by Lucinda Davis

Created on: January 04, 2009

Recording in a music studio and making your first CD is an exciting adventure. All you really need to record in a music studio is your songs, your copyright, musicians, and money. We'll assume you've written your songs and have all the music ready to go. If you haven't written your first song you'll want to read my other article on helium about how to write a song. Be sure to copyright your material for your own protection.

If you don't have a band there are plenty of musicians out there looking for work. You can get online and find musicians easily enough. However if you are forming a band it takes chemistry. These are people you'll be spending a lot of time with you need to not only get along but have fun with each other as well. You don't need a band to record your music, you can hire studio musicians. Studio musicians come at quite a cost, so I would suggest first pricing out your studio musicians. Then with knowledge in hand go to your local music store and ask around about good musicians who might be looking for work. Quite often you can hire your local musicians for a much cheaper rate. Some musicians will do it just to be named on your CD or with the promise that they will be your band if your music takes off. Another place to get back up musicians would be to seek out an active band. If you have seen a band perform and you like their sound, you know they are good muscians then you might be able to save as much as 75%. How is this possible? When I was looking for studio musicians prices started out at $100 per hour per musician. If you consider that a band playing a gig for 4 hours is getting about $400 for that night then break that down. If it's a 4 peice band that's about $25 per hour per band member. Some bands only get half that amount.

A professional studio will charge you by the hour as well, but this is all something you can negotiate. Remember that everything is negotiable. You could tell them what your budget is and have them work with you around that. If you have hired musicians that don't know your music then they will need to learn the music before you get them in the studio. You don't want to waste studio time and money. Shop around for a recording studio too. In this day and age there is so much technology out there everyone and their brother can buy equiptment to record in their basement and make a CD on their computer. Very fancy mixing boards can be bought for as little as $2000. When choosing the studio be sure to ask for samples of their work. You will want to hear what they can do.Remember you are the boss this is your project, your investment, treat it that way. Don't let anyone waste your time and dollars.

When you have finished recording your music you will want to mass produce your CD. This can be a big mistake. If you are perfoming in a band and can sell your CDs then you will want to consider how large your audience is and how many you can sell. After all, you don't want to be stuck with a closet full of CDs you can't sell. There are a lot of places that will mass produce your CD for reasonable rates, but to be safe start small. In fact there is a site called cafepress.com that will print individual CDs as needed and ship them to your customer or you. You won't make as big a profit on each CD but you won't have as much money invested in something that you may or may not sell. Also one last word of advice on making a CD. With digital music being so readily available to download you will sell less CDs as long as that is an option. Keep in mind, CDs may become obsolete with technology constantly improving. This is why I say spend small, be frugal about how much you invest overall.

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