Doing basic tracks in (gasp) a pro studio. Advice?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JG96
  • Start date Start date
JG96 said:
However this album is also a project for school and handing in one song as a final product of a months work isn't going to cut it.
Click to expand...

Unless you can justify it.

4 hours? 2-4 songs, if the setup is quick, everything works first time, the performance is tight, and the drummer remembers all that crap that he always forgets.

I have a guy coming round on monday night to do an acoustic and vocal recording in two hours.
I doubt he's leaving with a CD.

I was in exactly your shoes about 12 years ago. Battle of the bands, studio prize, yada yada.
We got ten hours. High hopes and expectations....all the rest of it.

The engineer laid it down and said "look, if you're very well rehearsed we'll do four songs"
Four songs is what we got and damn, it was tight, time wise.
 
Anytime your in "real" studio the clock seems to speed up, time literally fly's, and if your paying for your studio time you walk in, blink and times up.

Just don't be afraid to change your expectations if time runs short.
 
Okay, so if you track your songs in the studio, how do you plan on mixing/mastering them? Are you gonna do it by yourself?
 
tashmoo said:
One of the co-founders of the studio, Adel, studied at Full Sail and did a John Mayer album.
I think you're in good hands.

Know your material cold so you can get first or second takes on the songs and you should have a great session.
Click to expand...

^ This is dead on.

Remember to actually perform. Do not do the usual, "we'll just do another take" or "fix it in the mix". Don't fall into those traps. Take 17 wont be any better than the first 2 or 3 anyway so why waste time recording all of those. Do it right the first time, because there is no magic bullet or wonder plug-in to fix a lazy performance. Give it your all.

I would also recommend making sure your guitars and drums are set up mechanically. Oil up the drum pedals, put on new strings, new drum heads, the whole shebang. Also make sure drummer guy gets his kit in tune. It may be a subtle thing to some but it will make a huge difference in the long run.

For the vocals, the singer(s) need to lay of the smokes and a brief cardio before tracking the vocals helps a lot. I read somewhere that Geoff Tate of Queensryche brought a treadmill on tour so that he could do some running before going on stage to open up the airways and get him warmed up.


Anyway, I'm just trying to help here so good luck on your upcoming EP! Rock on! :thumbs up:
 
That is definitely the goal!
Since we finally have an opportunity to track live we intend to treat it like a show and really capture the performance. I have also noticed that if a good take cant be had after about 3 or 4 tries its not gonna happen.
I always check the tuning on the drums and make fine adjustments if necessary. I think the drummer in my band, as great as he is, may be a bit tone deaf.;)
There will definitely be a trip to guitar center for strings/heads.
Thats very interesting about the cardio. The lead singer in my band used to be a runner and he said when he stopped his voice got deeper. I think it was an improvement but maybe he just has more time on his hands to sing. :D
 
If you are playing everything as a band, 'live', multiple takes may or may not work - going for that one take when everyone does their part flawlessy and together is difficult. When you are tracking individually, its another story - as long as you have the time. Took me about 6 takes to nail the sax part I wanted last night.
 
So what happened with this? Did you join the cult, or at least get some tracks recorded? :D
 
Sorry for not letting y'all know, I have become a slave to the machine! AKA. Mixing.
So we recorded 6 tracks live and did some punch ins. We were well rehearsed and the sound was very good.
The engineers working with us were dinguses however. We finished fairly quickly and towards the end we were double tracking guitar, and then one of the engineers kept showing us rap beats he had made. The other was more helpful but a bit careless. He put the floor tom mic so it was touching the rim and did a similar thing with the kick mic.
On the floor tom its not noticeable but on the kick I had to roll off everything above 350 hz and replace with a sample.
The room is also very large and we used a room mic about 8 feet in front of the kit and a set on the second floor pointed away from everything. The distant mics had a very cool natural reverb.

It was a good experience to get into a studio but I am still a home recordist at heart. I care about my bands music more than some lazy ass engineers apparently.:cursing:

Oh and I will probably have some stuff in the clinic later today.
 
JG96 said:
Sorry for not letting y'all know, I have become a slave to the machine! AKA. Mixing.
So we recorded 6 tracks live and did some punch ins. We were well rehearsed and the sound was very good.
The engineers working with us were dinguses however.
Click to expand...

Hey. Glad it sounded good and you got so much done.

Shame about the little flaws, but these things happen. They can be much worse - At least the kick was a reasonably straight forward part to replace. :)

Will we get to hear anything?

Steenamaroo said:
I have a guy coming round on monday night to do an acoustic and vocal recording in two hours.
I doubt he's leaving with a CD.
Click to expand...

Eating my words. Dude totally left with a CD.
 
Yeah it took about an hour to replace all the kick tracks so thats not terrible. I feel like you can get a lot more out of your time if you are well rehearsed. We practiced the songs for about 3 hours daily in the weeks leading up to the recording and got most of the songs down in 3 takes. There was one where we wound up doing 5 takes but we just wound up using the first one and punching in some notes on the solo:D
Oh and I'm prepping the songs for the clinic as we speak!
 
JG96 said:
We practiced the songs for about 3 hours daily in the weeks leading up to the recording and got most of the songs down in 3 takes.
Click to expand...
Maybe you already had that discipline; Maybe you got it from here.
Either way, it sounds like it paid off for you. I'd consider 3-5 goes for a keeper to be pretty good going.

JG96 said:
Oh and I'm prepping the songs for the clinic as we speak!
Click to expand...
Looking forward to it. :)
See ya there.
 
First off, I would plan to do less songs. 7-12 songs in one day is terribly hopeful unless your bar is pretty low! Better to try to get 3 tunes sounding really good....

(edit)Okay, I posted without reading all the other comments. Glad you got the 5 song EP finished!
 
Last edited:
I really like the writing and style.
After listening through Norman I jumped to Vomit Rock and it was as good, first impression I liked that tone better. But Norman the second play was good..

but I think I like the music better than the differences between recordings of the two collections.
I don't think theres enough difference to pay for studio time if you did VR at home...my 2 cents.
 
I'm glad you liked it CoolCat! Norman and Vomit Rock are definitely fairly different stylistically.
I agree that home recording is still the way to go. The band really enjoyed the natural feel and time saved by tracking live. I am upgrading to a 14 channel interface so we can track live at home.
I also love the quote in your sig! :D
-Josh
 
Steve Millikan said:
Okay, I posted without reading all the other comments.
Click to expand...
I am frequently nonplussed by the number of times I've read this. That's like starting a book on page 57 but having to write a life saving essay on it. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top