Studio Tips

[Spivonious]

My band is currently looking for a studio to record an EP. For those of you who have gone through this before, what should we be looking for?

[LouSiffer]

Best thing to do is ask bands in your area. Ask to see if its a place that bans booze or smoking, as most musicians, its nice to toss a couple back to take a break.

Onceyou first get in you are obviously going to set up and run sound.

Generally you will then lay down a clean " Scratch Track" where everyone plays at the same time.

The drummer will then lay down their track and everyone else follows and usually the singer goes last.

The only thing I can say to look out for in my limited experience is that some guys in the control room think they have better ideas about your sound and music than you do.

Sometimes they do have good ideas, often times not. Don't be afriad to speak up, especially if you are paying them for the studio time. All my sessions were free because we were helping out students in the studio, so, we couldn't be as picky.

[Endrik]

just over practice before recording... so you could play your stuff even with nose hair

[markD]

as far as the actual studio, look for a place that has a decent sized drum room. it might cost it a bit more hourly, but the end product will be better.

another thing to consider is if the engineer really KNOWS his/her gear. your band shouldn't be an experiment. ask for demo discs from each studio to hear what they have produced in the past. this goes for project studios and smaller commercial studios. if they won't give you one, move on. if they don't have one, ask them to make one.

interview the engineer. discuss what you want from your project. see if he/she can do it. find out, especially if they are experienced, if what you want is ridiculous. many times bands go into a studio having NEVER recorded before wih all these ideas about what they have read about how mega bands make records, or with their own ideas. an enigineer with experience will talk you down from your high chair and focus the project in a way that is realistic.

remember, too, that the studio is the engineer's instrument. he/she will KNOW the room(s). they should KNOW their gear and what it can do. LISTEN to the engineer. if your guitar sound isn't working in the context of the room, hear what is being said. make the subtle changes you may have to make.

example, if your sound is bass heavy and the room is shaped in a way that has several "bass traps", the engineer may tell you that you need to lower the bass on your amp. it is BETTER to get the tone right when the instrument is recorded rather than fixing the EQ later.

most importantly, look at your budget and find a studio that will accomodate your needs without rushing you. a lot of bands make the mistake of tracking and mixing in the same weekend. depending on the band's financial state and its ability to make money will determine if you should "rush" your project.

mixing takes time. remember that. on average, my old band would spend about a week, per mix, on a song. it helps that we own our own studio, but before we did, we'd mix a song a month. it might take us 6-8 months to completely finish a project. we'd take a rough mix disc from the studio and listen to it over and over until we knew what we thought needed to be fixed.

that costs A LOT of money though....

anyway, hope this helps a little bit.

[Spivonious]

Thanks, Mark! Lots of good advice there.

[markD]

sure thing. i thought of a couple of other things as well.

ask if the studio has a way for you to get your raw tracks, either on a DVD or some other form of media. that way you can return to the project later if you are unhappy. expect to pay for that, unless it is include in a package deal. if the studio is unwilling to sell you the master, go somewhere else.

while pro tools is common and seems to be industry standard, there are many other great programs out there that work wonderfully and could lower the cost of your studio time. a killer pro tools set up will run in the tens of thousands for the good stuff. you will pay for that with your time.

don't discount a studio that uses "older" or "out-dated" technology, especially if the engineer KNOWS his/her gear. a "pro" using older technology will get better results than an "amatuer/semi-pro" using state of the art technology.

think about the REALISTIC number of tracks/overdubs you intend to lay on your songs. endrik called this "pre-production". that also includes being VERY well rehearsed and having your arrangments solid.

with adequate pre-production you'll have less input from the engineer that wants to be a producer. that person's job is to get YOUR sounds and songs to tape. the worst thing in the world is when an engineer starts giving arrangment ideas. it costs money and bruised egos. bruising the engineer's ego could result in your project being lame.

[LouSiffer]

Agreed on the raw tracks. You can take them home and play with them yourself just to give you something to do and experiment with.-Lou