I recently witnessed the perfect triangle of recording in action. Last week I was in Nashville Tennessee putting on a recording and mixing workshop and I spent a couple of days hanging out with some friends and stopping in some studio sessions for fun. I was fortunate to find myself sitting in Ocean Way Studios during a strings tracking session for an upcoming Celine Dion album. It was amazing.
Via Neil Cummings Flickr
The Three Key Roles In The Studio
But what was even more interesting was being able to witness the clearly defined roles of the people involved. There was not just one guy running the session, rather there where three people whose jobs were inter connected and critical to the success of the recording. Much like a three legged stool needs all the legs to be solid, the session was dependent on three key people. These roles where the producer, the engineer, and the Pro Tools operator. The perfect triangle of recording.
The producer was the visionary. He had been a part of the entire album creation from initial ideas, to tracking the band, to now. He didn’t push any buttons or even talk to the talent very much. Rather he just listened, bobbed his head with the beat, and gave his seal of approval when things sounded good (which was pretty much the entire session). The engineer was in charge of actually working with the talent, determining what needed to be re-recorded, where to start, what to overdub, etc. He was assisted by the third and final person, the Pro Tools operator. This guy was actually running the tracks, hitting record, tweaking headphone levels, and making sure everything looked good going to “tape.”
The Challenge Of Being All Three
As cool as this system was to watch in person, it only served to remind me of the challenge we home/project studio owners face of having to play all three parts during our recording sessions. We serve as the producer when we have a vision for an album. What style should it be? What instruments should we record? How long should the second chorus be? This is the musical side of you kicking in. Without it, you aren’t creating art.
Then there’s the engineer side of you. The one that understands how to capture good audio. Which mics should you use? Which preamps? How should we mic up the drum kit this time? Does the talent have a good headphone mix? This is the critical side of the coin, without which you’ll get a crappy recording, technically speaking. And then of course we all have to know our DAW and operate it. We can have all the musical vision and engineering wisdom in the world, but without knowing our DAW, we’ll never get anything recorded.
Which One Do You Favor?
A helpful exercise for you might be to assess which role you gravitate to the most. Which one comes most naturally to you? If you find yourself most creative with arrangements, songwriting, and “hearing” the style of a recording before you enter the studio then you’re likely a producer at heart. You’ll need to make sure your engineering and DAW skills are up to par then. If you’re mostly a computer junkie, and you love tweaking your DAW all day long then you might need to work on setting musical vision and brushing up on your engineering skills.
You can see where this is going. In this new landscape of solo recording, if we want to deliver pro sounding tracks like those we listen to all the time, then we have to acknowledge that there is this perfect triangle of recording. You have to think like a producer, engineer, and daw operator in order to cover all of your bases and give your songs the star treatment they deserve!
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My name is Graham Cochrane and I'm the founder of The Recording Revolution, one of the world's most loved audio recording and mixing blogs with over 200,000 readers each month. 
Yeah, I think I’m a good producer and I’ve gotten pretty thrifty with Pro Tools. Mic choice and placement and all that is definitely my lower leg. Dangit. Well at least I’ve found some good sounds with the mics I have.
A couple of years back I recorded a couple of folk songs/lullabies for a young lady. We did two, the first at my place and I worked all three functions myself. I didn’t think much of it as it was the first time I had recorded someone other than myself.
A year or two later we met back up to record a second song, this time in a friend’s home studio. I functioned as producer, he as “tape” op and we shared engineering duties. It is one of the best times I’ve ever had in the studio.
If interested you can read about it here:
http://www.allthingsnewministries.org/blog/2009/01/24/summer-tales/
Doh, I’m only a two-legged stool right now (very little recording experience). No wonder I feel tippy.
Did you get to see Celine at all? Her voice always sounds great.
No, she wasn’t in the building at the time. Just filling out the tracks with strings.
Wow, this really gives me some insight! Definitely gonna be pushing on my Engineering, and ProTools Skills this month!
