“I Wrote a Song, Now What?”

I have many artists who reach out to me saying they have just written a song and are wanting to come into the studio for a recording session. Many producers will just say yes and take all your money while you are sitting in their studio trying to figure out your song. As much as I love to get paid, there are some things you can do to save you some time and more importantly money…

Often my first question to them is “where are you at in your writing process?” One of the first steps in being prepared for your studio session is having everything you need for a song to be recorded when you step into the studio. The first step on that path is determining where you are at in your process; is it just lyrics and a melody? or do you have a fully fleshed out song with a demo and chord charts to boot.

If your song consists of a melody and lyrics, but you have no chords for it, the first step to take is getting help finding the chords that best fit your song’s melody. The process can take a fair amount of time, and is often the most arduous task of the songwriting process, but it is also the most important part of moving forward to create your perfect recording.

With chords, melody, and lyrics all prepared for your session the next step is determining what kind of instrumentation you are looking for. If the song is rock, country, or folk this process is typically very straight forward with a few decisions that will need to be made as far as exactly what is right for the song. The next step is determining how many of these instruments will be played live by musicians or how many of these instruments will be done with VSTs (virtual instruments). For most other genres the process of determining the exact instrumentation can be a bit more tedious in narrowing down, but is often simpler when it comes to the execution of putting music to DAW.

At Tempus Studio we are prepared to help with each and every step along the way. Whether you have just started the songwriting process and are looking for help in finishing it, or you have a completed song and demo, but just need a space for you and your musicians to record, we have you covered. We also have a catalog of pro/session musicians to hire for your track, just let us know what instruments you are looking for and we will find the perfect musicians for your session.