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Ready to Record?
Recording your own CD can be wonderfully rewarding as well as painstakingly arduous. With me nearing completion of my third project at the time of this writing, I figured I might as well share some of my thoughts with some of you that desire to do the same. Whether you are approaching the point at which you are ready or whether you’re just considering taking on this task, there are some very important factors to keep in mind that a lot of musicians don’t initially think about. I’ll just touch on a few and elaborate in future columns.
Have you set up your own publishing? Are you a writer or do you need outside material? If you are a writer, have you protected your material by copyright? Can you producer & arrange or do you need assistance in this area? Are you proficient at playing all of the instruments necessary to record? Are you good with graphic arts and computer savvy or do you need a graphic artist to create your CD cover, inserts, and tray card? Do you own or have access to studio recording equipment and can you engineer and master or do you need outside assistance? And do you have a company in mind to manufacture your product or do you own duplication equipment?
Publishing – You can join whichever publishing organization that suits you (BMI, ASCAP, etc.), easily obtain info via the internet, and set up your own publishing company. Get the money that is rightfully yours as a writer and publisher for anything you create through radio play and sales tracking.
Copyright – Through the Library Of Congress, learn how to copyright your material to protect it. You can obtain “how to” info and forms you can download from the site as well.
Bartering – As for outside writers, producers, arrangers, musicians, graphic artists, engineers and studio facilities, bartering is a great tool for getting the job done and saving a truck load of money. If you have a talent whether it is musical or not and you can offer it in return of the service that you need, than you are in a good position to barter. I do it with my musician friends all the time. I offer to play on their recording if they play on mine. And say you have a friend that is a graphic-artist, you can offer to play for a special occasion or even create music for a webpage they’re working on in return for their services. It’s as simple as that.
As for manufacturing, just go to a bookstore with music magazines and look at all the ads for CD duplication and call them all to send you samples and a quote. Or you can simply check online and see what works best for you and your project.
So I’ll ask the question once more… Are you ready to record?
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Photo: Self-portrait by Melissa Auf Der Maur
Melissa Auf Der Maur is a Canadian bassist who played with Tinker, Hole, and The Smashing Pumpkins. She released her own work and is a photographer with photos published in Nylon, Bust, and National Geographic. She released her ‘90s Rock Memoir “Even The Good Girls Will Cry” on 17 March 2026.
KB: Did you always want to be a singer-musician growing up?
I’ve played music my whole life. In school, I played trumpet and sang in a children’s choir, so music was always within me. My mother was the first female disc jockey on the Montreal airwaves; her record collection played a huge role in my inspiration and love of music.
KB: When did you start playing bass, and why this instrument?
When I was 19, the early 90s music explosion began to percolate in tiny clubs around the world. I was lucky to be a ticket girl at Montreal’s underground music club. In one year, I saw Hole, Sonic Youth, Smashing Pumpkins, White Zombie, and The Breeders – all had female bass players. That’s when the seed was planted. By the age of 22, I was the bass player of Hole.
KB: Which brands of basses have you used in your career, and which one are you using now?
The first bass that I learned on was a vintage Squier Precision. Hole was sponsored by Fender guitars, so I upgraded to Fender Custom Shop Precisions. That is all I play, but I have a cool vintage 8-string Greco that I use on recordings to thicken up guitar parts.
KB: What equipment do you use or have you used with your basses?
Ampeg SVT amps and cabinets, a couple of Sans-Amp pedals, and that is it.
KB: How did you become a member of Hole, and what is your fondest memory of that time?
Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins was helping scout a replacement for (RIP) Kristen Pfaff, Hole’s bass player. My band, Tinker, opened for them on the Siamese Dream tour, so Billy had seen me play and could vouch for me. Courtney trusted her talented friend, and that was it. I initially said “no thank you” due to my commitment to my photographic studies and the drama and chaos surrounding the band during the “Live Through This” album release. Courtney took it as a good sign that I said no, so convinced me to reconsider, and soon after, I accepted their invitation, in the name of helping put females in the male-dominated landscape of rock music. My fondest memory is every show we played as a mostly female band, symbolizing what a woman could do in a rock band. Every show had a purpose: get more women to play music.
KB: You are a photographer as well. What makes a great picture? Do you shoot in color or b/w?
I started shooting photographs at age 15. Initially only shot black & white and worked in the art school darkroom. In university, I took a color photography course, and shifted mostly and forever to that, because it was easier to process film on the road when I joined a rock band. I experimented with many cameras, point and shoots, manual, polaroids, medium format, and vintage finds. The trick to a good photograph is to shoot many and all the time – the magic is in the edit and selection process.
KB: Are there artists you would love to collaborate with or wish you had?
??I’ve been lucky to collaborate with some of my favorite musicians in my career. I would still love to collaborate with a new generation heavy electronic artist on an analog bass, heavy electronic drums, and synths collaboration project. Take me out of my usual zone, merging the past and future: my love of 80s dark new wave and new artists exploring that genre. It was very futuristic back then, and we are now, after all, living in the future. I am in the mood to play bass to heavy beats I want to dance to.
KB: What are your 7 favorite bass lines in music across all genres? And why these 7?
“Mountain Song” – Jane’s Addiction (love a rambling, rolling bass line – feels like the ocean waves)
“Black Top – Helmet” (was the first bass line I taught myself)
“Gold Dust Woman” – Hole from “The Crow 2” Soundtrack (it was my first bass line contribution to the band)
“Get Ready” – The Temptations (Motown just feels so good, because of the bass)
“Lucretia My Reflection” – Sisters of Mercy (makes me want to hit the dance floor and play bass simultaneously)
“Be My Druidess” – Type O Negative (full chord bass playing at its best by iconic, demonic, Peter Steele, RIP)
“Romantic Rights” – Death from Above (1979 – unique distorted overdriven tone, combined dance rhythm and melodic intelligence, all in one shot – also! Shout out to a bass & drum only band, which is awesome, and we should have more of, but the bass player needs to be a killer to fill that role.
KB: What are you currently up to?
Releasing my ‘90s Rock Memoir “EVEN THE GOOD GIRLS WILL CRY”. Visceral healing process, it was to get it out of me and write it, but I suspect the real magic will begin by putting it into the world and reflecting with others on what the magic of the ‘90s was all about. Powerful music decade that carried us into what is now a brave new world of digital corporate weirdness – may the past shed a light on our future. That’s my hope for this book release and tour.
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Nathan East, Echoes of a Lineage – April/May 2026 Issue
Gear Review: Italia Leather Straps
New Album: Oteil Burbridge & Lamar Williams, The Offering
Interview With Bassist Tom Doyle
Interview With Bassist Alex Blake
Feb 16 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Feb 23 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Mar 2 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram
Mar 9 Edition – This Week’s Top 10 Basses on Instagram