Everyone with a passion for music or voiceovers will, at some point, or even in general record some of their pieces in a home environment, rather than a professional recording studio.
Convenience and budget constraints can often make this the only sensible or possible option and that is fine, but if you want a professional finish to your songs or recordings then the only sensible choice is to enter a professional studio to finalise your work.
Of course, wherever possible the whole process would be best served in the hands of a professional studio as there is always someone on hand to offer guidance and the chances are there is a better selection of equipment, but when home recordings are undertaken then a professional studio can still offer an awful lot to give the finished product the gloss it deserves.
The two biggest services offered by professional recording studios when it comes to embellishing your hard work are mastering (more relevant to musicians) and audio editing (for voice artists and podcasts etc.). Nearly all recording studios will offer these services and the difference they can make is quite astonishing. Let’s take a look at what they entail, in turn.
Mastering
The mastering process is the final step of audio post-production. Through this you can balance stereo mix and optimize playback across the full gamut of formats. Most of the best recording studios recommend that it is ideal if you can attend your mastering session in the studio, with the engineer so that you can take part in carving out the sound you have in mind for your project. The procedure itself will be taken care of by the engineer and you will not need the technical knowledge. You will be able to have as much or as little input as you desire but by having you there the engineer is more likely to be able to gauge your tastes and requirements. You may rather place your trust in the expert hands of the engineer, but it will still be preferable for you to be there to be able to offer opinions as the mastering process unwinds. You may also learn some little tips for future recordings. When it comes to the end of the mastering session you should receive a reference CD or some files in WAV format so you can have a good listen on a variety of systems in order to let the engineer know if you need any tweaking to be done. As soon as you give the green light then a final production master can be created.
Audio Editing
If you are one of the many voice artists or you create your own podcasts then you want your recording to stand out. Recording studios (and not exclusively London recording studios ) will benefit from some extremely high end audio editing software, which can vastly out compete the free and budget options you are likely to have at your disposal in a home environment. This can make all the difference to your output.