Getting Ready to Record Bed Tracks

I will be heading out to Phase One Studios in Toronto next week to record bed tracks. I have been posting about the process and you can catch up if you wish by looking at the following:

Selecting a Recording Studio

Preproduction Work

Major Phases of Recording

Phase One Studios

Earlier this week, I sent my input list to the studio.

I also confirmed with the artist the song choices, keys, tempos, instrumentation and timing to build up the track sheets. Here is one of the track sheets:

From the track sheets, I build the corresponding Pro Tools session file. I generally spend a day on getting the input list, track sheets and Pro Tools files ready for a session. Trevor and his team have spent considerable time getting the arrangements ready as well as rehearsing the material. We have charts for all of the songs as well as some preproduction recordings that Trevor prepared in his home studio.

My studio book will have the input list, track sheets and charts. I will be maintaining a diary of the session work and I will post more about that next week.

I have asked Trevor to outline the daily goal list for the week and I will prepare a project schedule that helps to keep the sessions on track. I also arranged for the studio to tune the Yamaha Grand Piano.

I will be getting in to the studio early on Monday morning and I will work with the assistant engineer to plot the layout for the musicians and to get everything ready for the players.

I will post regularly on the progress in the studio and hopefully this will provide some insight into what happens during a recording session. To produce a quality recording takes a significant effort.