How many hours recording in a pay per hour studio?

If I prepare them for 10 hours per song and we come in under budget, I can rave about how tight the band was and how proud they should be for getting it done sooner than planned - and all is good. However, if I tell them 5 hours per songs and it takes longer - then it's always the studios fault.

I even get blamed when they don't know their own songs or they can't play in tune, or even if they cannot play at all? "My vocals don't sound as bad as this when we play live". Yah right.

Alan.
 
I even get blamed when they don't know their own songs or they can't play in tune, or even if they cannot play at all? "My vocals don't sound as bad as this when we play live". Yah right.

Alan.

This is the sad lot of any "sound" technician. Can't hear the (whispering) MD at the AGM? Blame the PA guy. Feedback when the (feeble) singer "cups" the mic? Blame the PA guy.

Dave.
 
Live sound pet peeves of mine:

1 Singer not used to hearing themselves in foldback, so they step further away from the mike (instead of working out a lower foldback level).

2 Singer (or speaker) holds mike down near their belly button.

3 Singer has no idea where the mike is, and sometimes sings into and sometimes doesn't

4 Singer wants insanely loud foldback so you get this murky sludge coming from the back of the wedge

5 Singer thinks they're Roger Daltry and swings your mikes on their cables.

6 Singer that brings their own mike and insists you use it, even though it is worse than the ones you have

7 Singer that is too precious to do sound check, then bitches about sound

8 I'll have to start on guitarists next!
 
I don't do a lot of live sound (if I haul gear and gig paid, I'd rather haul my drums) - but I have done some live FOH.

I find half the time, I have to take the guitar entirely out of the mains (at least at most clubs and smaller festivals) - and then I still get complaints from venues that the band is too loud (naturally if the on stage guitar volume is maxed, everyone else turns up). It seems many guitar players have to play 100w plus at a volume of 11 to get "their sound". I know a guitar cab needs to move air - but really??????

Am I the only one who has dealt with this.
 
I don't do a lot of live sound (if I haul gear and gig paid, I'd rather haul my drums) - but I have done some live FOH.

I find half the time, I have to take the guitar entirely out of the mains (at least at most clubs and smaller festivals) - and then I still get complaints from venues that the band is too loud (naturally if the on stage guitar volume is maxed, everyone else turns up). It seems many guitar players have to play 100w plus at a volume of 11 to get "their sound". I know a guitar cab needs to move air - but really??????

Am I the only one who has dealt with this.

No! There was a long thread about this in SoS about a year ago. It was mainly sound techs who were trying to spread the word that it is practically impossible to get a good band sound FOH if the guitarist insists on generating 130dBSPL. ......But, as ever, the PA guys gets the blame for the shit sound!

Dave.
 
Only have the person recording their parts and one other (preferably the person who wrote the songs) in the studio if not doing live recording. There's nothing like having 4 bass players and the person playing bass arguing over how to play the song.
 
There's nothing like having 4 bass players and the person playing bass arguing over how to play the song.

LOL, That reminded me of session I did many years ago with a hard rock band, 3 piece, singer played bass. The guy was a great singer but only an OK bass player. We record this song that had a fast section and a syncopated (between drums & Bass) end section with a guitar solo over the top. Well, the bass player could not play the fast part or the end part, he could kind of wing it live but not the recording. So the guitar player played it, however the syncopation at the end section did not sound right, so I said, "You need to play that in triplets", I got blank stares? So I played the triplet end part. So the song had 3 different bass players on it LOL.

Alan.
 
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