Recording

The performance needs to be good at the source and recorded in a room with little echo.

If you can’t afford to treat a room, mattresses, thick duvets, thick drapes and curtains can be used instead.

Don’t agonise too much about any particular purchase, what matters is the relationship you build with what you have. Limitations are useful, because workarounds and hacks will give you a little more identity in your sound.

If you want to run large projects with a high number of channels, a computer with a powerful CPU and 8GB+ of ram will help.

An extra screen is handy, because it makes your workflow easier.

Open-back headphones, which don’t shield the wearer from outside noise, provide a better soundstage, so you can more accurately place elements in the mix.

You can view what gear each member of THE KEYPALS uses here.

Depending on who you ask, people will tell you to aim for anywhere between -12dB and -6dB when setting input levels for recording. -10dB tends to be a good compromise.

A common mistake for newbies is that the audio is recorded too loud or too quiet which leaves little headroom when you go to master the track.

Initially play or sing the loudest part from the piece that you’re going to be recording.

It’s common for musicians to play their part louder when the recording actually begins, so always leave some headroom when initially setting levels.

As soon as you finish recording, stop Live with the spacebar or stop button, then save your project, just in case you got the once-in-a-lifetime take. Saving regularly is a good habit to get into.