ABSTRACT
Preproduction for the band or artist includes picking the songs for the studio session, working on the songs, evaluating and working out tempos, instrument repair and maintenance, rehearsing, recording rehearsals or live shows, discussion of overdubs and mixing, and anything you do before the actual recording takes place. Setup involves tuning drums, addressing isolation issues, picking mics, preparing headphone mixes, starting track sheets or templates, labeling the console, tracks or inputs, getting levels, and other miscellaneous duties needed before actually pressing the record button. Basic or rhythm tracks involve recording the "bed" of a song. Think of basic tracks as the initial stage of building a house. Overdubs take place after a solid basic track has been recorded. This is the stage where audio engineers begin to layer a song with additional instruments not played during the initial basic tracking.
