Always look for a studio that can accommodate a set of drums in case you need it, so you won't have to record the drums into another studio, who can charge you more. And, with more live rooms, it is easier to record more instruments (like drums and percussion at the same time) and get a better performance on tape. The one and most important thing that all the big guys (producers like Ramone, Kramer, Visconti, Cherney, Afanasieff, Johns, Parsons and so on) agree upon is getting THE PERFORMANCE; and a performance can be achieved mostly when all are playing at the same time, even if some tracks will be redone at a later time or added. A studio that can record 16 tracks simultaneously is a good bet in case you want to have everybody record at the same time.

Extremely important for the performance is a good monitoring system: a multi-cue one, so each player can basically have his own mix and feel comfortable. Even better is a headphone monitoring system which allows the player to control himself what he gets in his headphone. Most of the time, each player wants to hear himself louder in the headphones and that helps him deliver a great performance: this is one of the most important criteria when you choose a studio. Speaking about monitoring, it is not a bad idea if the studio has two sets of different monitors, so the engineer can switch to the second set for a fast mixing check.

During the appointment, make sure you talk to the recording engineer. He is one of the key players for the session; the most impressive equipment will only sound as good as the engineer's ability to use it. You’re paying for him, so make sure he is attentive, willing to help you when you hit roadblocks and does what you want.

The studio equipment is important. Many studios are posting in their web site "Beware of long lists of equipment!"! It should be rather "Beware of long list of crappy equipment!"  What these studios don't tell you is how important is the quality of the mics, preamps and compressors. It is OK to advertise that the engineer experience counts a lot, but if you ask for a high end mic for vocal or acoustic guitar and you're told that they have to rent one, it is only right to assume that the engineer does not have the right experience to get the best quality because he doesn't work regularly with quality equipment!!!  The most common answer when you ask if the studio has some high-end mics about mics is that the studio gets a fantastic sound with an unknown mic brand, as they know really well how to us it. That may be true (rarely tough!), but a good quality studio has to be able to offer you some options so you can try them and see which one provides the best results. And by options - especially for vocals- I mean tube large condensers with Neumann, AKG, Soundelux, Lawson, Brauner, Blue or Manley logos! Please also understand that the performance of a single mic preamp worth double the price of a 16 channels console is beyond comparison with the aforementioned channels! Almost everybody uses a compressor when recording vocals, but there are only two who are really transparent and provide a top quality sound: the Tube Tech CL-1B or LA-2A! The best engineer with the best equipment for the money you can afford- this is what you have to look for.

 Always look for boutique quality and high-end gear. The most important things are the mic's (look for names like Telefunken, Neumann,  Lawson, AKG, AEA, Royer, Earthworks, DPA, Rode, Senheiser, Schoepps, Geffel) mic preamps and EQ's (Martech, Millenia, Massenburg, Pendulum Audio, Vintech, Focusrite Red, Millenia, Pultecs, DBX, Neve, API), digital reverbs like Lexicon or TC Electronics (only the most expensive studios are large enough to have good natural reverberation) and compressors (Tube Tech, La-2A, DBX, Focusrite, Urei 1176, Fairchild, Empirical Lab Distressor and Fatso, etc). Do your homework and write down what the studios have to offer as mics, preamps and compressors, and then do some research, there are many forums, but probably the most useful is www.gearslutz.com (where recording legends like George Massenburg are the moderators).

When it comes to mics, there is something else too: if you're a solo act, a good mic will do it eventually. But for a band, you want to have access to different microphone flavors, because if you overdub everything, even with a premium mic, the final product will sound kind of flat. A good quality studio has to have a good collection of excellent microphones, because each style of music requires a certain sound and, there is one type of mic that fits better than the others an instrument. If you want to record a piano two omnis Earthworks or DPA are the way to go, especially for classical music and jazz. Of course, two Rodes or AT will do the job, but you WILL HEAR THE DIFFERENCE!!! While the most important thing on getting a top quality sound is the artist performance, the studio has to be able to provide the right tools for capturing the sound for every type of music!

Regarding the preamps, make sure the studio has the premium preamps which are used more often for the style of music you are playing. If what you play is classical music, a very transparent preamp like Millenia or Earthworks is desirable; for rock, jazz and R&B Neve, Focusrite Red, Martech, API, Vintech, Great River, Buzz Audio are great options. There should be a reason Millennia is used all over the world almost exclusively for classical/chamber/choir music. Of course, the great preamps are not cheap, they cost thousands of dollars! In your studio search you will be told how great Presonus and ART preamps are; take it with a grain of salt: you can not really compare a 1-2000 dollars 1 channel preamp with an 800 dollar 8 channels preamp! Probably the best bet is to look for a studio that has a couple of great different preamps, so you can take advantage and get the best in different recording situations! Nothing beats API or Focusrite Red for drums; on the other hand, when it comes to record acoustic guitars or warm up a synth a tube preamp like Pendulum, Thermionic or Fearn is the way to go.

