enough about gear: how bout PREPRODUCTION?

[EasyGo]

I love hearing about APIs, Neves, Distressors and the like, but how bout the part of the process that goes on before the tracking? (and doesn't cost anything)

If you're a band visiting the studio (tick tock tick tock) or recording your own stuff, what do you do to get ready for the experience. If you engineer or produce groups, what do you do to get the subject(s) ready for recording?

For instance, if I'll be recording my group in a commercial room, we like to put the individual parts under a microscope to make sure everyone's on the same page. Then practice those tracks really hard till we start getting in the realm of keeper takes.

I also like to have a clipboard with my outline/plan, and a cassette of overdub ideas I've worked on in advance, so there's no hesitation. Also having guitars set up with new strings and having amps sent in for maintenance really makes a difference. New heads for drums to keep the snare popping, etc.

And you?

[NewYorkDave]

Rehearse, gig, have songs written and worked out, rehearse, gig... repeat

[axial]

ya know one thing I try to suggest to bands I record and that I do when I'm getting ready to record with a band, is breaking down the peices in sections during rehearsal for the recording, like starting with just drums and bass, see what cues they look for and depend on, its really revealing and it frightens some players to even admit they depend on cues, then see if the guitar can play with just the drummer and so on, you'll find by the end people will have their parts in a whole new perspective and will have a better idea where problems lay in the arrangement and their individual role within it.

I dunno.

[xonlocust]

i think this is SO important it's not even funny. going in with a map of how all the songs work together, where all your overdubs are gonna be and so on is great. it also helps to make little song maps on paper - even if it's just sketches to make you think about your arrangements. recording your practices is a great idea too - i don;t think enough people do that. or if they do, they just don't do a good job listening to thier practices on a removed big picture song basis, instead of just listening for what they screwed up. hearing yourself on tape before going in the studio makes your weaknesses apparant and you can fix them before the clock is running.

its really frustrating when a band comes in and you just keep rolling the tape while they do take after take learning the song. if you did a good job of preproduction, i dont see why it should take any more than 3 takes to get a keeper.

[cURVe sPACe]

ya know one thing I try to suggest to bands I record and that I do when I'm getting ready to record with a band, is breaking down the peices in sections during rehearsal

I totally agree. Especially when you usually practice at loud volumes. Even when writing, I like to run through the song with just drum/bass, then just bass/guitar, then guitar/drums... In addition to being able to hear the individual parts and clean things up, it can also give you great ideas for dynamics. Sometimes that verse can sound way cooler with the bass dropped out and just guitar/vox (for example).

Xonoclust hit the nail right on the head. Unless you are wealthy and can afford to "write and rehearse" while the clock is running, it is really important to have songs "finished" before going in to the studio. Another thing is tempos. It sucks to have to keep stopping during a take because the tempo doesn't feel right. It's good practice to have a metronome with the "tap tempo" function laying around at rehearsals. When you're running through a song and it's feeling good, just tap along and note the tempo. This way you have a reference when the song just isn't feeling right.

-mark

[joeysimms]

recording your practices is a great idea too - i don;t think enough people do that.

I've done this consistently for the past 3 or 4 bands I've been in. If you're the main songwriter / arranger, this is unbelievably important. I have more cassettes of my bands, ideas, and forgotten "must record this now" stuff to last me the rest of my life.. Even when I *think* I've got something new, I'll find a tape from 11 years ago with something remarkably similar on it.. I LOVE that.

The last band I was in tracked our basics for 11 songs in 3 days. When we were putting the songs together in rehearsals, we would play one part over and over, like for 15-20 mins on one little part. Then the band has a chance to spend time on their parts that's approaching the time you, the songwriter, has spent with it. That's the main thing. The band really has to hear the song for a LONG time, in order for things to sink in, to really hear what's happening and what's possible. When I wrote something, I'd have loads of ideas of how it could go, what the other parts could be, etc. But I would never tell the band unless we weren't getting anywhere after a while.

I'd also have the tape with the original ideas on hand, as well as anything I was borrowing from others ( so I could say, "well how about like this break on this song..").


Tom

[The Gibbon]

There are a few things that I like to do on the front side such as meeting the artist/group wherever they rehearse for a number of reasons...
1) I kind of want to get to know them a bit because my studio is in my home and I've had a couple of experiences with folks being a bit...how do you say....unprofessional?
2) I like to get a simple tape recording of their material so I can be well prepared. Being familiar with the material helps me produce and run session as I can better predict strengths and weaknesses in the songs or the artist.
3) Knowing exactly what equipment they plan to use is a plus.
4) It's easier for me to evaluate how long of a process recording them will be, so there are few suprises when I tell them to pay up.
5) The clients I've taken these steps with seem to take the experience of recording and myself more seriously and seem to trust my judgement because they see how commited I am to giving them a good product.

[biasvoltage]

I am mostly recording my own stuff, by myself. Consequently, the pre-production process is often concurrent with, and sometimes indistinguishable from, the production process.

Be that as it may, I still need to record someone else playing drums, because I drum about as well as...look I just can't drum, ok? I have a good pal that I play in a cover band with, who is great when playing with a group, but kind of inconsistent when we break it down to just him and myself. So even though I might eventually replace his parts, I get another pal in to play either bass or guitar, whichever I'm not playing, to get a better performance out of the drummer.

