Productivity can be a huge issue when it comes to home studio recording – particularly because the advantages of recording at home can all too often become disadvantages, as well. The freedom afforded to record whenever you want also brings the freedom to take as many breaks as you want to, or take care of other things around the house. And these digressions can quickly derail any recording project.
In part one of our productivity series , we wrote about tips to getting the right home recording setup to improve your productivity. Here in part two, we want to focus on improving the recording process itself.
Make Specific Time in Your Schedule for Recording (and Stick to It!)
This is perhaps the simplest advice for home recording engineers, but also tends to be the hardest to follow. However, the reality of recording at home is that there is always something else that you could be doing, so you have to make recording a priority.
Carve out a block of time in your schedule for recording, and during that time do nothing but record. Get the dishes in the dishwasher before you start and leave the phone in the other room. Just as important as finding a time to record is making sure you record continuously during that time.
Keep Your Writing, Recording and Mixing Processes Separate
This also proves to be a big problem, as many recording at home are recording by themselves, which means writing, playing, recording and mixing everything. But when these things overlap, they can quickly become a drain on your time. For example, if you’ve got the basic tracks of a song recorded, going back in to add a simple keyboard part can turn into hours of writing a part you’re happy with.
Mixing during recording can have similar results, as maybe a quick EQ tweak on the first track you recorded turns into a lost hour. It’s probably impossible for many (if not most) home recorders to keep all three of these aspects completely separate, and is probably not advisable. However, you should realize that the overlap will likely cost you time in the studio, and you should reasonably separate the three as much as possible to improve productivity.
Make a Schedule for Your Studio Time
This final tip essentially is an extension of the first two: after blocking out a certain day and time for recording, plan in advance what you will work on during that time. After using your studio for a while, you know how long it will take you to set up and tear down your equipment for a session, so be sure to include that in the plan.
For the rest of your schedule, define what you most need to work on and then plan a specific amount of time to do this. Whatever your needs are, make a realistic assessment of the time it will take, and try to stick to it as much as possible. While you don’t want to make your home studio a stress factory – and you certainly don’t want to do anything that will stifle your creativity – you also want to be sure you actually get things done.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
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6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
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