Most artists record and release albums in order to make an artistic statement, to book gigs, and/or to document the progress of their own music making. The process can take some artists more time than others. I studied briefly with the pianist Paul Bley, who joked that “it only takes an hour to record an album” but most of us spend more time than that. One of the biggest questions—especially for jazz recordings—is how long we want the tracks. Do we want an album of short improvisations or an album with more extended free blowing sections? Do we desire a balance of both?
I have broken down the recording process into simple steps that most of us follow:
Choose Repertoire
Are you playing your own compositions? Are you profiling a particular style or subgenre of music? Is there an overarching theme to the work?
Rehearse the Band
Before rehearsing, it is helpful to create written charts that include chords, melodies, and forms. We also include recordings of past performances or demos we create on our computers with synth instruments and drum loops. It is always a good idea to share all of the project at once (on Google Drive or Dropbox) rather than trickling in materials to everyone bit by bit.
Find a Studio and Book Studio Time
The first thing that would come to mind when choosing a studio is determining whether or not you need a piano. Not all studios have pianos and some that do might or might not have a piano that is suitable for the project.
Other things to consider:
-The size of the studio: Is there enough space for the entire group?
-Does the engineer have expertise recording your style of music?
-Are the microphones and the overall studio sounds reflective of your own musical aesthetic? In other words, if you need a sax mic for a jazz recording, does the studio have a microphone that will provide a distinct, idiomatic jazz sound?
Generally, studios and engineers charge by the hour. Time is money, so go in on time and prepared!
Record
As a leader, it is helpful to go into the studio with a set order of tunes. If you are the artist and you are producing your own work, it is helpful to take notes as you record. An example would be:
Take 1: Tune X — solo order _____
Take 2: Tune X take 2 — solo order _____
Take 3: Tune Y — solo order _____
Take 4: Tune Y take 2 — solo order _____
In a jazz recording session, I generally like to record no more than three takes of a tune. If there is not an acceptable take after three tries, move on to the next tune and come back for a fourth tune later in the day or on the next day.
It is helpful to keep track of the overall timing of the tunes too. Tunes that are six or more minutes tend to not be desirable for radio play, so if you are seeking radio play, try to keep the tunes short!
It is very helpful to keep track of the forms and the order of solos as well. You will not want to have every tune on the record have the same form and solo order.
Choose Takes and Make Edits
After the session, the engineer will generally send a rough mix of the session. A rough mix should provide you a very basic balance of the instruments such that everything can be heard. On occasion the engineer is able to provide a rough mix on the same day of a recording, but we all generally agree that it is helpful to not listen to the music later on the same day after recording it.
When we are choosing takes of tunes, we are listening for the overall group sound so it is easy to only listen to ourselves. We need to be thinking about how good the groove sounds as much as we need to be thinking about the how well the improvised solos are structured.
Sometimes, there are slight errors that need to be fixed. Maybe a horn player needs to record a short phrase again because of a simple mistake on the recording. We generally like to avoid editing too much in jazz, but if there is a 7 minute tune it is possible that a note here or there might need to be repaired.
Mix the Session
In general, to mix the session, we listen to the rough mix of a tune and take notes about what needs a more refined balance. My own preference is to mix everything so all of the instruments can be heard, but also to reference the intensity of the instruments being played. In other words, if the drummer is hitting really hard on a take, I would want the drum mix to reflect the power and intensity. Similarly, if a pianist is feathering the keys, I wouldn’t want the piano sound to be too loud in the mix.
Master the Session
The purpose of mastering is simply to have the recording sound good on a wide variety of platforms and speaker systems—ranging from a cell phone to large monitors. We would not want to release unmastered music because the problems with the sound quality might interfere with the listening of the recording.
Release the Music
Once everything is mixed and mastered, an artist has the choice of trying to pitch it to a record company or self publishing the recording. It is relatively easy for artists to get our music digitally distributed over platforms like Spotify and Apple Music by using services such as Distrokid or Reverbnation. It is easy to upload music to these services and have it released internationally. Bandcamp is a great site to distribute and sell music and is very easy to navigate as well.
My advice with record companies is finding companies that already have a roster of artists that are similar to your style. To be considered, message the representatives and offer downloadable samples of your music for perusal.
In conclusion, I hope that this information is informative for young musicians to understand the full process. There are likely a few details that were left out!