Marilyn Manson’s right. Making music is akin to magic. But like all great magic tricks, there is so much more to it than meets the eye. There’s an entire process behind its recording and production!
At HD we can deal with the entire production process! With us, you’ll understand the entire creative and technical process that turns musical ideas into a marketable format - ready to be marketed and distributed throughout the world!
Modern computing has taken the recording and production of music to totally new dimensions. Reel-to-reel tape machines have been relegated to connoisseur classics. The digital domain now rules the music production process - simpler, cheaper, quicker and highly flexible.
Digitisation’s constant evolution has spawned virtual synthesis and smaller software programs that need less hard-drive space. Now the potential for sound generation and recording is almost endless. That’s why electronically inspired and produced music has flourished! Suddenly the very idea of what we perceive as music is being redefined.
Whether using traditional, instruments, producing electronic music, or entwining both, the computer revolution means making music is far more accessible. Artists are empowered to shape their destiny with their own hands - at relatively low cost.
You can be your own producer and sound engineer - with constant practice to hone your skills and to develop to a proficient level of competency. Or you can leverage music production’s new cost efficiency and hire the right people to get the job done right.
People who can handle the full production process A to Z - perfectly! People like us!
The people and processes of music production vary from project to project. But there are fundamentals that stay constant - regardless of musical genre or style of production.
A start-to-finish recording project goes from conceptualisation to pre-production, production, mastering and replication.
We can handle it all. But this is what you should be thinking about:
At the start ... Define your project and establish its scope. Think about the style of music you play. Are you a band or a singer-songwriter or vocal group? Do you perform with traditional instruments or rely on electronic programming? Will you need live musicians or backing tracks? What kind of electronic music are you creating? - House, trance, lounge, ambient.
Know your budget. Use your head. Figure out exactly what your requirements are and who you need to get the job done well. Unnecessary manpower on a project usually leads to frustrations - and needlessly pushes up production costs.
At HD we’ll help you focus your thinking and your budget from the start.
When you get going ... Remember that who you are and what you’re recording fundamentally informs the production facilities and people you’ll need. There are no hard and fast rules on what kind of setup to use. There are many ways to make any kind of project work.
At HD we offer you the ideal studio environments for each situation - suiting your needs and budgetary constraints.
We are experts in project conceptualization!
Whatever your scenario, we can execute it with awesome finesse!
The four most prevalent scenarios we work with are:
At HD we can deal with any and all these scenarios - and their every combination!
Once you define your project parameters, you know who and what you need - people and facilities. Putting them all together and setting it all up is where intelligent pre-production comes in.
Proper planning makes for an amazing recording experience - and it saves you tons of time n money too!
At HD we are master craftsmen n women of production. We’ll happily handle your pre-prod - unleashing the perfect people and facilities you require.
That’s the team behind you - the people who’ll create an amazing album or show with you.
Effective, positive collaboration holds the key! The better the team dynamics, the better the final product!
Great interpersonal and communication skills make for a stronger team!
Use people that bring out the best in each other and cooperate easily.
Ensure that your team’s composition is made up of the creative minds you need. It’s no use to get on like a house on fire with someone if their skill’s not appropriate.
An amazing human being who’s skilled in gospel music for example, may not be the perfect musical magician if you’re producing a hip-hop or kwaito album.
Here are the kinds of people involved; and their roles:
This is the “buck stop here” person - overseeing the entire project from beginning to end. A fabulous producer takes total responsibility for the overall sound and the music’s creative direction. And they must be able to coordinate all the personnel of a project - ensuring they work perfectly together.
All of HD’s producers are superbly skilled in all the different components of creating an album or show - knowing precisely how to elicit the best from the entire production team.
These are the studio maestros - operating studio equipment, setting up and positioning microphones, doing all the recording and mixing. Skilled recording engineers can also deal with recording tailor-made backing tracks.
Our recording engineers are exceptional at operating all the different studio processing devices - and they know exactly how to get phenomenal results from the equipment at hand.
They’re the music-makers - highly skilled vocalists and instrumentalists you bring into play or sing in your show or album.
HD offers the best session musicians in the business - ranging from keyboardists to guitarists, drummers, bassists, percussionists, horn players, string players and vocalists.
These are the specialists who electronically program and sequence different elements of music - beats, grooves, melodic lines, chords, sound effects. They use a computer running sequencing software or a stand-alone sequencer. They are experts in synthesisers and samplers - using awesome hardware and software programmes like Cubase, Logic Pro, Reason and Protools.
They’re usually amazing musicians or recording engineers themselves - with an outstanding understanding of theory and often the ability to play an instrument.
Great music programmers can also sequence backing tracks.
HD’s music programmers are some of the best in the biz!
To record a great album you need an awesome recording studio - perfectly appropriate to your needs.
We offer you a host of fabulous choices through our affiliations with top studios!
Together we’ll plot your requirements - and book the right amount of studio time on your behalf. Time is money when recording - and we’ll save you both!
Let HD give you cutting edge recording - with value for time and money throughout!
The production process in-studio is full of fun – but the secret’s in the technical details. Your music lives or dies by how well they’re executed.
Every person and facility we make available to you are world-class - facilitating fabulous recordings every time!
These are the final phases of the recording project process.
Mastering takes the final mix and massages it into the perfect listening format - a highly technical process in a specialist studio that involves an intricate variety of skill and equipment. HD offers you the best mastering studios and experts in the industry!
Replication is where the mastered recording is turned into a marketable product - burnt onto CD/DVD, perfectly packaged and ready to show around and sell at gigs! The replication facilities that we offer are superb at giving you a fantastic final product!
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