Resources

Many of your basic questions about recording are answered in my articles for The Contemporary A Cappella Society (CASA), for which I also serve as Secretary. Check out their site at http://www.casa.org and click the "News and Blogs" heading, then pull over to "Recording - Bill Hare" under "Blogs".

Years of A Cappella wisdom is stored in the archives of the Community Forums of RARB and CASA as well.

For those who really want to learn the nuts and bolts in an intensive "hands-on" situation, Deke Sharon and I give a seminar called "Soup To Nuts" twice a year - click here for more info!


FAQ (always under construction - I'll add any good questions that I am
asked in the future as well!)

What do I need to send you for mixing?

How can I best organize the files for you so I save the most time and money?

How do I get the files to you?

Can I FTP my files to you?

How can I give input on a mix that is happening thousands of miles from where I live?

What kind of Espresso machine do you have?

How do I make a good cue track to record against?


Answers

What do I need to send you for mixing?
 
Either Pro Tools sessions, or (if not Pro Tools) consolidated wav or aif files all starting from the beginning of the session (i.e. if there is one extra alto part that happens 2 minutes into the song, that file should be the same length as the others - 2 minutes of blank space, the little part, then blank to the end of the song.)

Include a tempo map (usually built-in for Pro Tools sessions) by sending along the original MIDI file you recorded with.  If it wasn't done with a MIDI file, then indicate tempo and tempo/meter change info.

If a cover song, include a copy of the original version as either wav, mp3 or m4a.  Make sure the file isn't copy protected through iTunes, etc.

If the sheet music is available as a pdf file, include that as well.

Clean out all unneeded material, playlists, etc from your session. Sometimes I'll get sessions as large as 8GB, but less than 1GB of that info is actually used.  If you don't know how to do this, ask someone who knows how or read the manual!

How can I best organize the files for you so I save the most time and money?

Name files and tracks clearly, using voice parts if possible.  Tenor 2b will mean more to me than "Joe".

Keep similar tracks together (or name non-Pro Tools tracks so that they will group together alphabetically or numerically.)  I spend a lot of time just trying to find stuff in sessions where 2 people are singing the same part 20 channels apart from each other.

When people split into other parts (such as a tenor alternating between T2 and T1) Split up his channels so that his T1 parts are with the other T1s, and his T2 parts are with the other T2s.  More channels with parts organized is much easier to deal with than less channels and parts changing all the time.

Don't wait until the morning you are booked to send me your session!  I know there is a lot of last minute stuff to do, but give yourself a deadline of a week or so before the actual mix session to finish all of your work, burn it to a (Mac compatible) DVD, and send it off to me. This way I can check the files ahead of time and make sure they are readable and complete.  If they aren't, then you'll have time to fix the problem on your end, rather than pay me for unproductive time tracking down lost files or trying to pry open an unreadable disc!  This happens a lot more often than you would think - there is a lot that can go wrong without you knowing it, and we only discover it when the clock starts ticking!

Put channels in this order, if possible:

Kick (aka bass) Drum
Snare
High Hats
Tom Fills
Cymbal crashes/rides
other percussion (hand claps, shakers, etc)
Basses (or whatever your bottom vocal part is)
Tenors
Altos
Sopranos
Solo(s)
Harmonies and auxiliary parts

For non-Pro Tools channels, you can keep tracks in order by starting with a number:

1 kick.wav
2 snare.wav
...
42 alto 1c
...
61 Lead Vocal

etc, etc.

One reason that files can be missing from a Pro Tools session is that sometimes audio gets linked to another folder or hard drive - there are many reasons this can happen, usually due to operator oversight.  The best way to (almost) guarantee that all your files are in the audio folder is to do the "copy session in..." command in Pro Tools:  With the session open, pull down under "file" to "copy session in..." and make a copy of the session which includes all audio and fade files.  This will copy audio from where the individual files live and place them all into one folder, which can then more safely be cleaned out (see above) and put on DVD, leaving your original session untouched.


How do I get the files to you?

Put sessions or files on DVD (or CDR if the sessions are small enough), or (if you have a ton of data) a hard drive if formatted so that it can be read by a Mac. Send these to me via FedEx or UPS.  Trackable packages are preferred, because then we can know ahead of time if we might need to change a schedule, etc.  Make sure to check the "no signature required" box in case I'm not here to receive the package (it will be safe left at my door.)

If we have a big buffer of time before the scheduled session, you can also send media via regular snail-mail.

The address for all media, correspondence, and holiday cards is:

Bill Hare
4001 Calaveras Road
Milpitas, CA 95035-7202

Can I FTP my files to you?

Under emergency conditions, yes, but my Internet situation (due to the infrastructure of where I live, not my unwillingness to have as high a speed as possible) doesn't allow me to move large amounts of data.  I need to drive into town with my laptop computer, which takes time out of my day, which you would be charged for.  Much cheaper to send via hard delivery, though as I said, electronic delivery IS possible, just expensive.

How can I give input on a mix that is happening thousands of miles from where I live?

While you are always welcome to come to the studio and sit here while I mix, I know that it's not always practical to do so.  In those cases (which is actually the norm rather than the exception these days) we will do the mixes in a series of "drafts".  I will get an idea from you the sort of things you want (or don't want) as part of your mix, and also use my decades of experience to help create the best mix and character for the song, arrangement, performance level, and voices.  A few hours later, I will put this file in a hidden area of my website unique to your project.  You can listen to it there and start making comments, as well as send your group members and anyone else there whose opinions you would want.  I also will get some unbiased opinions from a trusted circle of some of the best A Cappella experts out there, as well as general A Cappella fans who will listen with a different perspective than those of us who are paying attention to minute details - sometimes missing the forest for the trees!

After collecting and assessing this data, we can do subsequent drafts if necessary and refine the mix, getting opinion on each draft to make sure we are going in a positive direction.

What kind of Espresso machine do you have?

A Nespresso D290

How do I make a good cue track to record against?

Go here:  http://www.dyz.com/cuetracks/