Any advice for recording in a studio?

[Rib 13]

In addition to some of the posts in this thread:

- What, and how much, you eat or drink can affect how you track - eat a light breakfast......If you are there for eight hours and get a lunch break, eat a light lunch ( avoid Chinese food or anything that will put you in a carb coma)

- Bring fingernail clippers

 

[Unmost]

Use earplugs under the headphones

Don't do that. The volume will have to be turned up and the click will bleed in the room mics and/or in the quieter parts.

 

[cnltb]

I definitely don't pretend to know everything, so I'm asking this respectfully and in the spirit of acquiring knowledge myself: what benefit is derived from this?

On more than one occasion when there was only one headphone mix, someone decided to either unplug their instrument, or produce feedback or other 'too loud' noises that went straight down to everyones headphones. Whilst earplugs alowed me to hear everything that went through it also prevented it from being too loud, even when things hapened that would have otherwise been painful/dangerous to my hearing.

 

[cnltb]

Don't do that. The volume will have to be turned up and the click will bleed in the room mics and/or in the quieter parts.

Do do that(or at least try it), making sure the levels are right. Things might get quiet, but who was it that said, 80% of what a musician shoudl do is to listen...
I want to keep my ability to do that.

There are also different kinds of earplugs that might be worth looking into. Mine drop the levels by 25 db and i can still have normal conversation. They don't make me deaf, they just take the edge off things.

 

[vbchaos]

COME SOBER - STAY SOBER

Nothing messes with your feeling and hearing more than alcohol or drugs.



I still try to figure out whether it's a good thing no-one mentioned that before. Either you all already avoid drinking alcohol in the studio by default (which is good) or you don't mind (which isn't).

 

[Unmost]

Do do that(or at least try it)

I've been in studio with someone who did that and the click track was clearly picked by the overheads.

 

[knumbskull]

I agree with lots if these points!

rehearse, be early, snacks and water, nail clippers, spares of anything that can break or run out of power...

one thing i would say - which might not be necessary - is control room etiquette:

if you’re instructing the engineer to find a bit of the track, try to use the time code rather than “the bit after the other bit” or whatever...

in general, as it can be a pressure situation and time is money, keep communication clear and positive.

it takes far less time to re-record something that you’re not happy with, than it does to “fix it in the mix”

 

[cnltb]

I've been in studio with someone who did that and the click track was clearly picked by the overheads.

Yes, that can happen if one forgets about wearing them.

 

[knumbskull]

Oh yeah - adrenaline screws with your perception of tempo. It’s a good idea to get a rough BPM reading beforehand in rehearsals, if you’re in a situation where you need to assess this in the studio.

 

[4dog]

realize your cog in this machine is very important but your time to shine in the studio is very minimal..know what you wanna do before you get there ..and understand and dont be bothered that when your done your done ...if you have done your job beforehand your time to shine is gonna go by quick,,and all the time will be spent on vocals and icing ( guitars,keys,flugel horn) dont get bothered by that cuz it wont matter if you do.....have fun.

 

[Drifter8230]

"You have two ears, two eyes, and one mouth...use them in that order"

Come relaxed, pay attention, assert yourself without being a jerk.

Don't drink or smoke anything....too much

 

[sleepingEB0]

I’ll just say Disraeli Gears is the first platinum album ever recorded and Jack Bruce and Clapton recorded it in 2 days and left several bass mistakes on there.

 

[Stewie]

Bring a thermos full of coffee, a bass and a smile. Relax, you got this!

 

[neddyrow]

make sure your instrument is set up properly so that it stays in tune. Tune after every song.

be comfortable in your surroundings.

 

[39-Bassist]

The first and foremost is as others have said KNOW YOUR PARTS.
Now for the 1-1/2 cents of my experience.
Make sure bass(es) are setup properly.
I personally bring my amp for the sound I want and like.
So I record 2 tracks at a time. 1 track direct and 1 through the amp.
I then have options to go hey this really sits in the mix or this doesnt.
Remember THIS...
You may have a killer sound being recorded BUT after the guitars and drums are in the mix it may change.
Unfortunately some guitarist are not so easy to please on their sound. There may need to be some tweaking on your EQ settings. (And maybe the others too)
Just listen to the song AS A WHOLE and don't think individually. Try to have the whole band do this. Sometimes the guitars, drums and/or bass may need a different sound for song to work.
It WILL happen. Listen and learn.
You will be happier with the end product.

 

[Groove Master]

Have your bass set-up properly and in tune.Put new strings if needed. Very important. Your best cable also and a tuner .

 

[brianrost]

Make sure your bass is well setup and, this is critical, is properly intonated for the setup, type of strings and tuning (s) you intend to use on the session.

Make sure the electronics are quiet in the bass you choose and bring fresh batteries if it's active just in case.

Amp settings only matter if you will be playing through a miked amp I've only done that twice in my life, every other session used a DI and I actually prefer that. If you must use your own amp rather than one already at the studio, make sure it's quiet....no hums, buzzes, crackles, blown speakers, etc. Ditto on any effects you plan to use.

 

[Spectre Gunner]

I’ve never recorded in a studio but an engineer’s biggest complaint about bass players is a lack of proper muting. Strings ringing out that shouldn’t be is one thing that is very difficult to fix in post.

 

[brocket]

No ones else cares about your part the same way you do. That's a helpful reminder for me to speak up if something can be better. It's also a helpful reminder for me to not obsess over the tiny details.

I've learned to differentiate between a "gut" feeling and a "head" feeling. If it's a gut feeling, I should probably fix it. If it's a head feeling I should probably let it go.

 

[Bob_Ross]

Every fill was axed

LOL! Reminds me of my first major label mega-budget recording session with a bona fide Big Name Producer. Band had been signed to MCA Records, I'd been with them for two years, knew the material inside & out cold, plus I had (at that time) ~10 years experience as a local session musician so the recording studio was my comfort zone, I figure this is like a walk in the park only with better catering.

Every single aspect of my basslines -- I don't even want to call them "fills" but literally any time a line moved to connect a pair of adjacent chord roots, any contrary motion, anything that wasn't "dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun" driving eighth notes on a single pitch -- got axed by Mr. Big Name Producer. And, in most cases, he would ask me to replace it with an up/down slide. "dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun bow-WHEEEWWW". On Every. Single. Tune.

Yeah, I took that paycheck.