I'm about to go to a real studio this week!

kissmybASS01 · #1 11-09-2008, 05:50 AM

(Mods please move this if this in the wrong forum)

My band is about to go to an actual studio to record our first original tune! Im a little excited and nervous at the same time. I've got a few ??'s tho:

1) Since I've never been, what can I generally expect?
2) Do I need to take my full rig - which is active bass - Pod XT Live - head - cab. I also have my own ART DI box
3) I will also be playing some keys but I only have an old barebones Roland D5 with no mem card, stand or suitable kybrd amp. I'm assuming I can still do it.
4) From what I understand, we will be laying the bass/drum/guitar track first. Then sax and vocals the next day (or something)

Any insight would help me!

The Golden Boy · #2 11-09-2008, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kissmybASS01

(Mods please move this if this in the wrong forum)

My band is about to go to an actual studio to record our first original tune! Im a little excited and nervous at the same time. I've got a few ??'s tho:

1) Since I've never been, what can I generally expect?
2) Do I need to take my full rig - which is active bass - Pod XT Live - head - cab. I also have my own ART DI box
3) I will also be playing some keys but I only have an old barebones Roland D5 with no mem card, stand or suitable kybrd amp. I'm assuming I can still do it.
4) From what I understand, we will be laying the bass/drum/guitar track first. Then sax and vocals the next day (or something)

Any insight would help me!

I did a recording studio diary- I didn't do too good, but for whatever it's worth:

My Recording Studio Diary

To answer your questions:

1. Be prepared. Know everything as best as you can. Make sure you have your instruments set up and intonated. Make sure, if you change strings, that they're broken in. It's going to be exciting for the first few hours you're there, and then it's going to get terminally boring. In the "diary" thread, the best advice I can think of, especially if you're on a budget- is that you're going to want to listen through every take- even if you know it's bad- just because you recorded it in the studio. Discipline yourselves NOT to do that.

2. I would personally bring everything you would need to get YOUR sound. Some engineers like cab sounds, some like soley DI sounds, some like to mix the 2. I, personally would bring a passive bass- IME, passive bass sits "nicer" in the mix.

3. I would imagine you can run your keys through your bass amp...

4. The way it used to always be done is make sure you get the drums first, everything else you can punch in and out- but drums are hard to punch. However, these days, with Pro-Tools, Rhythm Doctor and AutoTune- it might not even matter a whole heck of a lot what order you do stuff in.

Anyway- good luck!!!

Baryonyx · #3 11-09-2008, 10:20 AM

When it comes to choosing your bass, some engineers prefer to work with passive basses, but if you want to use an active bass, use it. I have recorded more with active basses than with passive basses. The engineer must simply adjust your volume at the board. At the same time though, just because your bass has active circuitry does not mean you need to hoof it up to the max! Try setting your bass flat and let the engineer sculpt your sound as you or the producer sees fit from his position at the desks.

kissmybASS01 · #4 11-09-2008, 10:53 AM

The reason I was planning to use my active bass is because it's a 5 stringer. My passive jazz might be the way to go, even though it's only a four, so I lose some lower range.

Right now, we are going in to do one song only.

Baryonyx · #5 11-09-2008, 03:47 PM

Going in to do one song is always good, I've done that before. It lets you really get into the song and finely tune and craft every moment. On some of the recordings I've done before where I've been given a song and told to write a busy, melodic bassline, I tend to turn into Anthony Jackson in the studio, obsessively sculpting each bar I play!

reitedasc · #6 11-09-2008, 04:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kissmybASS01

4) From what I understand, we will be laying the bass/drum/guitar track first. Then sax and vocals the next day (or something)

This has worked best for me/my bands every time. We just seem to play more solid and stay more focused, and it saves a lot of time. If you can then do guitar solos in different takes. I would bring all the gear you think you might need and definitly both basses.

kissmybASS01 · #7 11-20-2008, 05:12 AM

So last night I was in the studio. Quite an exhaustive experience. Fun yes, but actually a lot of work! Some of it was like I imagined it, but some was not.

Our drummer was isolated in one of the rooms, while the guitar player and myself were standing in the control room. (It was a small local studio inside a converted house) Our guitar player had his amp in an isolated room (mic'd) while he stood beside me and both of us were standing behind the tech at the board.

I was a little deflated not having our own separate rooms with headphones and all the trimmings! At least I didn't have to drag my rig in. I plugged right into a Sansamp DI going into the board via some tube pre-amp. I was really happy and impressed with the tone I got!

At first I just thought our guitar player was being an @$$%^&!* at how picky he was about everything, but he reminded me that once it's put on CD, that's it. Overall it went fairly well. We all left feeling we accomplished something. 4.5 hours to record one song! And that was just drums, bass, and rhythm guitar. I think this was the easiest part. Next we will be adding sax, lead guitar, and me playing some keyboards. After that is what I'm dreading....vocals!