Hey guys! My name is Masaki Murashita. I’m the singer/guitarist of a Phoenix-based Metal band called Hemoptysis (He-mop-ti-sis). First of all, I would like to thank Scott for giving me this awesome opportunity! I’m honored to have my blog on hookinmouth.net!

I will be posting my blogs here, writing tips and advice for my fellow musicians and friends. And for those metalheads who are not in band, you can get some ideas of what it’s like being in a band chasing the dream. Alright, let me start my first blog!

I am going to write about what musicians need to be prepared for before going into the recording studio. Since my band, Hemoptysis, is now in the studio and recording a full-length album, I think it is a good time for me to talk about it. I am also an engineer and Artist Relations Representative for producer Ryan Greene (NOFX, Mr.Big). I’ve seen a lot of issues in studios, so I can give you some basic thoughts for you.

One of the first dreams of every musician would be either playing gigs or recording their material to CD. Though recording is becoming ridiculously cheaper than it was, it is still a lot of money to invest without having the financial support of a record label. For those of you who have never experienced recording in studios, here is some advice for you:

1. Make sure all of you in the band can play in time with the click of a metronome. Practice with a click all the time.
2. Make sure your gear is set up right. Guitarists and bassists: The last thing you want is your guitars to not stay in tune and waste studio time. Remember, studio time is a hell of a lot more expensive than taking your guitar to the shop for set up.Drummers: Replace all your drum heads with new ones before hand to make sure your gear is ready to play and sounding it’s best.
3. Everybody needs to know what he or she is playing. The studio is not a place to write songs unless you have a huge, unlimited budget. Also, you need to be capable of playing different things on the spot, like different fills for drummers, harmonies or different phrases and solos for guitarists and bassists, and so forth. When you have a REAL producer, he or she will most likely suggest some ideas based on their experiences to make your songs unique. You as a player must be able to try some new ideas. It will bring you to the next level as a player.
4. Be objective and open minded. It is really important and really hard to be open minded for some people because, obviously, their song is their baby and sometimes it’s not easy to listen to other people’s opinion. However, everybody’s bottom line is the same, “to create the best product,” so you must be able to step back and listen to your producer or bandmates’ opinion, unless you want to jerk off in your own little world, in which case being in a band and/or having a producer may not be for you.
5. Singers, don’t even try to sing notes you can’t hit in the studio. Sure we have a technology to tune it to the right note, but you must think about what it will sound like live. If you can’t hit that note at the shows, it’s embarrassing and people won’t respect you as much becase they will think you didn’t hit that note on the cd they bought, either.
6. Don’t try to play things out side of your ability. Again, you must be able to nail the part pretty quick, and if you are not comfortable enough playing it yet, don’t try it until you are sure you can knock it out quick. That will save studio time and will make the cd sound more like you and natural sounding instead of sounding pushy and awkward.
7. Relax. It can be really stressful when you make mistakes over and over when you are tracking. However, the more you stress out, the more time you will take to get the part right because you will be holding drum sticks too tight, or pushing your strings too hard, or bending intonation . That will make it sound out of tune or like it doesn’t match with the other tracks. Sometimes it is really hard to be relaxed, especially when you are running out of time, but it is what it is. Just relax and breathe and you’ll be fine.

Those are the some of the things that came straight to my mind. There’s more, obviously, but you may need to work on some of these things if you record in a studio. The important thing is learning what you need to do to get to the next step in your career and become a better player.

~Masaki

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