The Self-Recording Band

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
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How much does it cost to make a record?

It's kind of like the old question: "How long is a piece of string?" 

These are both questions with no clear answers to them. In the case of making a record we could say: "anywhere between $5000 and $500000" or we can get to an answer that actually helps you if we clarify a few things first:

• What are your goals?
• How much are these goals worth to you?
• Any measurable ROI?
• How many songs?
• How much time do you have?
• Any deadlines?
• Which services do you need?
• What can you do yourself?
• Do you need to buy any gear or instruments?
• How many drum sticks, drum heads, guitar strings, picks and other supplies or tools will you need for the project?
• How about the computer, an online backup tool or hard drive space?
• How good are your songs?
• How good are the takes you've recorded?
• Need any guidance throughout the process?
• Need in-depth coaching or feedback?
• Which deliverables/master formats do you need?
• What's your budget?

Wait, you haven't defined a budget? Or answered all the other questions in detail? This episode is definitely for you! And you're not alone. Many artists don't plan enough, underestimate what the whole process costs or simply haven't defined how much the desired outcome is worth to them or what that desired outcome even is.

Let's jump in to talk money, value and budgeting!

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/56


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Join The Self-Recording Band Academy Waiting List Now:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/academywaitinglist

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

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Join us, as we walk you through the complete, proven, step-by-step system to capture exciting recordings and deliver pro-quality, mix-ready files to your mixing engineer. 

Without the headache, the endless back and forth and without the fear of getting back just another amateur sounding product in the end.

Of course, this can't be done in detail in a single podcast episode, so we give you the breakdown of all the steps that you'll find in our in-depth online course, The Self-Recording Band Academy. 

But don't worry, this is not just a commercial in podcast form, this episode itself is absolutely valuable, of course! We want to give you a framework that you can follow right away after listening to this and of course we can't wait to tell you about the Academy. Because we believe it will help self-recording bands like no other program before. 

Because here's the thing:
In order to make a killer record, you don't need a recording degree or understand all of the science and tech behind recording music. And you don't need tons of money or years of time to spend, either. Experience always helps, of course, but all you really need for now are your songs, your creativity, your ears and the passion to actually put in the work, implement stuff and make it happen.

Join the waiting list now and get the best launch deals as soon as it goes live!

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/55


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

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Many people think of referencing mainly as a mixing tool. But referencing other songs should actually be part of your process right from the start. Even during writing and arranging, proper referencing will make a huge difference.

I say "proper" referencing, because choosing the right reference tracks and using them to your advantage is a skill that needs to be learned and trained.

You want to reference the right songs for specific reasons, without ever trying to perfectly copy something (that will always go wrong, no matter how hard you try).

Listen know and learn when to use reference tracks, what to listen for and how to choose the right songs! We even give you a list of songs we use and explain why we chose these.


For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/54


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

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Many people seem to be confused or unsure when it comes to why, when and how to record doubles. 

• Should you record doubles at all? 
• Throughout the whole song? 
• Only certain parts? 
• One double or more? 
• Can't I just duplicate the main take? 
• What about doubler plugins/effects - is that the same?
• Guitar doubles using the same rig or a different one?
• How do I do it properly? Anything specific to watch out for?

Listen know and learn how to properly record guitar and vocal doubles, so your choruses can be big, your guitars wide and thick and your vocal arrangements as exciting as possible.

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/53


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

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"Have y’all talked in detail about using impulse responses? "

This question came up in our Facebook community (which you should absolutely join) and as we thought about it, we realized...no, we haven't. 

So here we go! This is the episode you've been asking for, as we talk about: 

• what IRs actually are
• what they can and can't do
• why they are becoming a standard for guitar recording
• how they can help you improve your tone
• why they are an amazing productivity, creativity and workflow tool
• how we use them in real world scenarios
• how they enable you to record your real tube amp at home
• other applications, such as rooms, reverbs and creative FX

Please know that this is not a scientifically correct explanation or technical deep dive into what's going on under the hood of convolution reverbs and IR loaders. It's also not a tutorial on how to make IRs, although we touch on that briefly.

We're trying to give you practical advice, share our real world experience from using IRs on actual records and help you get started using IRs yourself. As always, all that matters is what's coming out of the speakers in the end. So please excuse our simplified way of explaining this and take it as hopefully helpful, actionable advice.

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/52


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download Malcom's free 5 Steps To A Successful Music Release Guide here:
yourbandsucksatbusiness.com

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

--
Alright, let's tackle the question of all questions:

Why are you making this record? What's the point of all that?

Have you ever really thought about your goals, what you're actually trying to achieve, when you're going to achieve it and what it will take to achieve it?

If the answer is "no", then this episode is definitely for you. And to be honest, most of us have not put enough thought, planning, strategy and effort into coming up with good goals and actually going after them. Let's face it: We, as musicians and creatives in general, are notorious for being dreamers, or being delusional, or being lazy, or wanting everything but not doing nearly enough to actually achieve it.

And I'm not just talking fame, money, hit records, or becoming a superstar. Whether you want a #1 single, play your first show, release your first record, change the world through the message you put out, express your feelings to people who care, or impress your friends - You'll only achieve whatever you set out to achieve, if you know exactly what you're actually going for and then act on it.

