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Managing time in the studio

#42
eddododo said:
PLAN AHEAD PLAN AHEAD!
nothing is more expensive than paying for studio time to walk around trying to figure out what you need to do next!
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This. Im a planner, I understand things almost never go as planned and expect for them to take twice as long as you want them to. Being self employed has shown me that. My singer has no apprehension of time. It should have all been done months ago. And that is something because we have only been a band for 11 months.
 
#43
Also, if you know the engineer well enough that he wouldn't find this is rude or rushing him, try to do things to help his process along. if he seems to be grabbing one cable at a time, go grab a small stack of them, etc.

once you have set up the band and the engineer is trying to walk around with mics and stands, don't be the band that sits there and noodles while he has to step over you. don't be the band that 'remembers' your favorite pedal after the engineer has started running his cables and then all of a sudden your patch cables and onespot are getting tangled up in the cable he's trying to pull across the room
 
#44
AdamR said:
We are not recording and mixing the same day. We booked 2 days, My plan is record 1 day. Mix and master the second day.
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I think you are spot on then as far as expectations if you are well rehearsed. I personally feel like the first day is almost a loss after set up. If feels like 3 of the 8 hours are spent dialing everything in. IF you can pull the cash together to get 2 consecutive days you will more than double the productivity. But cash isn't cheap!
Best of luck. I'm sure you will be fine.
 
#45
In one day, I could easily track out eight songs if the musicians are professionals and the music is well rehearsed and we already know exactly what we want and aren't going to play around with things.

Mixing and mastering, who knows how long that could take for a single song. It could take weeks.
 
#54
AdamR said:
Its being split equally between the 5 of us.
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If you nail it in one take and one of the other players (who is not prepared) takes half the day to track their parts.
He/she should be financially penalized for not having it together.
Or better yet, make sure that everyone is really really well prepared.
If your band can't absolutely nail these songs in one or two takes you are wasting your time and money going into the studio.
 
#56
Invest in a multi track recorder and some drum mics and an sm 57. You should be able to ebay everything for under $200. Then multi track all your parts at rehearsal, so you know exactly what you want to play and have experience tracking to the drums by themselves, etc. This will save you more time and money than anything else, and should give you a better finished product. My band tracked 4 songs in 2 days, no problem.
 
#58
Things that literally destroy time when recording (In my experience)

-Setup/tear down when switching parts
-Members who can't keep time well (so many wasted tracks)
-Not knowing your parts backwards and forwards
-Playing "passionately" (strings break, mics pick up unwanted sounds)
-Vocals (unless your singer is good)
-Any kind of discussion/debate (go in with a realistic plan and stick to it)
-Setting levels (a good tech and gear should help alleviate this)

The more you can corral these things the more you will get done. That being said, I'd be amazed if you could wrap up 1 song in a day. Your plan of record day 1, mix/master day 2 is probably more realistic. If your singer wants to get more done, tell him to have his crap perfected before you go. Something like 75% of my recording time has been spent watching my guitar/vocals guy do his parts over and over because of mistakes.
 

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