat maker. The artist and beat maker would work together to come up with the song while the producer over saw the process, advising in the concept, direction, color of the song and lyrical content. Sometimes, the beat maker and artist or artists would team up to form a musical group like Arrested Development, De La Soul, Digital Underground, Gang Starr, Public Enemy, and Run-DMC, just to name a few.
Urban Beat making at Studio 11
By the early 2000’s, as the power and use of computers increased in music, affordable easy to use beat making software that was competitive to the early standards began to reach the market place. No longer did a person need to spend tens of thousands of dollars on production equipment to just make a beat. They could now make music affordably on their desktop computers in their homes. These ‘In The Box’ or ‘Desktop’ producers began to change the philosophy and approach for artists in the music industry. No longer did an artist have to entertain using beats and music from one single source or person. And no longer did the artist have to spend a lot of money just to get a beat made specifically for them. They could now utilize beats to rap on or music to sing over from multiple sources and beat makers anywhere in the world. In affect, this would dramatically change the role of the beat maker and their involvement in the process of a song’s production.
Now flipping forward to 2018, the beat maker has been granted the magical title of producerOne ‘could’ say that they are the producer because they made the beat. They chose the tempo, the key, the sounds and color of the instruments for the beat. But unless they are involved personally in the project an artist has chosen their beat specifically for, from lyrics to cadence, layering, arrangement and mix, essentially they offer no other relevance to the project. They are just someone who made the beat who has zero opinions or say on the final outcome or direction of the product. So in reality, the beat maker is exactly what that name means, a beat maker. This isn’t a discredit to their service in the project. Without these fine folks and the creativity they bring, todays artists wouldn’t have such the wide selection of instrumentals to chose from. And because of that, not as many people would have the ability or chance to be the recording artist that they maybe could be.
So now that we understand what a music producer and beat maker exactly do, along with the few similarities and major differences between them, who exactly is this audio engineer person that we spoke about earlier and what role do they actually play during the process of making a single or album? Obviously, the engineer is an important person involved during the production process. Just take a look at the credits for any single, album or mix tape. They are almost always credited. So who are they? Once again, we will consult the wise scrolls of Wikipedia for the definition.
An Audio Engineer (also sometimes referred to as the Recording, Mix, or Mastering Engineer) helps to produce a recording or a performance, editing and adjusting sound tracks using equalization and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, and reinforcement of sound. Audio engineers work on the “…technical aspect of recording – the placing of microphones, pre-amps knobs, the setting of levels. The physical recording of any project is done by an engineer …the nuts and bolts” Its a creative hobby and profession where musical instruments and technology are used to produce sound for music, film, radio, television, and video games.
So in a nutshell and for the sake of our discussion about the people involved in the music production process, the audio engineer in this case is the person responsible for every technical aspect of the sound on a music single, mix tape, or album. From the selection of microphones used to record the individual tracks, to the gear and plugins each of those tracks will run through, to the editing and fine tuning of each track, and lastly to how each of those individual tracks sound when balanced together to create the mix, this overall is what defines the audio engineers life. The engineer is probably the least sexy and thankful job title between all the people involved in the production process. These individuals (the engineers that is) usually work long long hours in the studio to capture the perfect amalgamation of performance and sound that defines the artist. In some cases, the engineer is also directed by the producer to help realize a specific color and sound in mind for the artist. Whether this be from recording techniques, to equalization and effects, to mix balance and stereo imaging, the engineer is the one trusted to make it all happen sonically.
In summary, the beat maker, engineer, and producer are all equally important to the production process of a single, mix tape or an album. Each role filled in a specific part of the equation, especially back 15-20 years ago when each of those job titles were a little more separate from each other. These days in our studio, many of our clients come in with beats either leased or purchased from a beat maker. Unfortunately, most of these same clients usually don’t have a producer with them to help guide the project along or to offer the proper advice needed while recording. So in essence, we at Studio 11 take over the role of producer as well as our usual job as the engineer, offering guidance on performance, arrangement, color and anything else the song or project may need to be the best it can be.And I do say, we are quite good at doing it!
