How Many Hours per song?

D

Dani Pace

New member
I know there is no way to say how long it takes to record a song but I am curious as to how many hours most of you spend per song. For the sake of discussion lets say the song is about 4 minutes, includes drums, bass, rythm and lead guitar parts, keyboard, main vocal, and 2 harmony vocals. Lets also assume all the musicians know their parts in advance. The quality doesn't have to be "pro studio" but good enough for a passable demo. Lets also assume that most parts wont have to be retracked too many times. Without figureing the time for mixing, remixing or mastering, about how much time would be a good average for studio time involved in this type of project? One more thing, lets assume everyone stays sober and there aren't too many arguements about how things should be done.
For me this is usualy an all day (or all night) event, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. I'm looking for a good "average" time per song without getting into too many complications. Thanks guys.
 
I probably spend between 30 and 150 hours per song.

But I do complicated shit and have a lackadaisical work ethic in the studio.

If I had to be more efficient, I would, but I don't think I'd enjoy the process as much.
 
We usually tell people to figure about 1 hour of studio time for every recored minute. It's less for some songs, but it's a good number to use if you haven't been in a studio before.
 
Even a well rehearsed band can have a weak spot that isn't that noticeable at their gigs, but just kills when they go to track a song -- you get one take tracks for almost everything, then wind up spending hour after hour to nail that weak spot (could be backing vocals, for instance). I know that's straining your question, but it's something to watch out for.
 
Harvey Gerst said:
We usually tell people to figure about 1 hour of studio time for every recored minute. It's less for some songs, but it's a good number to use if you haven't been in a studio before.
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Harvey,

That's with rehearsed arrangements that aren't quibbled in production, I assume?

And that's not a lot of overdubbing, I assume?
 
I take as long as I need. Since I record in my home studio I don't have time limitations.
But in your case I would say.... don't know... probably 10-15 hours per song.
You could do it way faster if you record all the rythm instruments together (drums, bass and guitar)
 
Todzilla said:
Harvey,

That's with rehearsed arrangements that aren't quibbled in production, I assume? Some quibbling.

And that's not a lot of overdubbing, I assume? Some overdubbing.
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We usually try to record the drums, bass, rhythm guitar, and a scratch vocal in one pass. Then, we go back and repair any bad bass notes or guitar mishaps. After that, we'll add a second rhythm guitar, and a lead guitar.

Then, we add harmonies and anything else that's needed. After all the other parts are done, we'll add the final vocals.

If we're doing 3 songs for example, we'll do all the instruments, scratch vocals (and forget about leads on Day 1). Day 2 is for lead guitars and harmonies. We'll usually schedule a 3rd day for final vocals, but some groups can do all of it in a couple of days.
 
I recorded and mixed a whole song in one night last night. Then again, it wasn't that great and just me playing...like 5 tracks.

I've spent the past 6 months off and on, on one song I'm recording and it's actually just making it harder that way.

I find that I usually have to be able to do at least the majority of the song done in one sitting or I will end up starting over. At least the backing tracks.
 
Todzilla said:
I probably spend between 30 and 150 hours per song.

But I do complicated shit and have a lackadaisical work ethic in the studio.

If I had to be more efficient, I would, but I don't think I'd enjoy the process as much.
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Back in the day, if the conditions were right, I can spend that much time just staring at the lava lamp :eek:
 
Off and on for a few months...But then again I have a lot going on, and the entire writing process is studio-based.
 
TerraMortim said:
Off and on for a few months...But then again I have a lot going on, and the entire writing process is studio-based.
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Do you mean the recording process is also the writing process? ie, you write the song as you go?

Lately, that's how I've been doing it. In fact, that is almost how I always do it. Just never have the time to sit down and write a whole arrangement out. It would sure make recording/mixing a lot easier if I did!
 
To record our album our band spent a year writing and recording demos working about 3-4 evenings a week. Then we rented a house and spent 5 months tracking. Hopefully the mixes will be finalized and mastered in another month or so.

We're slow.
 
danny.guitar said:
Do you mean the recording process is also the writing process? ie, you write the song as you go?

Lately, that's how I've been doing it. In fact, that is almost how I always do it. Just never have the time to sit down and write a whole arrangement out. It would sure make recording/mixing a lot easier if I did!
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absolutely. Most of my music is done that way...It's really nice to get that bit of instant gratification, and I find it helps to keep me inspired, and thinking about the arrangements from day one also in the context of the mix/tonality. I'm a huge supporter of the methods of mixing mostly with the arrangment rather than mostly EQ and stuff like that...I usually use that stuff for correction, or just clearing up the low frequencies. I tend to use lots of compressors/limiters and time based effects, but not so much eq, except for guitar and the aformentioned purposes.

I've found that almost any mix problem can be fixed by altering the arrangment.
 
Quite a variety here, from a few hours to ten years. I think I'll stick to trying to do a song in a day (8-10 hours) and be happy with that. Besides, I don't think I have the patience to work on the same song for ten years, now that I think about it I get bored with some songs after ten minutes. Thanks for the comments guys.
 
Two songs took about 8 hours a few weeks ago. But they were very rough, just a couple mics on the kit, and one per instrument (bass, 2 guitars, lead vox, 2 harmony vox). The longest part is always setup and levels. It's also the most important part. Mind you, this was live to 2 inch, with only vocal overdubs. But usually, as long as it takes to get a good sound within budget. All day is a good amount of time to set aside for a song within your restraints, though.
 
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