The art to recording

For some reason, we can play like rock stars in our living rooms but put a microphone in front of us and some recording equipment in back and we fold. It can be a bit stressful knowing that if you make a mistake, one tiny mistake, it's being recorded. And for some reason, that's scary.

Here are a few tips to follow before you head into the studio:

1. Practice recording. My husband makes fun of me because my home recording devise is, yup, you guessed it, a tape recorder. But boy does it come in handy when learning tunes. I find it very helpful to record myself sometimes so I can hear what other people hear when listening to me. It's amazing what you'll learn about your playing. I find that my mistakes are in different spots than where I thought. So I record myself playing and practice the weak spots before heading into the recording studio. This does a couple of things: It makes me completely aware of what I need to work on and it gives me confidence when I finally get into the studio that I know what it is going to sound like.

2.Get lots of rest the night before. You can't really be on your game if you're tired. And it is tiring to record. I recently recorded 6 tune sets with my band, Muddy Boots which doesn't sound like a lot but some of our tune sets are 6 minutes long. So if you make a mistake at the end of the set, you have to re-record the entire set. (That is if you're all recording in the same room). It's seems simple enough but go into the studio fully refreshed because when you leave, you're going to be exhausted.

3. Have fun. We sometimes get so nervous about the process of recording we forget to have fun with it and it shows in the music. So take a deep breath, smile and rock it out!