Hitting the studio on tuesday let's have your top studio tips!

[lordsaccharine]

Not quite the right forum but might as well wake this one back up!

What are your top tips for studio recording? We're in next week for 2 days to get a quick EP down.

Our sound is bluesy psychedelic prog metal/ rock, sort of like Mastodon, isis, baroness, pelican, neurosis meets QOTSA and the white stripes.

[iaresee]

Practice. To a click. Engineers like clicks -- it makes their lives easier if every thing lines up. So you'll be playing to a click.

Bring everything. Nothing worse than wanting something and not having it on hand.

Practice. To a click.

Be there before your load in time and ready to load in.

Practice. To a click.

Load in quick. Make sure the singer helps carry stuff. My experience says they're notoriously good at getting out of heavy lifting.

Practice. To a click.

Bring samples. If this is your first time working with a studio or engineer listen to some of their stuff and get a feel for what they do sounds like. Bring samples of how you want to sound. If you can, meet the engineer off hours (buy 'em a few beers) so you're not eating up your studio time chatting about how you want to sound.

Practice. To a click.

Get your guitar(s) setup. Fresh strings. Bring extra sets of strings. Fresh batteries. For longer studio runs I like to splurge on new cables as well.

Practice. To a click.

Bring a little fruit. Some juice. Stuff that'll keep your energy high. Something to read for when the singer is doing the 100th take of that one syllable at the end of the first verse he can't quite seem to get right.

Oh yea: and have fun. :)

(And practice. To a click.)

[thezealots]

change and stretch your strings NOW.

bring every amp, pedal and guitar you have. nothing beats versatility when you're recording.

tune the drums.

rent some gear. if you don't have a les paul, rent a les paul. if you dont have a strat or tele, rent one. if you have a fender twin, rent a marshall.

record the basic track live. then add overdubs.

set aside 1/2 of your time to mix.

know what you want, and dont let the engineer add anything when you're not looking. don't be afraid to speak up if he's doing something wrong.



MAKE SURE YOU GET THE MASTERS!!!!! I CANNOT STRESS HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS!!!! IF YOU DON'T GET THEM THEY ARE THE ENGINEER'S PROPERTY.


have all the people except the drummer in one room to record the basic track. isolate your amps and drums in other rooms or in iso booths.

take breaks if you need them. most recording studios will stop the clock for you to eat or rest. eat good stuff like fruits and veggies, nothing artificial. always play every song like it's your show opener.

don't take it TOO seriously. you want to have the studio precision mixed with the spontenuity of your live show.

make sure you can relax in the studio when you're not doing recording. always be at your peak level, and this means staying hydrated, rested, and aware. no coke.

no coke. not only cause it makes you crash, but your record will sound tinny. :D

come early. if you need more time, stay late. they may be accommodating and just charge you as they would if you booked it. if there's not another band for awhile, they won't care.

if you want to sell cd's for a profit, have at least 4 songs on them. you wont make any money with a 2 track.

have fun with it.

[nofearfactor]

Be well prepared and practiced and have your timing down...Ive always practiced to metronomes or drum machines,so,I'm pretty used to playing with clicks and/or beats.My band usually records a rough live track for each song to be used as a guide track in our headphones when we are recording our parts seperately.We like to record the drums first.Then when its time to do our parts we have the drums already tracked and the timing set for that certain song.

Get used to wearing headphones while playing and recording your parts.You will probably hear a mix of stuff in your headphones along with what you are playing while youre recording your parts-a guide track and/or a click track and/or what has already been recorded...I practice this by playing thru my Zoom G2 plugged into my digital 8track recorder.I set up a drum track with my drum machine on one track and then play my guitar on another track and also may use the recorders click track to guide it all.Practicing recording with your own recording gear is good practice for recording in a studio later.It takes practice to play while listening to yourself mixed with all of the other stuff in the headphones.

Relax.Enjoy the moment.Don't get nervous.Eat and drink nutricious foods before and during, and drink non caffeinated drinks during.You dont want to be jittery.

Youre paying for it,get your moneys worth.Make sure the product you end up with is what you want while you are there.Dont be afraid to speak up if somethings not right.It will be too late later when you hear the CD copies and wish you had done something different.

Make sure all your gear works with no weird noises or anything.Weird buzzes or whatever will be heard easier in the studio than at the rehearsal pad...I had to do my tracking once while sitting in the control room and my rig was setup out in the recording room while someone sat and made sure I didnt scrape my pick across the volume knob of the guitar I was using.The engineer caught the slight noise I was making with this one certain guitar when I was out in the recording room and brought me into the control room to see what it was I was doing when playing.So I basically had to play while someone kept my picking hand from getting too close to the top of the volume knob.

If the engineer wants a part played over and over-play it as many times as he wants it done, but remember to stay within your budget.Pro Tools can do alot,but it cant fix everything.If you have a deal where you have a set price instead of hourly then this is easier to do.On hourly,just try to make it better,but go on if it doesnt get any better,cause it wont.

Find out what the engineer likes to drink and bring him drinks when the other guys are doing their parts...Our last engineer was a caffeine freak so we kept him full of coffee.He stayed upbeat and happy and fun to work with.

