I love recording. I never thought I would say that, after all the painful hours I've spent listening to my own slightly out-of-tune fiddle tracks or wrestling with mixes that never quite sounded like the real thing. But I do now.

After years of recording my own music and playing backup for other people's albums, I am finally happy to be here in the studio as a producer, using microphones, amplifiers, digital recording and mixing equipment to record music that is authentic, acoustic and rich with feeling.

Our province has some excellent recording studios, run by professionals with good equipment and lots of experience who can provide everything you need to complete the recording of a few songs or a whole album. On the other hand, you may want to record your music yourself, using an integrated digital recording deck or a computer program.

It does help to have a state-of-the-art recorder that transfers sound to digital storage. Although some still prefer the warmth of old tube amplifiers and analog tape, there's nothing that beats digital for clarity and depth. With background noise reduced to the barest whisper, instruments and voices can be combined at a low level, echoing faintly in the distance, or adding subtle shades of nuance to your composition. Nowadays, digital recording equipment is cheap; for a portion of what we used to spend on one album, you can buy your own digital recorder, plus the reference speakers, microphones and cables you will need to complete an unlimited number of projects. And all this in a form so portable you can pack it into the trunk of your sedan and go on the road with it.

The key to successful acoustic recording is to use the best quality microphone available, run the signal through the best pre-amp you can find, and record it directly to digital media, limiting any sources of secondary noise along the way. Sounds simple, but actually it demands the most basic musical skill: listening.

Moving the microphone as much as half-an-inch can make all the difference between sound that is flat and lifeless, harshly annoying or richly evocative. Keep listening, and keep experimenting until you hear something you really like. That has become my rule of thumb in the studio, and it pays off.

Good microphones are generally condenser mics, which require a trickle of phantom power to operate. There are quite a number of good makes and models, from large diaphragm versions like the Rode NT2 or Marshall MX series to similar models made by Shure, AKG, Behringer and other companies, all the way up to high-priced Neumann and Uher studio mics used by professionals. One newcomer in the microphone market is the Blue series, made in Latvia, including the reasonably priced Baby Blue Bottle, which has been receiving raves from other producers. Check on ebay for deals on all of these.

But whatever the microphone, it is only as good as the use you make of it. Do your best to screen out or unplug anything that contributes background noise. You don't need an acoustically dead space to record juicy acoustic tracks. Use the room sound you have, experiment with it, find the sweet spot and then record there. You will be surprised how good it can sound.

In a small digital studio here in Pouch Cove, we have been doing that, and I'm happy to say that Ed Kavanagh's new harp CD Weaving the Wind and our upcoming Atlantic Union release, The Whole Dance will measure up very well to the excellent work being done in fully professional studios by producers like Sandy Morris, Rick Hollett and Jason Whelan, each of whom has an impressive track record of recordings here in St. John's.

Don't hesitate to call on them or on other friends and musicians for advice and assistance. The more ears that hear what you are doing, the more insight you will have into how to make it better.

Just remember this: recording is a balancing act, a never-finished search for the perfect take. You need to pay attention to the musical details (tuning, tempo, rhythm, phrasing, arrangement) yet at the same time, music is really a vehicle for emotion. Your song or instrumental piece should be filled with it. If a particular vocal you have just recorded is technically perfect, but feels flat or dead, do it again, until it moves you.

This balancing act can carry you past the point of exhaustion into the depths of such self-doubt as you may have never known before. One of my favourite descriptions of recording is "giving blood," because of the intense, debilitating nature of the process. I'm fine when I'm behind the mixing board but hand me my instrument and put me in front of the microphone, and I have entered the pressure cooker. Reduces you to jelly.

So why do I love it? Partly, because it is such a great learning process. It teaches you to listen. It teaches you to play more in tune. It makes you question yourself. Partly because music is to be shared, and recording can send your music far and wide to find new ears. Partly because recording is a creative process in its own right. And partly because recording is a business based on creativity.

Yes, it is a business. So if you are planning to make your own recording, think it out carefully. CDs and tapes may only cost between $2 and $3 per unit to manufacture but if recording time or the deck you just purchased cost a few thousand dollars, you will invest as much as five to ten thousand dollars in your CD before you are through. It's either a very expensive hobby, or the beginnings of a new business.

If it is business, then do some planning. Think about artwork, presentation, make sure the basic information on the CD cover is there (not just title and artist, but the length of each song, Canadian content symbol and a clear, simple description of the style of the music), and make all of it easy to read, so that you will have some hope of selling enough copies to pay for your project and move you on to the next one.
Distribution and marketing are a challenge, even for established artists, so remember you will need to spend time getting your recording out, by performing more widely, placing it in stores, and promoting it through the media. If you do all this very well, and the recording merits it, you will sell copies. Not so that you will make a million dollars, but so you can continue to explore recording as a focus for your creativity, a mode of self-expression.

All of this is part of the story, but not the real source of the joy I feel in the studio. The real joy of recording is hidden in the subtleties of sound. Acoustic recording is a search for living sounds that are raw, interesting and meaningful. Finding combinations of instruments that speak in new ways. Rhythms that move the heart. True stories told through music. Those are the real reasons for recording.