Listen now, as we share a proven goal setting framework along with real-life examples and then ask yourself these questions:

What's the point of making that record? Will you achieve, what you're trying to achieve? When? How? What will it take? Why are you putting so much effort, time and money into this? Or maybe, if you feel like you're not putting enough into it: Should you? Do you have to?

Here's to you and your music goals! You got this!

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/51


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

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You might be saying "I'm doing it all on my own, don't have hard deadlines and I enjoy the process, so why would I need to speed up?"

Well, wouldn't it be great to be able to spend all that time and energy you have working on the creative things that really matter and never again let that moment of inspiration go by without taking advantage of it?

Imagine how focussed you would be and how that would benefit your end result and also the satisfaction you'd get from it! You could be 100% in creator mode, just doing the things necessary to get your art out without having to think about them.

That flow state is what we all are going for when doing creative things. We want to free up as much mental capacity as possible, make intuitive decisions and just go for it.

That's why we made this episode for you. We're sharing a pretty comprehensive list of things we do to speed up our workflow and make creating cool stuff easier for us. Some of it is pretty basic, some things are pretty advanced. Some will save you time and energy directly, some will take a little more work, but will make it easier for you to get to the desired end result.

It's not just about shortcuts, hotkeys, or productivity apps. It goes much deeper than that. And it's definitely not about cutting corners or compromising anything. Not at all. Quite the opposite, actually.

Listen now to supercharge your creativity, speed up the process and discover new approaches to recording your band.

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/50


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download Jesco's 5 Steps To Recording Room Acoustics On A Budget here:
https://www.acousticsinsider.com/selfrecordingband/

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

--

Jesco Lohan is running acousticsinsider.com, an amazing resource on all things studio acoustics. He's got amazing articles, guide, tutorials and online courses on how to measure your room, build absorbers, etc.

Jesco is also:

• a platinum award winning mixer
• a leading expert on studio acoustics, who is well known in the industry and gets invited to speak at events, such as the URM summit, an audio conference, where he got on stage in Las Vegas.
• a studio designer who has designed and built countless studios
• a guest on many podcasts
• an author, who has written articles for magazines and blogs
• a fellow member of one of my mastermind groups, where we meet bi-weekly. This means I get to talk to him a lot and luckily, it was not too hard to convince him to do this for us!  In fact, he was stoked and happy to bring his experience, knowledge and expertise to the show!

Listen to this episode and learn how to make your home studio room(s) work, so that you can capture great sounding source tones, trust what's coming out of your speakers and gain confidence instead of constantly doubting your decisions.

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/49

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

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If you've been listening to this show and implementing all the things we keep talking about here, you've put a lot of effort into creating an amazing piece of art. Now you want people to actually hear it and take notice of you as an artist, right? 

You want to create awareness for your band, you want to build a following and, most importantly, you want to connect with people. Your art, your message, your vibe needs to resonate with your audience and make them feel and experience something.  

And while doing all of that, you want to be authentic, have fun and also not spend your whole day on the internet. After all, you're a band, not a marketing agency! 

There is a way and John McLucas is here to show us how he's doing it! John is a music producer, artist and content creator who is using platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok successfully to help artists, grow his own business, help build other businesses and connect with people around the world on a daily basis. 

He's a perfect example of a modern music creator and he is here to share with us what he has learned and implemented successfully since starting his music journey.

Listen to this episode and learn how to grow your audience, communicate with your fans, deepen the relationship with your followers and present yourself online through valuable content. 

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/48


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Download the free Ultimate 10 Step Guide To Successful DIY-Recording here: https://theselfrecordingband.com/10stepguide

Download the free Frequency Chart / Spectrum Overview (Cheat Sheet) here:
https://theselfrecordingband.com/frequencychart

Join the free Facebook Group ("The Self-Recording Band Community"):
theselfrecordingband.com/community

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Diego Casillas is a killer guitar tech, a very smart person, a really cool dude to hang with and now the first guest on our show! He's worked with bands like Underoath, Chromeo, SmashMouth or Buzzcocks, among many others, as well as with amazing producers, such as Colin Brittain for example. 

He helps bands set up and break down their live rigs and makes sure the right instruments are equipped with the right strings, perfectly set up, in tune and ready to go at all times in the studio.

So Diego really knows a thing or two about setting up guitars in general and also specifically for recording situations. And by the way, if you want to learn more about this after listening to this episode, Diego was kind enough to do an even more in-depth live webinar for my The Self-Recording Band Academy beta testers. I've added that to the course as a free bonus workshop for you and you'll get access to that, as soon as you join the program.

In case you're not familiar with the terms "guitar tech" or "guitar setup": That means setting intonation, setting action, muting techniques, setting relief, calibrating pickups, proper restringing technique, gauge selection, cleaning/repairing guitars, pick selection, tuning stability, etc. All absolutely crucial things if you want to get a great tone and feel.

For this podcast episode we focus on instrument selection, string selection (gauge, material, brand), as well as setting intonation, action and neck relief. And on top of that Diego is throwing in so many stories, insights and knowledge bombs that you'll probably want to listen to this more than once, so you can catch all the little nuggets of wisdom.

For full show notes go to: theselfrecordingband.com/47


If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]

Send us Fan Mail

If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: [email protected]