What Should A Band Or Artist Do Before Hitting The Studio?

[Sandyrb]

As partially discussed in another thread, we as recordists should probably get our heads together and make the definitive list of what bands need to do before recording. What do they need to know? What do they need to bring? What should they expect?

Alright, we'd all agree that rehearsing, rehearsing and more rehearsing is mandatory, but can we suggest a whole bunch of various stuff and then create a list or set of instructions? Something we can all benefit from?

A few things to bring: Painkillers, woolly hat so the drummer's cans don't fall off, spare sticks/strings, picks, tuner, cash, camera... what have you.

Let the wisdom flow............! :)

Cheers,

[Mixwell]

proper instrument intonation, and tuning.

[Ken Morgan]

laptop or at least a note pad with words and arrangements to ALL the songs...

Spare power supplies to unusual boxes

Their own specialty drinks (such as iced coffee - who ever heard of such a thing? - all I have is hot...if you want iced, you bring it)

Medications...had to stop a long session few weeks back so the guitar player could run and get his insulin.

[seaneldon]

Adam brushed on a major point...I'll take it further:

TAKE CARE OF YOUR INSTRUMENTS.

Have all primary stringed instruments INTONATED TOGETHER (as close as humanly possible, anyway), not just each instrument to itself. I like having a strobe tuner and an instrument switcher to have three or four instruments on one bench all being worked on as a unit. This is not a quick process, but will save unthinkable amounts of time and money later down the line. If you don't know how to set-up/adjust/intonate a guitar you should get started on learning that right away.

Amplifiers should also be maintained properly. I can't tell you how many "classic" (old) amps I've had to deal with that are on the road 4-6 months a year with the speakers huffing and puffing at stage volume 5 nights a week, and then spend a majority of their time ever-so-slightly bouncing around a trailer. Your AC30 sounds like shit. Your JCM800 sounds worse. Either borrow an amp that works as it should and sounds great, use studio backline (which should also be maintained!)

Get a bunch of batter heads for the drums and a couple-three bundles of drum sticks. The thinner the head, the better the tone and shorter the life. The thicker the head, the less response you'll get from it but it will generally last longer. There's definitely some middle ground that can be great. For the most part, the drummer can just play whatever heads he/she is used to playing and the engineer will work with what he/she has to work with.

Moving drum hardware (stuff with pedals) should be checked for squeaks or odd resistance or whatever the hell. Cymbals should be in good condition with no cracks or issues. I can't believe how many drummers ignore that.

If you wanna be a GREAT drummer, leave your cymbals at home :)

If you want to use our piano, you should pony up some shiny ducats to have it tuned for your session. If you don't want to do this, we can spend a few hours intonating all your instruments to the piano.

Tons more...a lot to do with instruments. The people playing the instruments should really just think about their instruments.

Of course...none of this matters if the artist does everything with virtual instruments, DAW edits, and Auto-Tune...

[the shadow]

If you wanna be a GREAT drummer, leave your cymbals at home

GRASSHOPPER!

[Zachg]

Have a rough demo of your songs if possible. Even tab it out in MIDI (Tuxguitar is a good freebie to download), if you have to. It gives everyone a reference point to hear the song and has musicians, it helps to hear the songs not from the point of view as your playing, so you can actually see if the parts work together. Even if one of the band members have a home studio, then you can record a quick demo with EZdrummer, Pod Farm, etc.

Good thread idea!

Zach

[blackdirt]

If you wanna be a GREAT drummer, leave your cymbals at home


that is why i joined this forum! hoooo-ray!

[Sandyrb]

This is all great stuff guys, keep it coming. When we've got some more "meat" I'll compile a list.

Cheers,

[Benny Grotto]

I've done a few intricate metal records where a pre-made tempo map would've been plenty helpful, so, I guess a PT session (or at least detailed notes) containing the tempo and meter changes of the band's choice, one each per song.

Extra drumheads are nice for longer sessions.

Oh, and if you're gonna complain about my headphones' quality, bring yer damn own!! No earbuds!!

[Mike Swanson]

You know that other thread "what's preproduction"?
Seriously you need to have recordings of the songs before you "hit the studio".
By recordings I mean "work tapes" or "board tapes" anything that proves you have a vision of where the hell you're going.

[Benny Grotto]

You know that other thread "what's preproduction"?
Seriously you need to have recordings of the songs before you "hit the studio".
By recordings I mean "work tapes" or "board tapes" anything that proves you have a vision of where the hell you're going.

Tell me about it.

I've gotta band coming in from across the country in Jan to do a full-length with me here in Boston. The budget doesn't allow for any face-to-face preproduction, so I asked them to make some demos. They told me that would be "really hard". I assured them that sound quality was not an issue; any kind of rehearsal tape will do. I just needed something to check out so I could get an idea of what they sound like, and how their new tunes are arranged. They still insisted it would be "really hard". The label even chimed in, said, look, just bring a laptop to band practice and use its built-in mic. The band: "man, that'd be really hard".

Er, would it? I mean, we're talking about YOUR FUCKING RECORD! They're spending a pretty penny on the damn thing, in addition to the budget the label's throwing in; you'd think they'd find a way. Hell, even if they don't own computers, every person in every band knows at least one guy with a DAW, a laptop, and a 57 or two.

Maybe "really hard" just means "moderately inconvenient"...

Sheesh. Kids these days...

ADDENDUM: just yesterday, I received some demos from a different band on the same label. They're coming down in a few months (from much close, albeit still outta town and so face-to-face pre-production is outta the question)...anyway, I've recorded these guys before for two different, so I thought I knew how'd I approach this next record. After hearing the demos, I've completely re-worked my concept; without those demos, I'd be unable to perform my best, I'd have made less-than-ideal decisions about setup, and the record wouldn't be the best it could be. I'm also hearing performance issues, lyrics that need work, etc; again, tough and time-consuming things to re-work on the fly. Demos are huge. Make them. Use them. Love them (just don't love them too much, cuz then we'll spend the whole record-making process chasing the damn things, and that's a major bummer!)

[Weiss-Sound]

Hey, I'm Matt. I'm new on this forum. Benny recommended I check it out, and I can see why. Practical and useful ideas and professional attitudes unencumbered by nonsense. Great.

The number one thing I bring, as a client (Benny is my main engineer), is a plan of attack. Just a general map of how the session should flow, but not so specific that it can't adapt. Is everything going to be played live? Separate overdubs? In what order, how and when? During tracking, the schedule was shifted around a great deal - but having it there really made it possible to get A LOT of work done in a very short amount of time.

To my clients, I always recommend choosing a reference or two for their sound. Definitely recommend doing demos of the songs - just a recording of a rehearsal (+1 on that).

With bands, I tell the manager/leader/contact to remind each instrumentalist to bring their own survival kits. An extra set of sticks, a tuner, extra set of strings, rosin, power adapters, pedals that they are fond of, anything that is really necessary for playing.

[bitflipper]

What Should A Band Or Artist Do Before Hitting The Studio?

Rehearse!

Every player should already know his parts intimately and be able to perform them without making mistakes (at least most of the time). Multiple takes should be about capturing just the right emotion, subtleties and nuance - not about trying to catch one complete run-through without errors.

[ShaneOConnor]

Ben, that sucks that they won't make a demo. i have had that in the past, but i am finding that my prepro suggestions are actually bringing new artists to me.

if playing to a click, rehearse to a click.