Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

Corbic

Corbic

New member
Hey guys, I'm heading into the studio this whole week with my band. Its a studio in my friend's uncle's basement, very nice place, and we're spending an entire week there for free. Don't let the idea of it being a basement studio throw you off, its a semi-professional studio with all the equipment and everything. So, I was just wondering if anyone who's done studio recordings before could give me any advice as far as what to expect, different sound tips, etc.? Thanks!

-Corbic
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

lots of coffee and liquor.

do you have a producer/engineer? help whoever you have as much as possible. less time setting up = more time recording. also be prepared for the producer to start changing things or to get you to play new riffs on the spot

are you using any or all of your equipment? guitars set up/ new amp tubes/ new drum heads tuned/ new sticks

do you have the week planned out (which songs to record and in what order)? be prepared to not have time to record everything

does everyone in the band agree with what it should sound like? all of a sudden people will have strong negative opinions about things that used to be fine.

have you all been practicing every waking hour to a metronome? recording experience here also helps
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

Well through my past experience recording in a semi pro basement studio(3 times) and now using my own garage studio i can tell you that from a band perspective make sure you are well rehersed, dont go in there expecting the song will just "come together". make sure you and the other guitarist whether it bass and or another guitar are both equally as solid on parts(i have found that while live my band sounds fine live n the studio it was not only tighter, but went faster if i did all the rhythm parts myself).

Working to a metronome makes the songs that much tighter and makes editing and mixing much easier(cutting parts, adding effects like delay etc...). New drum heads are a must they makes the drums sounds 100 times better. New strings on guitars helps but make sure it's done a few days prior to recording so they have time to stretch...also check intonation on all the guitars....worst thing is playing your rhythms fine then going to pull out some lead work and realize you are out of tune.

Most importantly relax and have fun...recording is a great experience and 99% of the time very satisfying. Good Luck!
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

know your stuff
warm up
take a tuner and be prepared to tune frequently
don't be afraid to make up some solos on the spot/splice solos
if the guy with good ears says what you did doesn't sound right, it didn't
don't turn it into a party, but have fun
it's likely too late to play with a click if you haven't been doing that already; that should have been implemented many many practices ago if you were going to do that.
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

The mos timportant thing abotu studio recording in my experience has been to know right off the bat that the studio is NOT the place to practice, write or work out things like harmonies, solos and ends...knokw the songs forward and backward BEFORE you try and record them...it's just easier on everybody.

Also, trust the guy running the board, if a guitar part or drum track sounds funny by itself remember you need to hear it in the mix before you ask for him to tweak things...you'll save time and make him much happier.

Spend the extra time on getting as good of a sounds a possible going to "tape"...this way there is less EQ'ing to get a sound you're happy with plus it'll be much easier to cop those tones later on if you want/need to.

There are loads more things that coudl be said about recording but you'll figure them out along the way!

Recording a band can be a blast or it can suck but IMHO it's something EVERYBODY should do at least once!

Good luck and have fun!
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

tune every take.
spend the time to get all hum cancelled out before you lay tracks.
turn your cell phones off.
Have fun!
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

tune every take.
Click to expand...

Oh yah.

Know what you're going to do every day. As mentioned make sure all the instruments are the best they can be, new strings, tuned, drum heads, well tuned drum kit before recording. Relax and go zen, don't make it precious, better to get in the zone and let it flow. Remember everything transfers to the tape/disk so if you aren't feeling it take a break or do something else that day like another song or whatever.
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

The 'turn off cellphones' is a great idea. You don't want to be in the middle of the best take on a difficult song and suddenly you get your ringtone on the recording.
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

Thanks for the advice guys!

The guy who's recording us is kind of a producer, but more or less we have an idea of how these things should sound, and he'll be able to tell us if we should go for something different or something else. We started making a recording schedule today, and we're hoping to get about 7 songs done during this week if we can. Thanks again guys, and I'll be sure to post up the finished product as soon as possible!
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

Don't expect to blast like a live show. You may have to sort out and bring down levels while recording.

Depending on the producer's approach, you might all be in the same room on the take, you may be tracking individual parts to an initial scratch/rehearsal take, or some combination of the two. Work it out ahead of time.

Check your egos at the door. Everyone eff's up sometimes, and everyone thinks they're King Badass sometimes... even you. Don't pee on someone else's barbecue, and make sure the group effort shines through.

Don't expect miracles (one-take wonders). Even if you practice, you might want to hit it 2 or 3 times, just to have a choice of things to pick from.

Keep the recreational agriculture & pharmaceuticals out of the picture. You're gonna need all the hand/eye coordination you can get.

7 songs in a week might be pushing it... don't forget time for post-production (mixdown/editing/burning CDs).
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

Markk said:
The 'turn off cellphones' is a great idea. You don't want to be in the middle of the best take on a difficult song and suddenly you get your ringtone on the recording.
Click to expand...

That would suck. :11:
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

Hey guys, finished up the week of recording, in case anyone was interested in the results...

No cell phones rule worked out well. Got a lot of takes done very quickly. In total, we got seven full songs done this week, without vocals. In the next week or so we're going back to do the last song and the vocals, and then spending the next few weeks on mixing. The engineer/producer was very friendly and doesn't believe in things like click tracks, so most of the rhythm tracks were done live, with the keys and guitar solos being overdubbed. He had a lot of great ideas for the songs, and I feel like we did a lot of good work. Can't wait to finish the last song, the vocals, and the mixing, and post it up to show you guys!

Thanks again for the advice everyone!
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

really nice of your uncle. sounds like ya'll got alot of work done so far. good luck with the vox. Dont forget to copyright your music - it may save you a hassle later on. Lookin' forward to hearing it, good luck!
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

Pickups pick up noise from the cell phone transmission, don't just worry about the mics picking up your ringtone.
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

Corbic said:
The engineer/producer was very friendly and doesn't believe in things like click tracks
Click to expand...

No offense, but your engineer is either a masochist or insane. I understand not wanting to use a click because it isn't a purist thing to do, but if you ever have to do any edits you'll be immensely glad you used one. I've only recorded one project without a click and it was so painful I swore I'd never do it again.
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

dystrust said:
No offense, but your engineer is either a masochist or insane. I understand not wanting to use a click because it isn't a purist thing to do, but if you ever have to do any edits you'll be immensely glad you used one. I've only recorded one project without a click and it was so painful I swore I'd never do it again.
Click to expand...

The way he works is that he has the band play the rhythm tracks live, about three times. Each time we'd listen back and fix the problem spots. He doesn't believe in much editing, as he firmly believes that a band must play well live to be able to record well. However, if something small is messed up in a near-perfect take, he'll edit it to get it right. He seems to do okay without the click track though, and as a recording novice, I'm definitely not one to argue :D
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

Get a very loud and clear heaphone mix. Each band member should be happy with the headphone mix. Pan different instruments from left to right in the headphone mix. (so they're separated). You need to spend time on this area, and get it perfect. Then things will go smoothly.

If you play with a click - it will be easier to overdub stuff. I suggest playing with a click, or learning how to do that. Drummer needs to do that first though.

If you can do a "live off the floor" type recording, it will take a shorter time to get it finished. If you overdub instruments on top of bed tracks one at a time - it will take a longer time to finish the album.
 
Re: Heading into the studio this week, any advice for working there?

Glad it went well for you --- seems like everybody has a problem with it except you! :laughing:
 
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