ensure there is room for both.
The earlier you carve out your
orchestration, the more freely
the track will unfold.
Expressing needs and maintaining
communication: If you
have clear ideas of where you
want your collaborators to go,
express them to avoid unnecessary
back and forth. If you don’t
have clear ideas, give collaborators
the freedom to deliver what
they feel is right and keep an
open mind about the final product.
Follow up with your creative
team and keep in communication.
Music is a social craft and
now more than ever we need to
be checking in on our friends
and bandmates.
TECHNICAL HURDLES
& SOLUTIONS
Harsh vocals, harsh electric guitars,
clipped audio, audio with
background noise, and overly
reverberant source material are
common issues with home recordings.
While there are a lot
of factors that cause these issues,
my focus now will be more
on repairing them and less on
preventing them. With that said,
I suggest readers have a look
through our previous Home Recording
and Microphone Basics
features to help refine the process
of capturing great material
at the source.
When it comes to repairing
a lot of these issues, iZotope
RX is the industry standard.
Particularly useful for removing
background noise, mouth clicks,
and clipped audio, RX is unparalleled
in the variety of tools it
offers. RX 7 is currently on the
market and RX 7 Advanced will
give you a lot of control over the
traffic in the background of your
favourite vocal take or the hum
in your electric guitar track.
Taming harshness is a very
Tools for remote
work…
I’ve found Source-
Connect to be very
reliable. I’ve used it to
co-direct some orchestral
sessions in Europe
as well as some voice
sessions in L.A. and it
has worked really well.
Audiomovers Listento
and Sessionwire look
cool and I’m looking forward
to trying them out
when I get a chance.
Cool remote results…
I’m co-writing some
electronica-dub type
tracks with an Irish
singer based in Vancouver,
and am pretty
excited about the
tracks. We’ve been
tackling the process
in a piecemeal way,
sending each other files
when we get a chance.
I think there’s something
really neat about
receiving takes with absolutely
no preconceptions
as to what you’re
going to get, which is
quite different from the
writing process when
you’re both in the room.
Another thing that’s
surprising with this
project is even though
they’re recorded on
a not-fantastic-quality
headset mic in
her apartment, I’m
quite enjoying the raw
sound of the vocal
takes. I’d never dream
of recording vocals
with a mic like this in
a session, but I have
a sneaking suspicion
there’s something
about these vocals
that just might make it
to the final product!
MARIANA HUTTEN CZAPSKI
Based in Toronto, Mariana Hutten Czapski records,
mixes, and masters in various studios, including Artscape
Daniels Launchpad, where she also works as a
studio technician, and Lacquer Channel for mastering
work. She’s currently preparing to open a studio
of her own. www.mchcmusic.com.
Tools for remote work…
For tracking, Source-Connect Pro. For mixing and
mastering, I use Audiomovers Listento, which is
amazing. The client doesn’t need an account, doesn’t
need to buy anything – you just send the streaming
CANADIAN MUSICIAN 53