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

#101
1. Know the tone you are looking for (Jamerson tone and a P bass with geezers in it aren't going to come close without a lot of twiddling).

2. Know your strings: if you want subdude tracks use the ones that have been on your bass forever. Want something poppy, buy new ones and play them for an hour before recording to break them in a little.

3. Listen to the pros: Let the engineer set you up to record his way first. If you don't like it then make a suggestion. Nothing worse than starting a session on the wrong foot.

4. Recording your amp: There is no wrong or right way. If the room, mic (suggest a D6 or Senny 421) and amp are working together then use it but always run a DI as well. A lot of times a room will be so out of tune all you'll get is rumble that will be cut out anyway. Never hurts to have more than one signal - I personally use 4 and choose to mix and match after tracking.

5. Listen to the pros: I can't stress this enough so I say it again. Let the person recording you help, hopefully he's done it before.
 
#102
Jazz Ad said:
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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The best advice so far. Hell, you can't get any better advice, imho.
 
#103
- Tune before each take!!!
- How ever long you think it will take to get 8 songs down multiply that by 2x and expect to get 4 songs down.
- Keep your lines as simple as possible, save the show boating for the stage
 
#106
Remember that live performance and recording a song are two different things.

Don't be afraid to simplify when you're recording. And stick to the plan. If you're on limited time and budget (i.e. not in the band's own studio) keep the flights of creative daring to a minimum. Stick to the arrangements you rehearsed together prior to going into the studio.
 
#107
1- 4 to 5 hours to record a bunch of tunes is very little time but it can totally be done, (I've done a few albums that way). It can be a lot of fun: the key is to keep the recording process as simple and 'honest' as possible. If you, your band, your drummer aren't used to play with a click track, I wouldn't record with it in the studio - and most of my favourite records were not played with a click track anyway. There's a big risk for the resulting recording to stiffen up or come across lifeless, with everyone focusing on the cklicktrack instead of playing, and then you want to redo tunes that you have no time for etc, only increasing pressure. So what, if the tempo fluctuates sometimes? Focus on the things you're good at, go for it, kick some ass and call it 'swagger'. Your audience cares how the music feels, not if you stuck to a click track. if it feels good, leave it, warts and all. You can always take an hour on a different afternoon and patch up a vocal here and there for instance.
2- don't bother the engineer too much about your desired tone. Let him do his thing in the recording process and do what you can do yourself with string choice, setup, and tone knobs settings, and deal with the rest during mixing. You might find out during mixing that your bass parts need something very different than you thought beforehand anyway; and there's tons of great plugins that can be added for toneshaping afterwards
3-In such a short time, I'd play each tune a maximum of 2 times, then immediately move on to the next one, no matter how it sounded. The first ones are always going to be a bit tentative. Don't go hang around the control room after each take to listen to it. Just work through the tunes you want to do one after another. If you have some time left when you have recorded everything, lay down the ones that you felt least satisfied with one more time.
4-The hardest part: don't listen to the roughs immediately when you get home. You'll be too busy with how you remembered it, instead of how it actually sounds. A little distance does wonders for me; I always take between 2 and 6 weeks and then listen carefully to what I've actually done.

Good luck!
 
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#109
You will be nervous. That little light goes on and all of a sudden, you can't play and you can't sing. You have to feel comfortable in the studio. Calm, relaxed.

Start with a song that the band can nail. That will break the ice.

Watch what you eat and drink the night before. Do some exercises. Wear comfortable cloths. You can do it.
 
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#111
I just finished a recording where the drummer could'nt play with clicks for shi*. And it's quite hard to follow a off tempo drum track because that means that you not only have to create a extra good basis for the rest of the band, but you will also have to use a lot of energy in planning and listening while recording.
 
#113
Mushroo said:
Check your egos.
Click to expand...
This!

If you only have one day, select the one or two songs that you really like best (well in advance) and make sure you all know it well. Record yourselves while rehearsing. Listen back together. Then remove everything that is hard to get right or that stands ut as "flashy". Play for the song.

When in the studio and the red light goes on, take a deep breath and then listen to the others, not to yourself.

If the drummer is not really confident with a click, don't use it. You will not have enough time to make a lot of fixes and looping anyway, so better to keep the flow and let it feel right.

And have fun!
 
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#114
[QUOTE="Corbin, post: 19060305, member: 275524" 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. [/QUOTE]

I arranged a free half-day in a local studio for our band first time. We came in with 2 original songs plus a 3rd if time allows that we rehearsed much. I came to the studio first, and only brought my pbass and amp, not any of my sheet music. It never dawned on me to because I play these songs all the time as if it's 2nd nature.

The nerves got to me and right before starting on the first song, I was panicking about how many verses, chorus, etc., to the point where I deviated a little bit on the beat in one bar. Knowing it was going on tape for the first time affected me. This was in the day of 1" reel to reel tapes.

My recommendation is to always take your sheet music with you, and quickly review it prior, or put it in whatever short hand you use.
 
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#115
If you listen, you can hear Paul McCartney's voice shaking on the first recorded version of "Love Me Do" where he has to sing those words solo. He was pretty nervous.


He eventually got over it. :laugh:



love me do quote.JPG
 
#117
I thought I would give a little report on how the recording session went, since so many offered such good advice. Based on the advice, we did practice and practice some more beforehand. We recorded and listened too beforehand. We practiced with the click and although it went better than I would have thought, we ended up not using it at the studio because it changed how we played our songs and we thought it might be distracting. I did not mic the bass amp and only went direct. In the interest of saving time, we decided we'd try 3-4 takes per song, not listen back, and just move on as soon as we got an okay take. And we did get an okay take on 8 songs, which the engineer said was about twice as much as most bands get through in four hours. We failed at the 9th song, but I kind of expected that as it's a tough one. We were able to go in and do vocal tracks to all 8 songs, but no solos. Going back to do some of those next week. I was extremely exhausted by the end of the 6 hours and came home and fell in bed. All in all, a wonderful experience, made better by the advice I got here. So thanks again everybody.
 
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#119
Know your material dead cold, work with the others to serve the song best - even if it means playing stuff you normally wouldn't, or playing an instrument that isn't yours, be a nice guy, and pay attention to personal hygeine because you will be in close quarters.
 
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#120
Bassmann79 said:
I have got to hear this band that doesn't use a click track in a studio
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We did give the engineer a BPM for each song, and he clicked us in to that tempo on each take. We've played together so much we can tell when the rhythm started getting off, and we didn't use those takes. Plus several of our songs change tempo at some point -- go briefly into a different signature, or have dramatic slowdowns/rampups.... a click just didn't even seem useful for those songs.
 
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