Recording Kids

Kids are sometimes the most fun clients to have.  Besides being cute and unpredictable, they often are catalyzed by the studio to a new level of creativity.  I remember working with a 5-year old back at Matrix Studios in Grand Forks and from the moment he set foot into the tracking room he thought he was on a spaceship.  I, of course, was "the captain" of the spaceship so any time that I gave him instructions through the headphones he replied with "Ay ay, captain!" 

Recently I worked in the studio with my 7-year old niece, Kayla and my 4-year old nephew, Carter while they were visiting from Minnesota.  It was right around the time my brother and his wife had their birthdays, so the concept was to create a "birthday CD" for them to take home with them.  I started out with the concept that they would tell about the fun things they'd done on their trip and then I would use the digital pictures my parents (who were the vacation chaperones) had taken and tie them together into a slideshow.  What we ended up with was somewhere between a radio version of "Who's Line Is It Anyway?" and what an open mic night at McDonalds Playland would sound like. 

So with my (still somwhat limited) experience recording kids as a guide, I've come up with a few guidelines for recording kids in the studio:

1. Don't worry about them destroying your equipment.  I'm sure their parents have already triple-dog-warned them that there's expensive things around.  If you're worried, use less-expensive mics on the project.
2. Keep the instructions simple.  "Talk into the circle" if you're using a pop-screen is all you need to say. 
3. You often need to prompt them for responses.  Kids don't always realize you can't hear a head-nod.  Try to leave things as open ended as possible rather than asking them questions where "yes" or "no" will suffice.
4. Let whoever wants to be inovlved get involved.  In fact the more the merrier.
5. Plan to take breaks more often than with adults.  Most adults can stand 60-90 minutes in the studio with no break but kids tire out after about 30-40. 
6. HAVE FUN!!!  I can't say it any simpler.  Whatever you record is going to be a permanent snapshot of their quickly changing childhood, so make the best of the moment.

Hope to work with many more kids on the road ahead, including my own Blake once he really starts talking about more than "daddy", "ducky", "doggy" or "mom".