Firstly, let me say I love the whole recording experience.
From pre-production (song writing/arranging), to getting a sound in the studio, recording, overdubs, mixing, and finally to post-production ... it can be a roller-coaster ride of ups and downs for even the most emotionless band member!
Post-production though, that has all of the work, but none of the 'fun' of the other phases, for me at least.
Take my current project, an album with +Fox Force 5. Pre-production was done over a number of months, so hard to define exactly what went into that. It's all covers so there's no writing, but rather than make it easier that tends to make it harder work ... only more fun! It's 12 songs re-imagined 'our way'. Terrific fun seeing what you can do with 2012 pop song, or a classic motown number. Like countless other cover albums done by the famous to the complete unknowns, it's a real challenge to capture the essence of a well-known tune and yet make your own mark on it.
Getting a sound in the studio was a dream. I tend to spend a lot of time thinking about the sound of the kit, the cymbals, what snare drums for which track, how to tune, how to set-up, how to play .. the list goes on. I did all that, and more, and on arrival at the studio (+Ten21) I handed each drum over to engineer/producer +Sean Kenny to let him tweak before I set the kit up. Right off the bat the kit sounded tremendous and my selection of DW snare drum all got a showing at one-time or another.
Recording the basic tracks was nay bother. We are all in separate sound-proofed rooms, but obviously we can hear each other on headphones and even watch each other on the closed-circuit TV screens in every booth. A little under two days and the basics for 12 tracks was laid down.
Overdubs took a little longer. All the vocals and backing vocals to re-record, many of the guitars replaced or at least solo's laid down over the top. One or two keyboard parts to add and there were a few bass parts we wanted replacing. I wasn't there for all of the sessions but managed to make most of them. Always fun, and more than once I was a crumpled heap on the vocal booth floor.
Mixing. It's awesome when you start to hear the finished track emerging. I think I managed to make all of the mixing sessions - I just can't get enough of it, regardless of the band.
Post-Production is usually the final tweaks, the tiny details of levelling all the instruments, the perfect amount of echo to a snare drum, the compression and mastering to a stereo mix, and listening to the finished article on a thousand different sound systems so you know how it will sound wherever/whenever it is played. This probably isn't the longest phase, but sometimes - it feels like it. Endless back and forth, last chance to get that backing vocal at exactly the same volume. Does is sound better in the car than the lounge, can we get a balance to work everywhere or just average it so the tracks sound 'ok' on most devices?
In post-production there is very little fist-punching the air with excitement, you don't have the adrenaline of the performance or the fun of churning out that quirky vocal or a belting solo. It's the last mile of a marathon. You've already done 25 miles and suffered all the pain there is to feel, but you still can't stop. You have to pound out that last little bit and make sure you don't stagger or make a mistake when the finish line is in sight.
It's so close and yet .....
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