Record an album in a week!!!

[mutantmariachirecords]

I have an offer to record an album out in LA at a really nice studio. The studio owner/producer is really chill and I like him. Time only allows for a week on this record and there is 11 songs to be recorded. We will record more than half of the songs live in studio and the rest will have to be multitracked. I figure about 4 days for tracking and 3 for mixing. The band and I have already recorded most of these songs at our home studio and we are very prepared. Any advice you would have as far as time management? Thanks

[JohnDavisNYC]

no booze/weed and work hard and sleep well. get all your gear set up and overhauled by techs/luthiers before you get into the studio. plan your parts. make a big chart you can hang on the wall of all the songs and parts that need to be recorded so that you can keep track of your progress and stay focused.

on the last night, after you are done, go out and get absolutely hammered and celebrate a week of hard work.

john

[drumsound]

Don't get bogged down with all the 'cool optionc' of the new big joint. And don't let it intimidate you.

Enjoy!

[darjama]

Chances are, there will come a point where you'll need to make trade-offs between perfecting fewer songs and completing them all. Be prepared in advance to make those decisions. Talk it out with the band and see what should have priority.

[fossiltooth]

All great advice here.

I only have two things to add:

1) Rehearse. If you can make things sound like a record while you're in your rehearsal space, you're halfway there. Really critically listen, remember to groove, and choose Tempos that really work.

2) Don't be afraid to throw things away. Just because you got the option to record 11 songs at a nice studio doesn't mean you have to use them all for commercial release, if they don't live up to your standards.

One of the negatives about the downfall of the label system is that too few songs are getting thrown away, scrapped or re-tracked these days. Sometimes, not everything you record in a week will be good enough, well-developed enough, or executed well enough for release. Don't be afraid to cut the dead weight. Everything you release will live on forever as part of your life's work. Make sure you're happy with it.


I guess I'm not really adding, but rather expanding on what darjama and toaster said. Hope some of this helps. Good luck!

[GooberNumber9]

One of the negatives about the downfall of the label system is that too few songs are getting thrown away, scrapped or re-tracked these days. Sometimes, not everything you record in a week will be good enough, well-developed enough, or executed well enough for release. Don't be afraid to cut the dead weight. Everything you release will live on forever as part of your life's work. Make sure you're happy with it.

When I read that 57 songs were written and recorded for "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness" and all but 28 were thrown away before the release it really changed my attitude about writing. Now I'm all about writing a lot and only keeping the good stuff. Now I see it as just like making movies or writing a novel.

Todd Wilcox

[@?,*???&?]

Eat Thai food and work long days.

[stinkpot]

Start a "rock 'n roll" spreadsheet to track what needs to be done on what song, mark things off as you complete them. take notes on it.

If all members have a gmail account, you can upload it to google docs and all can view it.

worked very well on the project i'm wrapping up.

we also kept a log on google docs and documented each track, how it was recorded, etc. everyone could add to it.

[tommy]

Make sure you are going for keeper bass and guitars too. If that means spending a little time to get the right guitar sounds before your takes, do it. The time you spend doing this will be made up during overdubs.

If the studio has one of those headphone distribution amps like the Furman HR 16, make sure spend the time to set up separate mixes per aux send and label each knob on everyones remote mixing station. This way everyone in the band gets to customize what they hear in the phones and everyone is happy and plays better as a result.

[the finger genius]

make a big chart you can hang on the wall of all the songs and parts that need to be recorded so that you can keep track of your progress and stay focused.

john

+1

[Jeff White]

Eat Thai food and work long days.

In past tense, this sounds like my future epitaph!

All that I can add is to plan out everything in advance and be well rehearsed, as well as plan for Murphey's Law to come into play at some point in the game.

Jeff

[LeedyGuy]

Consider making charts for the tunes, possibly big ones that can be posted with the order for each song along with any tricky dicky stuff you might do for transitions. When I record drums, I never do it without a chart anymore because it's just quicker. If someone gets nervous or freaks out, they can refer to the chart if they're lost.

[thieves]

If you get stuck on one particular part/song, give it a little rest, maybe a whole day, and revisit it. Don't adhere to a "i'm not going anywhere until i get this right" attitude. the first time i was in a band that got studio time, we did this for one piddly little bass intro and ended up wasting precous hours (!) on it.

[thieves]

don't go into the week with any tension between the bandmates. get your frustrations/group therapy/yelling fits/temporary breakups out of the way a couple weeks beforehand.

[C_R_J]

Eat Thai food and work long days.

In past tense, this sounds like my future epitaph!

All that I can add is to plan out everything in advance and be well rehearsed, as well as plan for Murphey's Law to come into play at some point in the game.

Jeff

this is a horrible plan. do not let another band come in and play when you are recording!













sorry. dumb joke. ill try to stop.