audioconfusion

audioconfusion is in east mesa. its housed in a proper 1000sqft stand alone building it was designed from the ground up. the outside is concrete block, each block is filled with sand for extra sound proofing and insulation. inside the walls are all doubled and completely isolated from the other walls in the studio (room with in a room). if ur interested in learning more on the design check out the blog on myspace titled "construction diary"
i can record track by track or live:
track by track is recording the drums first with a "scratch track" (a track that is later discarded) then we record the rest of the instruments separately so u can get complete isolation.
live recording is just like practice. ur in the same room with the drums and guitars. no headphones. the only thing we dont do live is the vocals and maybe some acoustic instruments. u wont believe the separation we can get with the live recording too.
call me with any questions- jalipaz 480-898-9904
here is a list of things u should check off before coming into the studio
1. make sure u know ur song front to back-
if u dont know ur song then ull be wasting studio time figuring it out. we are not interested in squandering hours on basic errors in performance, because that leaves less time for other songs, mixing, etc and as a result you may cheat yourself out of the best possible recording.



2. preproduction is important-
preproduction is when u map out ur songs and figure them out before u come in the studio. its how u want things to sound. like do u want ur voice to sound like a telephone in a certain part of a song, or do u want a wierd tone on the drums at a certain part in a song. many production ideas will surface during the recording. however, any ideas that you have coming in to the studio should be voiced as soon as possible so that we can be prepared and act accordingly.



3. new drum heads are a must-
if u want a nice crisp attack like u hear on drums on todays music u need new drum heads. u should at least get new tom heads. coated heads sound better than clear heads (pin stripes) in the studio. i prefer using evans G2s.
awesome site on how to tune ur drums!! awesome site on how to tune ur drums!!



4. click track-
if u want to play with a click track, find the bpm (beats per minute) of each song and practice with that bpm. if u come into the studio not knowing the bpm of each song, ull tend to make the song faster, and that just turns into a mess.



5. age of guitar strings will affect your sound (bass and 6 string guitars)-
new strings sound brighter, and older strings sound duller. acoustic guitars will generally sound better with new strings. i and many others prefer ELIXIR strings for acoustic guitars. however, changing strings on any guitar will cause possible intonation problems due to the strings adjusting to their new environment. nobody wants to have a recording where the intonation fluctuates. decide on a desired guitar sound and have a goal. it would probably be a good idea to get ur guitar checked out. make sure there isnt a ground problem and that their r no dirty volume knobs. also, u might want to think about getting ur intonaton done. click here to learn how to setup and intonate ur guitars!!!!



6. let us know your goal-
we want be informed of what you want, because that will affect the way we operate. for example, if you want your record to sound like "legacy of brutality" (misfits) we will work in a different manner than if you prefer the polished sounds of "bleed american" (jimmy eat world). furthermore, give us an example, if possible of another band that sound similar to you or that you would like to sound like. this will help us meet your needs.



Summary:
if you are going to record, it is in the best interests of us (as engineers) and you (as artists) to get the best recording possible. as with any endeavor, preparation is possibly the most important phase of a recording. our recording experience includes both prepared and unprepared bands and it is typically the prepared bands that leave with the best product. the simplest explantion of recording is "documenting a performance." as engineers, our job is to get the best sounds possible (through mic placement, eq, etc) in order to affect a great finished product. however, the recording is still going to be a record of your performance (i.e. timing, tightness, etc) so that makes the preparation of the band truly the most important part of a recording. if you know your songs, we will make them sound better than you expect. however, if you stumble through the song, it will be the errors that stand out to the listener. practice practice practice.
cool article on why music today sounds bad