Need Recording Advice

[amos]

My band is schedule to record in January sans singer. We changed from our original studio destination due to the fact this studio offered "package deals" as well as earlier booking. We want to record a 6-7 EP. The guy thinks we can do it in a weekend. To me, this makes a "package deal" sound like a total ripoff. He charges $40/hr or $750 for a 6-7 song EP.

Furthermore, after listening to samples, I am not impressed. Very sterile for rock recordings. My guitarist booked us with the band's best interests, but I am skeptical at the moment.

What I want to do is record a 2-3 song single as inexpensively as possible, do the vocals ourselves, and use that as a better basis to find a singer (our current demo tracks are awful). Then, when we have a complete line-up, go into the studio in 5 or 6 months and cut tracks live to tape (I have found an amazing studio to this at, it's a matter of being able to get booked there, the place is so badass.)

What do you guys think?

BTW we are located in Portland, OR for anyone who has studio recommendations.

 

[Discount Saint]

Well for a start, $750 for a 6-7 song EP is frickin' amazing price-wise. I am guessing this is probably due to the less-than-stellar quality, but honestly, what do you expect for just over $100 a song, and one weekend?

Where I live we have a few really pro studios, one of which is run by Adam Sutherland, who plays guitar for Armchair Cynics .. his rates are considered 'not bad' at about $500 per song for a demo quality recording. Another studio charges around $350 per song for demo quality. Time is the overriding factor in this though. IF your band is super-tight and knows the material like the backs of their hands, you might be able to record a song per day, but even that is kinda pushing it.

And I would say also, don't do the vocals yourself .. that is probably the area where you'd want the MOST professional assistance, in my opinion.

I think your expectations of cost vs. time vs. quality are a little bit out of sync with reality, at this point.

 

[bluestarbass]

I agree with your philosophy, doing a small ep to attract a singer. If you do that save your money for the big studio time. But, if you thought $750 was expensive for 6-7 songs, cutting a whole album to tape, $750 wouldnt even come close to just paying for your tape. 6-7 monthes in the studio recording to tape could cost you 10 grand easily. I agree though, do something decent to attract a singer, then go full force.

 

[hunta]

DIY or prepare to pay. The only way you could possibly do 7 songs in 2 days is to record the band altogether, doing only 1-2 takes per song. And then hope it doesn't come out sounding like garbage.

Recording is expensive, time consuming, and difficult (to do it right). Doing it for cheap or free just doesn't make sense (for the engineer). Think about it:

Full band recording = 1-2 hours/song
Piece by piece recording = 1-?? hours/song/instrument
Mixing = 2-3 hours/song MINIMUM

So for 1 song done properly you're looking at roughly 5-6 hours of work for your engineer. Personally, I have to value my time based on how much I can get paid doing something else. And I make more in an hour doing contract IT work than I've charged people for entire recording projects :-\