TIPS / ADVICE

This is list of things that I see happen all the time in the studio. Some of it might sound so obvious that its almost stupid, but even experienced musicians can forget the obvious. Read this list and the following it will save you money.

1. Have your material fully worked out. This is not a live show so, yes a suitable intro and an ending for recording purposes is needed.

2. Work out your overdubs ahead of time. Telling me to "just roll tape" so you can noodle produces very little if anything usable.

3. Rehearse without the vocals. You should know your parts with or without vocals. "But I feed off the vocals" is another way of saying I don't know where the chorus starts.

4. For the love of God please write out (preferably print out) your lyrics. 2 copies. One for me and one for ... I know you have sung it million times, but I haven't.

5. Click tracks are your friend.

6. Providing a copy of the matrerial your recording can save a lot of time and guess work for the engineer. Knowing ahead of time what sound your going for and also your playing ability gives the engineer a head start before you set foot in the studio.

7. Bring your equipment in good condition. Have your guitars been setup by a professional lately, its worth every penny. Do you have new heads on your kit and have you checked for cracked cymbals recently. Borrow or rent if you have to. We do offer a huge selection of gear, but we choose to use it to when needed to spice up a track. If you choose to use our backline, full kit and full on guitar rigs, then we need notice and their may be a fee.

6. Bring extra everyting. Sticks, strings, 9 volts, pics ... It is not our responsibility to provide you with basic survival gear. We do have it and you will pay for it.

7. People not in the band need to stay away from the session. This is not a party. The more people, the more wasted time. Scenerio: band is tracking, engineer is locked in the control with singers girlfriend blabbing on her phone 5 feet away. Little hard to concentrate on your performance.

8. Show up on time. Sounds easy doesn't it. If i had a dollar for every time a band arrived late I'd be driving a BMW. Oh, wait I do drive a BMW and that's because the clock starts if you're there or not. Pick up food and drinks before getting to the studio. Arrive early it can't hurt.

SESSION SCHEDULE
We like to start in the evening with load in and setup. The first night is for getting tones only. We can spend 3 to 6 hours getting tones and setting up headphone mixes. Concentrating on drums and bass, the guitars and such are usually scratch tracks and will be redone. After hitting and swapping and tunning drums for 4 hours its usualy hard to concentrate on getting a good drum track. So with tones done that night we can all come back fresh for actual recording. And If we need anything it can be picked up on the way the next day.

Starting off we lay down the click track, if possible. We have 2 options. 1 the band, minus the drummer, can lay down their scratch tracks to the click so they don't have to play every take with the drummer or 2 we lay down the click and everybody plays together off the click. Both ways are fine and its really up the drummer. I say that a good rehearsed band can knock out 6 to 8 drum tracks in a session. A unrehearsed band sometimes only 3. After nailing the drum tracks we go back and or fix bass parts. Maybe use a different basses on different songs etc... Usually adding or fixing the bass parts right after the drum tarck is finished helps both the drummer to rest and the band to hear the songs groove and feel to make sure its right. With all the drum and bass tracks done its time to strike the kit, wrap up cables and basic clean up for the next round of recording. Guitar tracks can take as long as drum tracks. Keeping clean and dirty signals on seperate tracks, dubbling the heavier guitar parts, solos, cool delay stuff takes a while to acheive. Again having your overdubs worked out, tones and all, can save alot of time. Vocals would be the next step. Changing mics and preamps for different tones on vocals is way important. Johnny didn't use the same snare on avery song and Bobby used 6 different guitars so why should the singer use only one mic. Singers should not be pushed to do 10 songs in a day so we try to get at least 2 and no more than 4 in a session as the norm. Once all the bands parts are done we can listen to it and see if some ear candy is needed. Such as percussion (congas, tambourines, shakers...), keyboards and such.
Mixing is a complecated process done for the most part without the band for the first stage. That would be dialing up the EQ curves and compression ratios. Trust me, do you really want to sit and listen to the kick drum track soloed for an hour. The engineer needs silence and calm to mix and that never happens with a room full of people. Initial mix setup includes moving tracks around and cleaning up all the extra noise. This along with plugging in compressors and effects, dialing up tones and panning tracks can take anywhere from 6 to 12 hours. When a song is mixed to the satisfaction of the engineer the band gets a copy and can listen to it and come back with suggestions about tone, level, effects and what not. Doing a song a day so you can go home and listen to it and then come back and fix what you didn't like the next day is the norm. At that point mixes go pretty quick two to three hours a song. After all the songs are done you will get it mastered, you will go to a pro mastering studio, you will be happy you got it mastered, you will get sign... Well you get the point. Mastering is very important and should be taken to someone who only does mastering.

Hope the tips and insight help you and your band make a better decision on your future recordings. All questions are welcome.
STREET NOISE