(Now at the stage where I’m hammering these out where and when I can)

If you record and produce your own work, I have a piece of advice for you. Unless you know your settings, do not try to set up vocal lines and record on the same day.

I don’t know about you, but I take a lot of time testing out sounds and levels and listening back, but that gets tiring. Performing takes again and again is exhausting in a different way. Putting the two together is stressful.

I am a different person when I produce than when I perform. I don’t think I’m alone there. Knowing that about myself that means that I now don’t schedule recording for one day only.  I schedule a day for setup. That’s my process because I know that 1) I have limited time for recording my voice as opposed to my violin and 2) I am still at the point where I get frustrated with my production settings.

My voice gets tired quicker, and my delivery requires certain elements, so I know that in terms of good takes, I have a few before my mood goes off the boil. And also, when I’m listening back to work, the test takes are brutal and I’m glad I can clear those off without fear and leave it nice and clean for the actual recording day.

This is by myself, of course. I’ve found that while in studio with other people I can keep pushing and pushing until I reach what works. I often prefer having an external person as they can be a second opinion on the best take, which is often different to mine.

I also found that reaching out to people who know more than I do is a good call. Zero buzz is less important than actual levels to work with. Same way it’s better to be under- rather than over-exposed. Below is me recording into the same mic, switching around gain and monitor levels, up and down on each. Those spikes are finger clicks because I got sick of the sound of my own voice.