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Recording in a studio can become more expensive than expected very quickly if you're not prepared. Here are a few simple steps you can take to help your next session run as smoothly as possible.
- Be comfortable performing you parts without the vocalist or melody instrument. Since most recordings are tracked (instruments recorded separately) these days, it's crucial that everyone know their tunes inside and out. If possible, do a scratch recording of just the drums and bass for everyone else to practice with prior to the session.
- Make sure your gear is in good working order. Check any cables you'll be using. Bring extras of anything that's likely to break - drumsticks, strings, etc. Guitar players should put a new set of strings on a few days before the session. This will give them a chance to stretch out.
- Know your tempo if you plan on recording to a click track. If there are tempo changes, list them and identify them by measure number. It'll save your engineer a lot of time when he's programming the click.
- Rehearse effectively. If part of a song isn't coming together as well as you'd like, isolate that section and go over it repeatedly until the performance is smooth. Don't just run through everything start to finish. Practice a LOT the week or two before your recording date to make sure your chops are up. Take it easy the day before so you're fresh for the session.
- Budget your time! This is often overlooked. Not having a rough schedule can quickly result in your studio time being devoured by discussions and unnecessary overdubs. Here's a model to consider:
The 12-hour EP (for a 5 piece rock group)
1:15 - setup drums, bass, and mics
1:30 - record bass and drums (this is about 4 takes per tune
if you're recording 4 songs)
1:00 - select takes and make any necessary edits (since these
are your foundation, it's best to do this before recording
anything else)
0:20 - tear down drum set, setup and mic guitar & keys
1:25 - record guitars and keys
0:15 - get mics in place for the vocals
1:30 - main vocal takes
1:00 - editing
3:00 - mixing
This leaves about :45. That's time that will likely be used for overdubbing vocal harmonies, guitar solos, or mixing.
Note - There is very little time in this model for editing. A common practice today is to build "comp tracks" of different takes, particularly for the vocals. This can take quite a while - generally an hour or longer per song just to go through the main vocal part.
When mixing, choose one member of the band to sit in while the rough mix is done. Have the rest of the group come in for the last 45 minutes or so to help fine tune your final mix. Go into your recording session with a good idea of how you want the final product to sound. If possible, bring in an example or two on CD. Everyone has different ears and a different way of describing what they hear. A concrete example will really help your engineer understand what you're going for.
This model is easily scaled up or down depending on the size of your group and the number of tunes you're recording. You might have noticed that mixing and editing time are roughly equal to recording time. If you're expecting to spend 10 hours recording your music, it could very well take 10 hours to listen to all of the takes, make edits and build comp tracks, and mix the final product.
The most important things are to know your tunes inside and out, make sure your chops are up, and know what you want the recordings to sound like when they're done. If you've got that covered, your session should be a piece of cake!
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