Watts Update: How To Prepare For Studio Recording Sessions

And How Record Producers Can Use Modern Technology To Advise Their Musicians

Sojourn Music producers Mike Cosper and Neil Robins finalized plans for the first of two new worship albums based on the hymns of Isaac Watts, and wanted a way to prepare all the musicians and vocalists who were invited to the recording sessions.  They could have made lots of calls or tried to schedule a time when everyone could attend a meeting, but recording music is time consuming enough.  So we shot five short vignettes on my trusty Flip Mino video recorder— an intro by Mike (who is also the Sojourn worship arts pastor) and four by Neil, who will be producing the first of these two worship CDs. 

More about producer Neil Robins and his recording studio

I uploaded the videos onto Audio Acrobat.  From there we were able to send them directly from email to all the recording team.  Audio Acrobat files work great with email because they load quickly and look sharp.  It’s also a good platform for publishing audio and video files to all the podcast directories that carry our free podcast, Sojournmusic.com Radio. 

More on our upcoming Isaac Watts project from Pastor Mike Cosper

Check out the videos from our Sojournmusic.com Radio podcast at iTunes and other directories. 

• If you’re a band, producer or a singer-songwriter looking for ideas, you’ll find these videos helpful. 
• If you’re a church wanting to know how we produce our worship albums (in more detail than a songwriter like I could give you) then these videos are for you. 
• And if you’re someone wanting more details about what our new CD will sound like, this will tell you all you need to know.  Be sure to check sojournmusic.com frequently for more video, audio, photographs and articles about the recording process in the weeks to come — or subscribe to the sojournmusic RSS feed so you know you won’t miss a thing.

You’ll hear Mike and Neil speak of “Hi Watts” and “Low Watts” on these videos.  These are our tongue-in-cheek, in-house terms to describe the fact that our first CD (code name “Hi Watts” or “Hi Wattage”) will have a bright, aggressive indie pop sound.  “Low Watts” will feature an acoustic sound with more of an Americana vibe. 

Video 1: Mike Cosper’s Intro:

Video 2: Neil’s Overview: What To Expect When You Come To Record:

Video 3: Details On The Recording Process We Will Use:

Video 4: Recording Prep Advice For Vocalists:

Video 5: Recording Prep Advice For Instrumentalists: