What does a day in a recording studio look like?
From setup to the sound check, from tracking to overdubs, and why mixing is a separate job: the general order of studio practice.
WyvOne Editör ·
The microphones, cables and the session file on the computer must be ready before the musician walks in. This is how the Beat Kitchen school's recording guide begins: the session template is opened, tracks are named, the headphone send is set up and the microphones are placed. Below is not a particular studio but the general order described in the sources. Every studio works a little differently.
Setup and sound check
According to the guide, tracks are given consistent names during setup. It recommends names that indicate position, such as "near" and "far", rather than "left" and "right". Equipment is also switched on in an order: first the computer and audio sources, then the processors, then the amplifiers, and last the speakers.
Then comes the sound check. If possible, someone stands in for the musician, so that the whole path of the signal, from the microphone to the preamp, then to the computer and the headphones, can be tested without tiring the actual player. For 24-bit recording, the guide recommends setting the preamp gain once and keeping the highest levels between about minus 12 and minus 6 decibels (dBFS), so as not to keep adjusting during recording. In the headphone mix, the metronome is turned down from the start and the band is warned. The musician is asked what they want to hear in their headphones.
Tracking and overdubs
In popular music, the established order since the early 1960s has been to record the rhythm section first, then the solo instruments, and the vocals last. An overdub is recording a new part alongside tracks that were recorded earlier, while listening to them. It is used to complete a missing part, to let a guitarist play both rhythm and solo, or to soften and thicken a vocal by singing it twice. The vocalist usually sings while listening to the existing recording through headphones.
The guide's practical suggestions are these: keep recording running between takes too, because false starts and the conversation between takes can turn out to be useful later. Each take is kept on a separate lane, and the best sections are combined afterwards. Mistakes are not re-entered and corrected unless the artist wants it.
The history of this method is long. Around 1930, Les Paul experimented with layering several sounds, first on discs and then on tape; "How High the Moon", which he made with Mary Ford in 1950, was built with heavy overdubbing and effects such as delay. As magnetic tape and multitrack recording spread, the method became standard. One of the purposes of overdubbing is to make one or two people sound like a bigger group.
Why is mixing a separate job?
At the end of the day, the recording is finished, but the mix is not. Before multitrack recording, all the sources were mixed together at the same time during the performance; a performance with a poor balance or a mistake in it had to be done again from the start. Multitrack recording split the process into three separate stages: recording, overdubbing and mixing. The steps of mixing are, in order, balancing levels, placing sounds left and right, sorting out frequencies, compressing the dynamic range and adding effects such as reverb.
After the mix comes mastering, which is also the job of a separate engineer. Leaving the highest levels of a 24-bit mix between minus 3 and minus 10 dBFS gives the mastering engineer room to work.
Mastering is the last link in this chain: the engineer prepares the finished mix for duplication. They sequence the songs, balance the sound across the album and format the file for the medium it will be released on. For a CD, they prepare track starts and ends, ISRC codes and CD text; for vinyl, it may be necessary to narrow the dynamic range or collapse the bass to mono. So recording day does not aim to finish any of this work; it only makes sure the recording is clean and complete.
As the day ends
The guide also describes how the day closes. Right after the session ends, favourite takes, technical problems and mix ideas are noted down. All the audio files are gathered in the session folder. Two copies are backed up straight away, in two separate places. Before the setup is taken down, isolated samples of the drums and cymbals are also recorded one by one.
So a recording day is not only playing and singing; there is preparation at the start and record-keeping and backing up at the end.
