The Recording Process

The Recording process does happen to have about five parts to it as my research shows. They are: The Musical Idea, the Actual Recording, then Editing, mixing, and Mastering. It s definitely a long process, and takes a while to finish up with it all

1: The Musical Idea is the actual music with the instruments. It is the very first part of trying to record something. If you do not have something that is ready to record then you are wasting your time. As the producer will decide which parts will be recorded and who will play them.

2: Recording: all the music is then played and recorded onto different audio and MIDI systems whether they are hardware or software.

3: Editing: all the sequence of all the music would be edited in a ton of ways. Could be to change the performance or the entire arrangement.

4: Mixing: when all the music is recorded it is sent to a place where the individual tracks are combined to make a multi track recording to finalize the stereo recording

5: Mastering is the last stage of the process. The finished stereo mix is prepared for the cd or a mp3 file overall. Adjusting the sound so that overall recoding is perfect.

The Making of the Band: featuring the Chris Crabb Band

Shaw and Kemper Carter are twin brother’s from Texas going to school at BYU-Idaho. Shaw plays the drums and Kemper sings and plays the guitar. They became friends up here with Christopher Crabb and Clifford. To their surprise they all had one thing in common and that was music. Chris is an incredible singer. He is a mix between Jason Miraz, John Mayor and Michael Buble. Over the winter semester, they all found out that they liked in Rockland apartments, just west of campus. They pulled all their instruments together and started playing. Chris is incredible and can not only sing but he writes music. He created about 15 songs and the boys would practice them and make up their own cords and add special embellishments to the songs to the point where these are good songs let’s start playing publically. They have appeared at Guitars Unplugged, Music Outlet and other venues throughout Eastern Idaho.
They got so good that they bought new instruments and new equipment and started recording to make a cd. A friend of theirs named Brian who is very well off decided he would sponsor them and pay for the recording process. For the past month now the Chris Crabb Band have been recording about 3 times a week for about 6 hours each time to get this CD off and running. They have been recording in the basement of Mike’s Music Shop. I have been to the studio to watch several times and here is a little overview of what goes on:
1) Make a track which is just the baseline which will have the vocals. They are more like sound cues for the rest of the instruments to follow along.
2) Then we have the drums. There are three parts to the drums which all have to be done separately and then placed within the timeline of the song.
3) Then we have the electric guitar. Also keep in mind they have two different guitarist.
4) The acoustic guitar plays in some spots but is not a constant sound throughout each song.
5) There is the keyboard part.
6) A guest singer by the name of Chocolate Train
7) 2 different kinds of Bongo’s are played
8) Then we have the MAIN Singers part
9) Then the backup singers to fill in the rest of the song.
10) And any other little instruments like a xylophone, or a symbol or a bong or a bell etc can be added in at the end.
Once you have all these parts (and mind you this is what you have to do for each song) then all these separate tracks are places within the timeline of the song. They are pieced together and then the boys listened to the music to make sure parts aren’t too fast and too mess. If something is they just re-record it. The editor will them listen and edit the song to make is sound just right for publication.
The Chris Crabb Band’s new CD Shameless will be available to buy before the end of the semester!

How Recording Artists Have Made Records

Most often aspiring bands will get their start by making demo tapes and doing live performances. It's their hope that a record company will pick them up. Demo tapes are usually made in garages where the band members use their own equipment or in places like music stores or studios where for a fee bands can record their songs.

Elvis Presley got his start when he went to Sun Records studio in Memphis wanting to record a couple Gospel songs for his mother. Producer Sam Philips liked his sound and had him record a song in the new rockabilly style. The record played well and Elvis was eventually signed to the major label RCA where he stayed tell his death. Johnny Cash also got his start with Sun Records shortly after Elvis did. He was much more proactive about it. He was turned down a couple times so he waited on the curb outside of Sun Records waiting for Sam Philips to show up. Philips listened to a couple Gospel songs and then recorded Cash singing Cry, Cry, Cry. Cash also released several records with Sun until signing on with major label Columbia where he stayed for most of his career.

Bands are also have been known to release albums on their own. The band Everclear recorded their first album Sound of Noise on $400 in a basement. The distribution of the album wasn't great but it was enough for Capital records to notice them and sign them on. Nirvana likewise recorded their debut on $606 but their's was done in a studio and before being likewise signed on they distributed 30,000 copies of the album. John Mayer released an independant album that got some radio play and unlike Everclear and Nirvana actually had singles from his release released and distributed by his major record label. Country music artist Alan Jackson played for his producer several tapes of songs he had written which were rerecorded and released until Jackson fifth album.

In more recent years the internet has played a part as well. Bands can distribute their work via Myspace, iTunes or other providers. The band Radiohead credits the filesharer service Napster with its success. Whatever the case has been in the history of popular recorded music it has remained that an artist much sacrifice on their own to have a record. It takes a record company that has the recording and distributing capabilities to make the artist popular and commercially succesful.

Guitars Uplugged Gig: A Night in Paris

Inspirational! The crowd went wild~Fans were screaming and holding up signs saying "We love the Chris Crabb Band and I'm craving Crab." They were fantastic!

A instrumental song clip!

Here is a glipse at the new up coming band in Rexburg, Idaho called The Chris Crabb Band! Enjoy! Listen Here.