When hanging out in the control room with the engineer while someone else is in the recording room recording,BE QUIET.Dont be blabbing on the cellphone or yakking it up with another band member,or whatever.If he talks to you,then its cool to talk to him.If he's working,then let him do his work.And keep the 1000 questions to a minimum...I usually take something to read,or I strum on an electric guitar quietly in the corner.I just dont try to bug the engineer while he is supposed to be working.

Have fun!!!

[brokenbabyrobot]

Do everything these guys said. They're spot on.

Definitely find a track or two you'd like to give to the engineer as reference tracks. This is so that the engineer can have an idea of how you want your mix to sound like.

[lordsaccharine]

thanks guys, guitars are re-strung (and i've got spares!), marshal is fired up, all pedals and noisemakers are boxed and ready to go.

The click track advice is good, because playing together we have pretty big tempo changes and i guess stuff like that doesn't go down well with pro-tools.

we are going to try to get 4 tracks down, but it's all a bit wobbly as the guy hasn't played with pro tools much before, it's free so can't complain tho! We're basically helping each other out, he needs the practice, we need the recording.

[blowbymusicom]

Never understimate the power of reamping! You can always change it later!

[blowbymusicom]

Never understimate the power of reamping! You can always change it later!

[blowbymusicom]

Never understimate the power of reamping! You can always change it later!

[ScottS]

Tune the drums! And have the drummer bring along blankets for the bass drum and those Moon-Gel things for the drum heads so they don't sound too "bouncy."

[NoFroBro]

Most of the advice so far is top notch but these haven't been mentioned:

Bring along a copy (written) of every arrangement and all of the lyrics in large easy to read lettering. If the studio doesn't have music stands :rolleyes: bring your own. It is a huge time saver to not have to panic about what comes next or fluff a word during your best vocal take because you couldn't remember the next line in time.

Personnel. While I'm largely behind bringing it all with gear, with people you need the absolute minimum. In fact the only exception to actual players would be if your manager was also doing the role of producer for the band (or if you had a producer). Everyone else can listen to the result. Every extra person adds extra time to every decision and causes unwanted distrations. If your not on the clock go consider the luxury of the 'club house' method (used by The Band and Jimi Hendrix) otherwise the studio is off limits except for the players.

Aim for your target. Is it the final version of the song for an independant release or is it essentially a demo for getting work and whoring around the studios? If it is the later and you are only going to sell a limited number of 'burns' at shows, scale back your production, it is essentially a demo you want the songs and your sound to shine but the guitar solo doesn't need to be that multilayered extravaganza you've had in your head. One good take should nail it. Save the 16 overdubs for the studio album.

[gottajibboo]

beware of marijuana. it may cause the drummer to accuse the engineer of employing a faulty or "trick" metronome.

me: dude, i think your click is broke. it keeps speeding up and slowing down.

engineer: ummm, i'll get that checked out. how 'bout we work on some guitars for a while?

[lordsaccharine]

hah, there'll be no reefer, it's a fancy private school with a massive music dept.

[asatbluesboy]

I don't know what kind of sound you're going for, but if you want to keep away from sounding "modern", use as little compression as you can. Let the dynamics flow, dude. My band has just finished an album and my deepest regret was not paying attention to whether the engineer was compressing things too much. Were I to record it again, I'd record everything with no compression at all, and add some later in case I found it necessary.

[republic]

I don't know what kind of sound you're going for, but if you want to keep away from sounding "modern", use as little compression as you can.
ahh yes, remember dynamics anyone?
having your timing down is so key,, although i wouldnt say that a click needs to be used once you get in the studio. there is always a different feel between a 'clicked' record and one that has the primary tracks layed down live with at least the drums and bass.
id also mention that what you use live will not always be what you use in the studio to nail your tone. be open minded.
have fun

[Vamplifier]

Devote 1/3 of your time to mix down. It always takes longer than you think. You have to bring your own walkman or have a car w/ stereo that you're familiar with. Studio speakers are nice. The average joe has crap taste in music and a crappy stereo to play it on. So once you mix, take an hour break to cruise around in the car listening to it. That's when you'll realize an entire keyboard part is missing because you were being myopic about the snare.

You are about to discover every little buzz, hum and scratch in your set up. A back up amp is handy. When you use a clean sound there is no need to go through your effects board just plug direct. Bring extra batteries. I wasted about an hour once trying to find a fully charged brand new battery that would run my digital delay (in a desolate urban neighborhood, very little shopping to be done). Of course anytime you change sounds/ effects let the engineer know so he can make adjustments.

If you're using single coil pickups. Stand up for yourself! Yes 60-cycle hum can be annoying, it is sometimes made worse by bad electrical systems, any studio worth its salt has taken that into consideration.
Just like venues, it changes by location/ fluorescent lights, etc. Try walking around the room, the buzz/ hum will lessen or increase. But don't sacrifice your tone to avoid a little hum. You're a rock band fer chrissakes.

Addendum to single coil rant: be flexible. In a live situation I have one setting and never touch the amp. In the studio, take the extra five minutes between songs to find the right sound AND WRITE DOWN YOUR AMP SETTINGS so that you if you back to that song you have it.

Don't forget to bring money! D'oh!

p.s. Anytime someone uses the words and or phrases "tweak", "scoop", "dial in" you owe me a dollar.

[asatbluesboy]

Originally posted by Vamplifier
Don't forget to bring money! D'oh!Also, as stupid as it may sound, bring food. Always. Fruits, cereal bars, sandwiches, whatever. Oh, and water is nice, but most studios have plenty of it.