214: DIY Recording VS Pro Studio Production - How Wet Future Made Both Work And What It Really Takes To Make A Great (DIY-)Record

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Episode show notes:

Wet Future return to the podcast to share details about recording their record, "Under the Weather", DIY-style versus hiring a producer and renting a big high-end recording studio to produce their upcoming new material.

They made both methods work very well and on this episode they explain why that is and what went into it. They talk about the pros and cons of each process and also discuss their current hybrid approach that they are looking to refine in the future.

This is an incredibly valuable episode because it makes a few things very clear that many DIY-musicians are not fully aware of:

The importance of pre-production:

Why most professional records get fully recorded and planned out during this demo process before the actual recording session starts and everything gets recorded again.


What it takes to make great records, DIY or not:

Great songs, great performances, lots of practice and preparation, perfectly set up guitars with great intonation, great rooms, etc.


Why making a DIY record still often means hiring professional mixing and mastering engineers:

Production and engineering is hard enough to do yourself. Most artists are simply not capable of also doing the mixing themselves and are therefore much better off focussing on being musicians.

Unless you are putting in the many hours required to learn mixing properly and with professional guidance, your mixes will not sound professional. Period.

That's why bands like Wet Future record themselves, but hire pros for mixing who can also guide them through the self-recording process and therefore get them a better end result.

Their records and their progress as DIY-producers speak for themselves.


The biggest challenge with DIY-productions:

Someone still needs to produce! Can you do that? 

• Can you keep the big picture in mind and stay objective? 
• Can you coach and guide your bandmates to get the best performances out of them?
• Are you capable of capturing great source tones with the final record and full arrangement in mind? 
• Will you do a proper pre-production process before recording "for real"? 
• Are you willing to learn all of that properly? 
• Are you willing to go the extra mile, do whatever it takes and not accept compromises (like a good producer would)?

Let's dive in!

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If you have any questions, feedback, topic ideas or want to suggest a guest, email us at: podcast@theselfrecordingband.com