Heading into studio - what's your #1 piece of advice?

Corbin

Corbin

Mar 1, 2015
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Indianapolis, IN
www.collinseditorial.com
#1
My band (a rock trio) has booked one day next month at a local (Indianapolis) music studio. We met with them and liked them. The place is sure nothing fancy but comfortable. We are planning 4-5 hours for recording, playing live together, then some time for polished vocals, maybe some overlay tracks, and punching in error fixes. I've never done anything like this before. For those who have, what's the number one thing should we look for -- or look out for? I'd appreciate any tips from the trenches. One potential issue is our drummer is a little skittish about playing to a click track, so not sure that's going to happen. She's going to practice that for the next few weeks.
 
#2
Forgot to mention I play a P bass w/ Geezer pickups. I was thinking of bringing in an isolated Jamerson track to give them something to aim for. Also they said they want to record only via DI. I have the Sansamp Programmable. I asked if they ever mic the bass amp and blend those sounds. They said no but they'd be willing to try it. Would that be a good idea or not? I have a Rumble 500 combo.
 
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#4
One single piece of advice?
Know your songs. I mean, really know them like the back of your hand.
Be able to jump to any part of any song and play it whole by yourself, in time, without depending on another member's changes.
This is especially important if your drummer may be a bit shaky.
There is a lot of interesting stuff to do in studio, a lot on which to focus.
It would be a shame to waste any time on adjusting a turnaround or unmatched note placement.
 
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#5
jasmangan said:
Polished vocals? Overlay tracks? In 4-5 hours? Not going to happen. Assuming you're not being billed for set up time, go live and hope for the best. A lot a good recordings have happened this way, but the one thing that they're not is polished.
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Noted! Not being billed for setup time. We know our songs down cold, so I am actually hoping for mainly going with the live tracks. Sounds like we need to try and record as many songs as possible and then pick the best takes. Thanks!
 
#8
Corbin said:
Sounds like we need to try and record as many songs as possible and then pick the best takes.
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That's the best attitude to take, imo. The trick is to get the band on the same page.
If the studio wants DI, that's what they know how to do and are comfortable with. Considering the time constraints I'd go with that.
What's worked for me in similar situations is to record the entire set 3-4 times. Don't get caught up in one song over and over.
And as always, you're there to have fun. Streamline the set to achieve this.
 
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#14
Corbin said:
Forgot to mention I play a P bass w/ Geezer pickups. I was thinking of bringing in an isolated Jamerson track to give them something to aim for. Also they said they want to record only via DI. I have the Sansamp Programmable. I asked if they ever mic the bass amp and blend those sounds. They said no but they'd be willing to try it. Would that be a good idea or not? I have a Rumble 500 combo.
Click to expand...

What not to do: don't focus so hard on trying to cop a Jameson tone, just do you and let the engineer handle the rest (if anything, just say you want that Old Skool Motown sound and leave it at that...besides, Jamerson and the other guitarists all plugged into custom DI's for most recordings).

What to do: Plug a metronome into your amp and practice running the whole set from start to finish with the click and record it with your phone or whatever you have handy (this will also help nail down the BPM for tracks beforehand so you don't waste time in the studio figuring out tempo). If only bass and drums can get together to practice this, both of you should hum/sing any parts where you don't play as well, don't jump/skip any sections. Do this a few times before the date and you'll both be rock solid.
 
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#15
Like others have said, get all the arrangements and parts down before you step through the studio door. You don't want to waste time rehearsing in the studio.

Other than that - try to be open minded. If you've never done this before you might find that someone with more experience (like a studio engineer) has an idea that doesn't make sense to you or seems like it might be going in a different direction than you'd intended for the song. Try not to feel defensive about your original ideas - sometimes someone new will hear something you're not hearing, and it might be worth listening.
 
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#19
Click track or not, make sure your drummer accepts the fact that the studio kit is perfectly acceptable for recording purposes. My very first studio recording session was as a drummer, and I unknowingly chewed up 5+ hours of very expensive time by insisting upon using my own kit. Tuning, miking and balancing drums is a nightmare when you're on the clock.

Other than that, to tpaul's point, make sure that arrangements are nailed down before you walk in the door. When the clock is running, it's dumb to be figuring out basic stuff like: "Do we repeat the chorus here, or is there another verse?"

Good luck.
 
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