So You Wanna Record Something?

Welcome to the first ever blog post on channeland.com! A little intro is in order - I'm a record producer in Los Angeles with an independent record label and recording studio that operates out of the Hollywood Production Center in Glendale. I started producing when I was 16 years old, but wasn't aware that I was actually a producer until three years later. People would come and ask me to help them "make a tape" (that's how long ago it was:).

At 19 I was in Nashville (in CCM artist Michael W. Smith's basement studio at his house) with Bryan Lenox mixing a record and Bryan turned to me and said "you should move here and do this". I said "do what?" to which he replied "producing". My next question - "what's producing?"

Needless to say I've learned a lot over the next few decades, getting to record, write, and play live with artists like Shania Twain, Peter Cetera, Israel Houghton, and more recently new artists such as Marcus Kley, Daniel Kairos, Reagan-North, Kota, and Redpearl.

Over the hundreds of projects I've produced / mixed / worked on, I've come across the same conversations with artists, both indie and signed, that have led me to want to start this blog and offer some suggestions to artists looking to record.

Starting with... BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND! Sorry for shouting - but what do you want to do? Record an acoustic vocal song demo to pitch an original to get it cut by another artist? Record several song demos to try and get a publishing deal? Cut a master quality single or album to launch your career? Having a clear objective will help you land on measurable goals, and different objectives will have different approaches.

That decision ends up generating a lot of questions that need answers - What genre? Live or programmed instruments? Both? How much revenue do you estimate you can generate over the next 18 months because of your recording - which will help you set a budget. How will you fund your recording? And the list goes on and on... but the starting point is - what do you want to accomplish with recording your music? Get clear on that question and you are way closer to being where you want to be that lots of artists ever get.

I'll be doing posts specific to different issues that artists face when they start a recording. I've amassed a lot of info on raising money for your project, getting insane bang for buck, how to get heard once you've recorded your music, and a lot more. So follow our blog and best of luck with your career as an artist!