What preparation do you generally do before tracking?

[Steve Henningsgard]

I ordered some mics but thanks to the good ol' USPS, they're not here yet. I can only pray they arrive tomorrow.

Anyway, point being, I've got a band from out-of-state coming over in about an hour and I'm trying to figure out things to do while they're here waiting for the mics. Obvious things include setting up the drums, but what other preparation should I/we do? Track listing or something? I guess planning out what effects/samples (if any) they plan on doing or something...

 

[TelePaul]

I ordered some mics but thanks to the good ol' USPS, they're not here yet. I can only pray they arrive tomorrow.

Anyway, point being, I've got a band from out-of-state coming over in about an hour and I'm trying to figure out things to do while they're here waiting for the mics. Obvious things include setting up the drums, but what other preparation should I/we do? Track listing or something? I guess planning out what effects/samples (if any) they plan on doing or something...

Track Listing for sure. Also have em play the song for you a cpuple of times, so you get an overall feel of what parts are going where. Ilike to ask if theres a particular sound they're going for. If there are two guitarists, find out who is the tighter guy and have him do the first rhythm.

 

[Zed10R]

Create song arrangement charts with them. Those are very useful.

 

[Ford Van]

Create song arrangement charts with them. Those are very useful.

Yup! Also, get the key and tempo established! Make the singer create lyric sheets for you. It is ALL very helpful!!!

Trust me, have them all play in the studio at once, and have them create a GREAT sound where everybody can hear themselves very well. If they can achieve that, their recording will go very smooth, and come out WAY better.

 

[FALKEN]

uhh...

make sure the snare isn't rattling. make sure the toms are in tune. make sure the snare and kick are in tune. make sure the drummer is hitting the drums properly. make sure the cymbals sound good. start placing amps in the room so that they sound good. make sure the bass amp doesn't have rattling speakers. or the guitar amps. get the tone tweaked. get the headphone amp wired up. make sure everyones headphones are working and they have a good mix. make sure the guitar strings are new and stretched. make sure the guitars and bass are freaking intonated properly and that the necks are straight and that there are no dead notes on the fretboard. put up any gobos or other sound blocking materials you might need. then start on arrangements.

 

[jonnyc]

Pick up the beer cans from the previous sessions. I like to give the illusion that I'm a clean person for the first 10 or 15 minutes.

 

[LeeRosario]

well when you do it enough, the prep really goes fast. All the built in stuff, like making sure you have a condusive work environment, is really just a given.

You see, I always come from the school of thought that the preproduction determines how smoothly things go. If your musicians are rehearsed, then the sessions develope a steady momentum. Musicians love that and so do all the people working into the studio.

If they struggle, then that session isn't usually going to go over well with everyone in the room.

My first recordings of other musicians, and I mean very first (1997ish), where the biggest disasters in music history for lack of good prepro.

But when you start bringing in those things: the charts, the track sheets, the input lists, song structure charts, the game plan....basically everything that makes anything possible at a kindergarden level, then you start creating this jam session mentailty. Your musicians forget they are actually recording because you let them feel comfortable.

For that I always studied people like Conan and Jay Leno, which sounds stupid, but breaks the ice really well.

I think the technical stuff is alright and qualifies more as a nessesary evil. But I think the important thing is doing whatever you can to create this atmosphere of trust with your artist.

 

[Robert D]

Polish The Lava Lamp!

 

[Neeps]

Drink lots of tea... and that goes for when the mics have arrived as well and in life in general.

 

[scorpio01169]

wow you are cutting it close for the mics to MAYBE show up tomorrow.

 

[Steve Henningsgard]

wow you are cutting it close for the mics to MAYBE show up tomorrow.

You're telling me! I ordered them Monday and they supposedly shipped Monday from like 4 states away. You'd think they'd be here Wednesday or Thursday through Priority Mail :O(

 

[Nate74]

I gotta ask: are these mics that you've worked with before or will they be brand new to you and your setup? I can't imagine trying a mic for the first time on a band at an actual session.

 

[FALKEN]

why not? you put it up and it either sounds good or it doesn't. same with a new mic or an old one.

 

[Steve Henningsgard]

I gotta ask: are these mics that you've worked with before or will they be brand new to you and your setup? I can't imagine trying a mic for the first time on a band at an actual session.

For me, my style is "quick & dirty", which might be translated as "doesn't take my time" but that's really not it. I haven't been recording "professionally" very long, but so far I've worked with friends' bands and they like the "git r' done" attitude. It really makes time for the important things like writing good songs and keeping the emotion up.

But maybe that's just me!

 

[legionserial]

Sleep.....

 

[Ironklad Audio]

the 1st thing i do prior to any session is clean up my working space...home studio = shared living/work space, and i don't like having any of my personal shit sitting around when people show up

aside from that, i set up all the mic stands, run cables, pull out the mics i'm going to need, set up the session in my DAW, and basically do anything else that i can think of before the musicians show up...even the little shit, like unplugging the DSL modem

then when they get here, i'll start setting up drums/amps/etc...make sure everything sounds ok, get the mics set up/scratch test/set levels, then let the band do a few runs through before hitting record

i also ALWAYS make sure to keep a pen and some paper on hand for taking session notes!

 

[DAS19]

I like to work in my mics you know make them feel at home before I really use them .

jk i know what he means though you dont really know the ups and downs of that particular mic.

 

[TragikRemix]

so did the mics come in time???

 

[Steve Henningsgard]

Yes they did! They came Friday morning, and we tracked all drums and 1/2 the guitars then. We finished guitars & bass yesterday, and the singer will be coming in sometime in the next couple weeks to do vox (newer singer and they didn't have any recordings for him to practice on so I figured it doesn't hurt anything to do 'em later. I already got paid so it's their time at this point )

Thanks for the suggestions for pre-production. We did a rough take of the songs on Thursday night with just 2 mics (KSM27 above/behind drums, SM58 on cab) and even that sounded better than what these guys had before. We used the roughs to plan out basically everything we wanted to do and I think it really made everything go pretty smooth, with the notes I made from the roughs.

Everything turned out pretty well, considering it was a couple 18-year-old kids. They're not amazing, but they knew their songs and tracking went pretty well. They're really happy with the pre-mix material, so it should end up sounding pretty good!

I'll post in the clinic section when I have something to show