Prime_BASS Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 (edited) We are due to go into the studio to start a demo/Ep of sorts tomorrow. Any tips or tricks we should be mindful of? The idea is to get at least 2 of our songs completed and if time allows a third. Update: We'll we finished our short stint and here is what we got http://cuttheheroics.bandcamp.com/album/cut-the-heroics-ep Edited February 3, 2014 by Prime_BASS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JapanAxe Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 New strings. Check tuning before every take. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul_5 Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 Practice, practice, practice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Unless you feel something is going very wrong, follow the studio engineers advice/instructions, and not the other way around. Yes he/she is working for you but they know their studio inside out. As long as you`ve given them a good idea of what you want to achieve, leave them to their bit. I`ve found that much better results in mixing/mastering come from letting them just get on with it, achieve a finished mix, then input if you want any levels/eqs changed rather than trying it as you go. But then that`s just my experience, others may have found the opposite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockfordStone Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 make sure you know your parts tonight, the tighter you are the better your session will be set time limits, say like the drums need to be done by x, the bass by y etc, without deadlines you will over run and end up being rushed also trust your engineer, don't go all billy big bollocks and be like "this is my sound man", he knows what his mics and board will sound like so trust him, tell him what you are looking for and he will guide you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockfordStone Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 oh and don't let your drummer change his kit set up "for the record man"..... ours did that and it made it a pain in the arse to get the tracks down, use what you are comfortable with and it will all go nicely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westie9 Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 As above... and keep your fluids intake up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 How many hours have you booked? Myself and old band, got there around 10am and finished around4.30. Manage to record 4 tracks. This included setting up (mr.drums included). Not as stressful as I thought. We were only going to do 3 tracks. Good vibe. Hope it goes well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime_BASS Posted January 20, 2014 Author Share Posted January 20, 2014 We've just finished our second 8 hour day, good vibes all round. Sound guy was down to earth and on the level with us the whole way. Managed to get done what we wanted to get done. We are in the coming Saturday to fix any issues there may be that we haven't heard before, but as it stands we've got a solid three track demo that all three of us are happy with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 [quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1389994717' post='2340468'] New strings. [/quote] Hmmmmm. IMHO that's debatable, unless you particularly want the sound of zingy new rounds. With flats you're better off leaving well alone. With rounds you may well prefer the sound of a played-in set. My next studio session will be on DB and I certainly won't be putting on new strings for that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted January 20, 2014 Share Posted January 20, 2014 (edited) OK so I'm a bit late to this but here's my studio check-list. [b]Music[/b]: Practice the songs as you want to record them. Check with the studio before you go in and find out how they plan to record your band. If you have to track the instruments separately because of space, sound isolation or other technical issues them practice being able to play the songs without all the audio and visual cues that you would have when the full band is playing. Don't make any last minute changes to the arrangement unless you can get them nailed before the session, and certainly don't change anything once you are in the studio unless it's absolutely necessary because under those conditions you can hear that as it stands it is very wrong. Don't assume that you can fix playing problems in the mix. Record it how you want it in the first place. If the guitarist is going to overdub the solos make sure that he knows what he is going to play underneath. [b]Gear[/b]: Practice with the instrument(s) and rig you plan to use. Make sure that everything is working properly and there's no unwanted noises being produced. Take spares for as much of your gear as you can. (At least spare strings and a couple of leads minimum). Change your strings if that's your sound (but make sure the tuning has settled down). Check your intonation. Very old strings need re-intonating. Don't assume that a new set of the same strings will still be in tune with the same intonation setting as the old set. As someone who's been on both sides of the mixing desk I don't necessarily subscribe to the notion that the engineer always knows what's best for recording your band. If your amp forms an essential part of your sound then you need to use it. If you have to record via DI for technical reasons then use your rig for re-amping after it has been recorded. Don't assume that the sound can be re-created with plug-ins. If the engineer know what he is doing it will take only a little longer than the length of each song to set up and record the re-amped sound, which is almost certain to be less time then it will take to recreate it with plug-ins at mix time. Check that all the tuners that you use are in tune with each other. Don't assume that they are. If you are really paranoid about tuning get everyone to use one tuner. [b]Mixing[/b]: Take a few days between tracking and mixing. Get a quick mix at the end of the session and make sure all the band get a copy. There's two ways you can approach the mix. Either let the engineer get on with it and then make comments, or attend the mix from the start. If you do the former make sure that the engineer has some reference tracks for how you want to sound. Burn them onto CD, links on the internet can be too easily ignored and then you know that everyone has been listening to the same thing. Plus when you come in you can immediately make comparisons. If you are going to attend in person for the mix don't bring the whole band. One or two people whose opinions the band trust will be more effective. Make sure that you do have everyone's comments the the basic tracks though and make sure that you get a good reason why anything that has been requested can't be done. Ideally I would always book two mixing sessions. One to do the main bulk of the mixing and second shorter one the fix any outstanding issues once everyone has had a chance to spend some time listening to the first lot of mixing (there are always a few things to fix). Good luck and have fun. Edited January 20, 2014 by BigRedX Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime_BASS Posted January 21, 2014 Author Share Posted January 21, 2014 Cheers BigRed Our engineer has done and suggested pretty much what you have said above. We have a basic levels mix on disc for us to listen back. We have another day this weekend to fix any major issues there may be and to start mixing, and then he has a day to himself the following weekend to do final mixing etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Rock Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Where have you been recording? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shizznit Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 All good advice already given. Remember, time is money! Be professional, stay sober, don't dick about and make the most of the time that you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironside1966 Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Time management and preparation is the key. If you look after the minutes the hours will take care of themselves, if you have only booked a 8 hour session to do 4 all the 5 minuets quickly add up. Don't waste time have you equipment has ready possible if you are going to use a click have the tempos worked out beforehand if you have lots of tempo changers save them has a midifile. Do what you can at home and bring the files to the session. Be realistic about what you can achieve within the constraints of time and budget. Work out what is important, (Don't spend hours on guitar overdubs and leave no time for vocals mixing). Be well rehearsed even on overdubs. Don't get bogged down with arguments about crap. lastly have fun but be professional Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime_BASS Posted January 27, 2014 Author Share Posted January 27, 2014 (edited) [quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1390322624' post='2344048'] Where have you been recording? [/quote] Old library in Mansfield. We have a second mix of the three tracks we did and we are all extremely happy. A few little niggles that will get fixed on the third mix. Thanks for all advice given and all of it seems to have been mirrored by the engineer we hired and over past experiences this has been really positive. We have discussed doing some more recording but I feel that where we are now as a band (these three tracks basically acting as a demo/Ep) that would be kind of pointless, yes or no? Edited January 27, 2014 by Prime_BASS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted January 27, 2014 Share Posted January 27, 2014 [quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1389994717' post='2340468'] New strings. [/quote] Only if you plan on funking them up by keeping a KFC bucket on standby - I hate the sound of new strings! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime_BASS Posted February 4, 2014 Author Share Posted February 4, 2014 Updated OP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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