“Definitely gonna be pushing on my Engineering, and ProTools Skills this month!”
Thanks for the motivation…I’m going to do the same. I’m new to PT, so gotta get up on that.
If you need solid Pro Tools training check out my whole video series on it: http://rethinkprotools.com/
When it comes to working on arrangements, I’m dead in the water. But if I’m called on for my opinion on how something sounds, or when I hear something that might be cool edition, people typically enjoy the ideas.
I’m getting pretty darn good at running cubase too. So now, I think it’s a matter of being able to get the sounds that I hear in my head.. Still pretty tough.
This tips by these 2 gentleman have changed my life forever. I worked at a commercial recording studio for 10 years. I never thought I could do it on my own until I started doing it. This triangle example is the best perspective I have seen in a while. I listen to the podcasts and read these emails every day they come in. Keep it coming.
Glad this helped!
These roles where the producer, the engineer, and the Pro Tools operator. The perfect triangle of recording.”
Now THAT is funny! Like the guy running the computer was a key person! Hit record, jeez…I guess that show how friendly Pro Tools is compared to other DAW’s…. 😉
“In this new landscape of solo recording, if we want to deliver pro sounding tracks like those we listen to all the time, then we have to acknowledge that there is this perfect triangle of recording.”
I will agree that there is a need to wear all the hats, but if you don’t have a good song, no hat will fix it. In the real world in my area it is…
The Song – Must be worth listening to
The Musician(s) – Must be up to playing it properly
The Engineer – Must be able to capture the performance & stay out of the way
Sure, it is not at the Pro level you are describing, but it IS at a level that is attainable to most home recording folks….and is a level that has worked for our “local stars” for years. 😉
Anyway, another good read! Are you planing to do another 31 Days series this year? We have thoroughly enjoyed them!
Yes, a good song MUST come first. I’m simply assuming you guys have only good songs 🙂
No doubt here… I’m strong on the producer side. I know almost at the beginning of a project exactly what I want to hear… Getting there… that’s another story… I’m pretty good on the techie side of the DAW as well, understanding the mechanics of Sonar and pushing the buttons…
It’s the engineering side I need the most help with, methinks. Getting the recording right at the source so I have something I can work with in Sonar.
You lucky bastard 🙂
I’m still working out where am I. I don’t spend a lot of time in any role at the moment. As a musician, I love the creating music, trying to come up with melodies or crazy sound. I wish I could track more (rather than just vocals which I don’t often at the moment). So in the meantime, I lean towards learning my DAW & mixing…lol…..Im encouraged to figure this out, understand each role, and be great which team I wear either hat.
Hi Graham
Great article and an excellent blog. I found you on Youtube and went through all your podcast. Over the years working with my brother we evolved into 2 people who share the triangle. I am more the engineer side and he is more the techie side ( Reaper operator in our case ). We often tell the guys we work with that it is good to have 2 heads in the session working for you. In the old days when we were signed there would be a similar triangle like you described.
In my mind the Daw op is very important as well and it is more than just pressing record. An example is that often my brother via the use of midi or sophisticated wav editing can bring us closer to what we are hearing in our head. My brother is an actual computer programmer so he can dig really deep into the capabilities of the daw and that is why that role is important in my mind. Great work here on your site love reading your wonderful articles and hearing bits of your stuff you get a very clean mix while keeping it sounding authentic to me. Some of the newer commercial records sound perfect but not authentic at all anymore and I think it hurts the music more than it helps because it turns listeners into skeptics more often than not. However I am 40+ years old by todays standards I guess I could be out of sync LOL.
Glad you found my site Alfred! Thanks for the comment.
You forgot a very crucial piece… the intern! I interned in Nashville last summer and had the pleasure of working in Ocean Way a few times. Such an amazing space. The Neve in Room A is ridiculous.
Indeed! I’ve been the intern before. No intern? No coffee. And no coffee? No music!