Pay attention to the vocal chain- make sure there is a great vocal compressor like LA-2A or a Tube Tech CL-1B, eventually a Cranesong trakker or a Distressor, they do a great job without compromising the voice quality, they have like a magic tough. Look for a great vocal preamps like Martech MSS-10, Neve 1073, Vintech x73i, A-Design P1, Telefunken V72, Hardy; as far as the vocal mic, you want to be able to choose from a selection of great mics, to see which one fits your voice the best and make sure you are given to try at least one high-end tube large condenser.

You can skip this paragraph, it’s going to be a little technical, but it gives you a better understanding of why a mic preamp does a good job. Most of you know that we have to avoid clipping during recording; what is not widely known is that, long before clipping, many preamps exhibit an extreme distortion increase, as they change from Class A to Class AB operation. Therefore, it is very important to have at least 6 dB between the peak level of the music and the clipping point to avoid a harsh sound. The difference between the average level of the sound and the clipping point is known as headroom; the bigger the headroom, the better the sound! The high-end preamps have clipping points as high as 37 dBu (+55 Volts), while the semi-pro and consumer equipment have 20 to 24. In plain English, in order to get a good sound, the preamps have to have very high output devices and high-voltage power supply, which is very expensive; you won’t get that with 100 dollars per channel preamp like ART or Presonus. These cheap preamps are good for the hobbyist recording engineer, but they are to be avoided if you are looking for quality!

An extremely important part of the audio chain are the A/D and D/A converters. If the studio uses tape, that's not relevant, but if the sound is recorded into a computer, the converters are the first thing you want to look at! There are audio cards with converters like Motu, Echo Layla or RME which provide a good and decent sound; but when it comes to a great sound, with extremely reduced artifacts in the process of conversion from analog to digital, look for mastering grade converters- Apogee, Lynx, Prism, Lavry or Mytek. They are extremely expensive compared with the rest, and there is a reason why! These converters provide depth to the sound and they employ very sophisticated jitter reduction technology, in plain English they preserve almost entirely the quality of the sound during the conversion to digital.

Always ask to listen to some music (have some CD's with you) in the same vein with the one you're doing through the studio monitors!! This is very important!!! The monitors are used to judge the tracks, the mixing and the mastering. If they're low quality, there may be a problem! The studio engineer may be used to them but you may be asked to make some decisions, to accept or redo some tracks, and you may not be able to have an objective opinion! It definitely helps if the studio has 2 or 3 sets of monitors of different makes and sizes, so you can check through all of them! Also, the room response is very important! Always look for an acoustically treated studio: the influence over the sound and the quality of the mix and mastering is tremendous!!! A tip: ask the engineer to let you listen while sitting in his chair. While you listen, switch to mono and back to stereo: when in stereo, the sound has to come only from the speakers, it has to have a good projection; when in mono, it has to be like right in front of you, one to two feet in front of your nose! And when you move away from the engineer seat, it should change but not dramatically! Make sure you listen to normal levels, do not listen LOUD! I can not stress enough the importance of the room acoustics for mixing and mastering!

Nowadays, most release-quality recordings include the use of hard disk recording and editing systems like ProTools, Nuendo/Cubase, Sequoia. Few people know that in a tape-based studio (analog or digital) at least 20% of the time is spent waiting for the tapes to be rewound after every punch-in; this is not a problem in a random-access recording system like those mentioned above. One thing to look for- the plugins employed! It does make a HUGE difference if you see the UAD or Powercore DSP cards with the top plugins in the business (Neve suite, LA-2A, 1176LN, Plate 140, Fairchild, Classic verb, Precision EQ, Cambridge EQ,etc) or plugins like Waves and Sony Oxford! Also, make sure the studio use good software for voice editing- Melodyne (eventually Antares, but it does not provide a real natural sound). Drums are usually a problem, sometimes they need to be edited, and a great tool is Drumagog - which allow to replace an improperly recorded drum sound with another one!

The quality these systems provide is quite impressive: today's standard is 24bit resolution (even though the final product- the CD - is only 16 bit resolution) for the audio card - and 32/48 bit resolution for the sound processing. The most important thing is the chain of the signal until it gets in the computer. In plain English, very good mic's, excellent mic preamps (look for tubes so it warms the sound up - let's not forget that once the sound is recorded it is handled digitally and it is not going to be warmed up again), good compressors and digital reverb units.