4. RECORD

Once you've selected a studio and you have your songs performance-ready, arrange a date and time to record. At this stage, it's critical to keep track of your budget and time limits. If you only have enough cash for two hours of recording time, don't exceed two hours. Sounds obvious, but people can lose track of time when consumed in their art/garbage.

And as we alluded to earlier, make sure that you've practiced so much, that you are completely ready to record a perfect set. The less you have to splice, the more you will be able to select which parts you would like to re-record. Listen back to your takes to be sure they sound the way you want them to sound. If you do a take and you know you can do better on the entire piece, re-record it. And don't bother to listen all the way through to a take you know you won't like - it'll waste time and money that could be better spent on beer.

Two important rules of thumb for your recording day:

  1. Warm up/rehearse earlier in the day with your entire band or ensemble. Check out all equipment to ensure that it is working properly, and run through your most difficult pieces to give yourself one more practice session before the "real thing." And bring back-up instruments, in case a guitar string breaks or a xylophone bar snaps.

  2. Arrive early to the studio to set up. This will solve two problems: 1) you will avoid having to set up while you are paying for engineers' services you aren't using at that moment; and 2) if there are any problems with the set-up, you'll know plenty early and you can fix them before the clock starts ticking. These are big money-savers.