I am excited to announce that in addition to teaching music lessons in New Smyrna Beach and most of Volusia county, Your Place or Mine Music now offers quality digital recording/video services. Although the business serves a specific region in east central Florida, I will post items that hopefully will have a wide appeal to anyone that has an interest in learning to make their music better or take you to a higher level. In any event, for those of you that are considering making your first or maybe second stab at a demo recording you would do well to keep the following tips in mind:

• Make sure everyone knows the date and time of the session.
• Come in with prepared solos, background vocal harmonies, etc. You might have a good day and you won’t need them. Then again, you might NOT.
• Come in with a well rehearsed structure for your songs. Genius does not always strike in the studio.
• Don’t invite all your friends to come by the session. While this may seem like a friendly thing to do at the time, after the one hundredth or so interruption you won’t feel so friendly. Recording is actually a pretty boring process to watch unless you are directly involved. Instead, invite all your friends to the album release party!
• Practice! You’d be surprised how many acts come into the studio obviously unprepared. If you can’t play through the song without making mistakes, then you’re not ready to record yet. Take the time to practice the songs you want to record in the studio thoroughly. This isn’t to say that you can’t be creative in the studio, but it’s a lot cheaper to be creative on your own time.
• Make sure your songs are finished. Going into the studio hoping to finish lyrics or parts on the spot is a recipe for a negative experience. You may be inspired by the pressure, but you’ll inevitably listen back to it later on and think that you could have sang it better, or that you don’t especially like this line or that phrase.
• Record yourselves. It’s very useful to record your practice using a simple tape recorder. The finished product won’t sound very good, but you’ll be able to hear if you’re off time, or off key. It may also make you aware that some parts of your song are dragging, or that other parts could be extended or more developed.
• Tune your instrument. Drummers should put on new heads about 1 week before the session. The snare head should be replaced immediately before the session, and if you’re doing more than one or two songs, consider bringing extra snare heads. Nothing sounds as good on tape as a fresh snare head. Guitarists should put a new set of strings on a few days before the session. Bring extra strings, as you probably will break one or two. Bass players can replace their strings, although new bass strings can be a bit overly metallic. I recommend changing bass strings a week or two before the session.
• Let people know you’ll be busy recording! You don’t want to be called in to work half-way through your session. Everyone involved needs to clear their schedules.
• Have a plan. It’s always better to have fewer songs to finish, and to know precisely which songs you’re trying to get done. Often, once a session gets rolling, it’s easy to just go ahead and track some of the other songs you have. While this isn’t terrible, in my experience these tracks are usually discarded, as they haven’t been thoroughly practiced, and may not even be complete.
• Relax! Recording is fun, and there’s really no pressure. Just be prepared, and you’ll have a smooth, enjoyable session with a great product at the end!

Visit Your Place Or Mine Music for further info or to schedule a session.