Studio Prep – Things to Know and Do in Advance
Nobody likes rules and regulations, but in the recording studio, unless you are the Rolling Stones or U2, time is short and is usually costing money. In the recording industry there are always plenty of stories of musicians that turn up unprepared to a recording session, much to the annoyance or amusement of the engineer or producer. A recording session could turn out to be a very expensive rehearsal! But how are you supposed to know what to expect if you’ve never done any recording before?
That’s where this checklist comes in. The more prepared your band is, the better the results we can achieve together in the time we have available.
General Points for Everyone:
The one thing that is very important is your level of expectation. You may have a favourite album or band that you want your recording to sound like. While this is great and gives us a clear idea as to what your influences are, what you have to understand is that some records that are noted for their sound often took months and millions of pounds to make. Metallica’s Black Album has a drum sound that took some of the finest producers and engineers weeks to record. It is very important to understand the limitations of a recording session as well as the possibilities. Of course, you can book 200 hours of time and we can experiment until we nail just about any sound. Of course, this will be very expensive….
Know the songs inside out. You must know the arrangement for your parts even when playing by yourself. Can you play the song without the singer? It’s not easy to remember arrangements without the vocals and the other musicians to follow. Practice this and it will save lots of time. Write out arrangement sheets if necessary.
Be realistic about your technical abilities. If you have written a part that is too tricky, make it simpler. Keep it as simple as you need to get it right every time and the recording process will be much smoother. If you make a mistake, I am going to make you do it again and this will start to annoy you after the tenth take! Recording is not like playing live. It magnifies every mistake and captures them forever. If there are obvious mistakes on the finished recording you will not be happy that I let them through.
Recording is supposed to be fun, but we need to be organised and focused to make best use of the time. We politely suggest that no girlfriends/boyfriends/mates/pets are invited to the session – it is not a social event. Obviously if you need to bring someone for a valid reason (photographer/driver/proud parent etc) then please do not hesitate to speak to us prior to your session. It may even be a good idea that certain musicians do not attend if we are not recording them on a particular day.
Get a good night’s sleep the night before. Please do not turn up drunk or high. We can all go to the pub when we’re finished….
No eating or drinking in the control room or nearby any equipment please. I sold my granny to buy it.
Recording rooms can get crowded when all the equipment is loaded in so keep your shoes on as no one wants to smell your feet. Also, have a shower before the session as there’s nothing quite like B.O. to kill creativity! Lastly, no farting, because if you do it, I’ll do it. And you will not like that….
Singer
You must at the very least know the words and be able to sing in tune. You may have heard that studio techniques are used to correct bad tuning and, yes, this is possible, but it is much easier to get it right first time. And you don’t want to cheat, right? Print out any lyrics you need and bring them with you as well as other singing aids (vocal zones, honey etc).
Vocals are often recorded last of all so don’t be too upset if you don’t have a lot to do at first. Help and encourage your band mates as they record their parts and they will do the same for you.
Drums
Depending on the song, it may be of benefit to record the drums whilst listening to a click track. Basically, this means you will wear headphones and listen to a click or drumbeat (whatever works best) and you will be expected to play your song in time with it. Practice this by wearing headphones when you play at home and drum along to a song. If you contact me beforehand I can supply you with an mp3 of a studio click at a desired tempo for you to practice with. Be aware that most modern pop/rock/metal is recorded this way as amongst other things it helps with editing and adding time-based effects like delay.
No amount of studio trickery can improve bad sounding drums. If your kit is not up to par, consider borrowing/hiring a better one. At the very least you will need new heads on the drums and for them to be tuned properly. If you don’t know how to tune your drums get on the Internet and learn or find a drum teacher. I have drums and cymbals that can be used if required. Talk to me in advance if you think you might need these.
Bring all the tools and bits you will need; Drum mat to stand the kit on, sticks, brushes, tuning key, spare heads, spare pedals, moon gels etc.
When recording, try to go easy on the hats and cymbals. This may not be something that is natural for you but it will improve the balance of the drum recording. Practice hitting hats and cymbals more gently than the rest of the kit. This means that they will not be as loud in all the other drum microphones and we can get a more balanced kit sound as a result.
Guitar & Bass
Make sure your guitars are set up properly. Fit new strings and stretch them in. The guitar’s tuning and intonation should be spot on. Fix all crackly pots and dodgy jack sockets. Replace batteries if required.
Be realistic about the sound you hope to achieve with the equipment that you have. We are not going to be able to get a Slipknot tone in ten minutes with a cheap strat and a practice amp.
Bass players – don’t get upset if I ask you to DI your bass when you have a sweet amp that you love. Sometimes we do it like that, sometimes we mic up your amp. Sometimes both. It’s all in search of the best tone for the record.
Get used to playing with less distortion. When recording, less distortion can surprisingly lead to a much bigger and heavier sound. Expect me to ask you to turn the gain down, and don’t get too upset!
If you use pedals, get new quality batteries for each of them, even if you have mains adapters. Have spares too.
Buy a guitar tuner and learn to use it. No kidding – nothing sounds as bad as an out of tune guitar. Hendrix couldn’t make it sound good and neither can you. Tuning cannot be ‘near enough for rock ‘n’ roll’; it has to be spot on.
Bring a guitar stand for each of your guitars if possible. We don’t want any to get broken on the day.
Don’t forget your plectrums, although we always have spares if you need them.
