In the early 1980’s there were only two known recording studios established for all musicians who made records in Zimbabwe. These were Shed Recording Studios and Mosi-oa-Tunya Studios whose services were used by the two music giants Gramma Records and Zimbabwe Music Corporation. Later on Records and Tape Promotions, another record label also sought the services of Shed Recording Studios. At the time, these two studios seemed adequate for the whole country.

Lately, there has been a rise in recording studios in the country especially in Harare. Many of these studios are now located in the high density suburbs. With the rise of Zim dancehall as a music genre, there is competition among ghetto youths to record and become something, hence the motive behind the establishment of so many recording studios. Popular studios such as Chill Spot Records, Givenchy Records, Gunhill Studios, Body Slam Records, Hot Property Studios, Levels Studio and many others have given fame to many rising stars.

In the past, if a musician wanted to record his songs, he would have to fork out a large amount of money to the studio beforehand unless he was sponsored by his record company. The ball game has changed now. Most of these popular studios in the ghetto either charge very cheaply or make arrangements with the wannabe artiste for payment at a later stage.

History has shown that where free and less expensive music recording services are rendered, virtually unknown young talented artistes rise into stardom. Harare is currently boasting of hordes of young dancehall artistes like Tocky Vibes, Freeman, Shinsoman , Killer T, Soul Jah Love, Seh Calaz, Ricky Fire,Kinnah, Lady Squanda and others who emerged almost at the same time, after the establishment of Levels Studio in Mbare that helps upcoming artistes.

Of late I have been asked by a number of youngsters who want to know how they can record their songs. They simply want the songs they have written or sung to end up on a CD. I have directed most of them to these studios.

A lot of people wonder why musicians go to recording studios when they can equally record their music on portable cassette recorders at home or on their mobile phones.

While it is a fact that a cassette recorder can record music, it does not have some of the important features that a studio has in order to maintain the quality of the sound being recorded. For instance the digital studio which uses computers can have sixteen, twenty-four or even thirty-six tracks which enables each instrument or voice to be recorded separately on its own track and when the track is played back all the tracks can be heard together.

This way the listener hears the whole band of musicians playing together as if they were at a live show. It is also possible to hear all the instruments or voices separately as they are recorded on separate tracks. Furthermore, adjustments on volume and other sound effects can be made in order to improve or alter the overall sound. This cannot be done on an ordinary cassette recorder or mobile phone.

The mixer or mixing console, usually referred to as ‘the desk’ is another feature found in a professional studio. This performs the duty of mixing or directing all the sounds before they go into the computer or CD for the final mix. Each year, I take a group of music students to Metro Studios or to Gramma Records in order to give them first- hand experience of how recording studios function.

Although there are dozens of home-recording studios now available in the country, most of them are still poorly equipped. Therefore the sound coming out of some of these studios might be compromised. High quality recording studios can be found at places such as Monolio Studios, Diamond Studios, Gramma Records, Mosi-oa-Tunya Studio, Shed Recording Studios, Metro Studios, Gospel Train Studios and Corner Studios. Some have closed down either due to lack of business or due to competition from the ghetto studios.

Recording technique is the process undertaken by the studio producer/ engineer to ensure a successful music production. The first step is recording of the rhythmic section known as ‘tracking’. Tracking is a term generally accepted for the recording of ‘rhythm tracks or creation of instrumentals’. This is the foundation of music recording process; the producer at this point, selects rhythmic ‘patches’ that are available in the digital audio work station (DAW). These patches are sample wave form of rhythmic instruments such as drum kit, snare, hi-hat, toms, cymbals, etc. Thus, the type of genre of music determines the choice of patches to be used for the sampling recording. Some recording studios use percussive patches like maracas, tambourine, congas, etc. These instruments are required to define the rhythmic and harmonic structure of the song.

In what is known as the Klazzique digital recording, all the basic rhythmic tracks are laid down on editor software such as FL Studio, Cubase, Nuendo, Sonar, Cakewalk, Reason, Ableton, etc. After the completion of the tracking section, the producer reviews the ‘rough mixes’ also called stereo reference mixes. These mixes are done quickly without polishing; hence they are called ‘rough’ mix.

Thereafter, the producer calls on the artiste to listen to the beats created and the instruments if they are satisfying, while the producer pays attention on the elements of the beats such as the tempo, key and the arrangement of the beats if they are on target. In the case of Zim dancehall, rhythm is created with bass and drums patches. Several artistes are then called to sing upon this same rhythm. This saves money, but in time becomes monotonous.

The second step is, overdubbing of tracks. This is the process of recording an additional track into the already existing rhythm track. Typical overdubbed instruments include; keyboard, lead guitars, bass guitars, synthesizers, horns strings, etc. The horn and string parts are usually referred to as ‘sweetening’. Many artistes now use keyboards to sweeten their music.

For instance the Korg M1 keyboard has almost all the sounds needed such as synthesisers, horns, strings, etc. The overdubbing stage allows the producers to add the precise sound elements they need to complete the recording process. In this overdubbing section, multiple tracks are created for voices and each track is labelled separately such as lead singer, chorus singer (soprano, alto, tenor and bass).

At this juncture, the wave format of the instrument is transferred to editor software like Cubase, FL Studio, etc, to support vocal recording. Editor software are software programmers that have been created to assist in the production of digitalized music.

They include digital audio effect processor and software sampler.

The third stage is mixing/editing of tracks. Mixing is the process of skilfully blending together the raw musical materials, and combining different recordings of voices or instruments to produce a single song. It also involves the balancing of sound level of the instruments/ voices, fine tuning them with the help of the engineer.

Editing is the process of cutting or removing unwanted sounds that are not needed to enhance good production. During mixing, sound effects are added to create sense of feelings. This involves the use of equalizers, reverberation, delays, auto-tune, echo, compressor, etc.

Mastering is the last stage of recording process. It is the process of adding depth in terms of weight and brightness known as mastering of burner software. This is programmed specifically for the mastering of a musical tape, though it helps to boost and preserve the audio and video quality during recording and mixing of the musical sounds. T-track software is used for mastering.

The software enables the mastering of a record easier and faster to burn. The burner software is used for mass production; thus, helps to duplicate CDs or tapes from the master tape with ease and also saves time. Example of this software is Blaze Media software that converts CD to DVD. Notable software for mastering, apart from the aforementioned, includes Sound Forge, Wave Label, Audio Gold Editor and Adobe Audition.

With all the above literature, you probably now know why recording studios are essential for the popular musician. In Zimbabwe popular artistes such as Charles Charamba, Dr Oliver Mtukudzi, Jah Prayzah and others have acquired their own recording studios.

This development allows the artiste to take his time to record without the pressure of limited hours allowed by the studio owner whose charges range from $25 an hour upwards.

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