I'm not one of those people who just intuitively knows how all of my backing vocal harmonies are going to go, so when I've got enough of the basic tracks together to start thinking about doing some backup vocals, I bump a mono mix of the basics to my 4track, and then use the 3 open tracks to work out my harmony parts, and then go back to the 1/2" and record them properly. Saves wear and tear on the master tape while I learn what the hell I'm going to sing, and I feel that this technique is better than working out the parts to a demo version (before production begins) because I can work out the specific timing and phrasing so that it fits with the actual instruments as they are going to be on the final recording.


Having the limitation of 8 tracks forces me to really think about my arrangements, and consider how important every little thing is going to be to the finished product. I also have to have a very well-thought-out plan of what I'm going to record when, so that I know I'm going to have an open track to bounce things onto, and I'm not going to wind up with the lead vocal on track 1 or 8 where it might get screwed up if someting happens to my machine, etc. The result is, I might not have the track space to have both 3 part harmony and the vox organ going on the middle 8, so the organ gets erased in favor of the 3rd harmony part. And pulling the organ out of that part made the whole track better; whereas if I'd had more tracks, it would have just played on thru and not been as effective.

[joeysimms]

Great post, soft supply. I, too am on the 1/2" 8 track, and find myself doing alot of planning what will be bounced and when, in order to make room for what I will likely add. What I haven't done much of is dump to 4 track to work out harmonies, etc. That's a great idea!

I will usually want to add about 100 guitars and percussion ..(!), so I usually do that stuff first. If I have the room, I'll leave a scratch vocal up while I work on the other parts, so that I don't record stuff that won't go with the real vocals.

lately, it's been a mono mix of 3 tracks of drums from 1-3 to 6. Then add 3 other guitars or background vocals, or percussion, and bounce 1-4, or 1-5 to a stereo 7-8. Then, maybe keys or a solo, bounced from 3and 4 to 1. Then, I've got 3 tracks left for vocals, or whatever else NEEDS to be on there!


Tom

[I'm Painting Again]

in the video business they say every hour of preproduction saves three hours in production..

hangin with the band and really getting to know their sensabilities is key.
a listening hang out session is great..go see them live..etc..have your stuff set up before they come..(i should be doing this as i type these words)..anything you can think of..awesome topic i wish i had more time to think about it right now..

[JES]

Well, it's been a few years thanks to the home studio, but back in the day when I was in a real (but not real successful) rock band and recorded in pro studios, we came up with a good system.

1. Practice our asses off. Record practice. Cringe. Practice some more.

2. Prioritize which songs we were going to record and in what order.

3. Spend an evening listening to CDs to look for reference mixes.

4. Make up a mock tracking sheet for the engineer for every song. Who's on vocals? Will they be singing loudly or softly? Guitar clean, distorted, or both? Ditto for bass. Any effects? Any "featured instrument" at any time? Any planned overdubs? Any other known "sound issues"?

#4 was UNSPEAKABLY useful for our engineer. I'd recommend it to any band, especially a band that modifies their sound from song to song.

Best,
--JES

[cgarges]

1. Have effective rehearsals. It's rare that anyone's first impulse or idea is the best one, so don't be afraid to change things. Parts, arrangements, keys, etc. Be honest.
2. Record rehearsals. Evaluate as a band at a later date. Be honest, don't make excuses. ("Oh man, I shouldn't have had that many beers," etc.) At some point, you sounded like that.
3. Play in front of an audience. Record it. Evaluate the show, not ny how many of your friends told you you were great, but by how many people came and how many people stayed. Also, evaluate by how easy it is to get another gig. Evaluate the recording. This is REALLY what you sounded like. Was the balance crappy? If so, why and what can you do about it? The band's sound is not ENTIRELY the responsibility of the sound guy.
4. Define your recording goals. This includes budget, material, and general ideas. Keep the good/fast/cheap triangle in mind--you can only have two of the three. Don't try to bite off more than you can chew. THERE WILL BE OTHER SESSIONS.
5. Look for a studio and engineer you like. Hear their work. Talk to other people who've worked with them. When you find the right person, you'll know it. Trust them, especially when it comes to the technical end of their responsibilities, but make all of your intentions clear up front and every step of the way.
6. Decide if you want a producer. This can be the engineer if you trust their asthetic and if you discuss it with them up front. Don't assume. If there's someone else you want to produce, same rules apply. Make sure that the engineer and producer communicate before the session. Not five minutes before, either.
7. Make sure your gear works, is intonated, and doesn't make excess noise. If there's a producer discuss this end of the session with them before hand. Remember, if you have to leave a guitar in the shop, don't drop it off the day before your session.
8. Have fun.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[@?,*???&?]

Quite a topic here. This topic is for bands and producers. Really should be off-topic I guess...

I'm in the middle of pre-production with a band right now, but WE ARE RECORDING. We are recording what could be an independently released record. Band are completely pleased with the computer based recording I am getting from their rehearsal space. It's blows away their first experience at a modestly priced studio AND it's home grown. I, however, find myself having to work harder and longer trying to get this shit to sound like music- exciting music at that. The economics of this process always grinds me, but things definitely go more smoothly in the studio. So be it.

We are working on arrangements to the songs. Going over drum parts. Locking bass guitar with kick. I am tracking the band with no click just to document the pattern changes down to reference later. Drummer seems to have good natural timing, but sucks ass when he doesn't have a fill idea nailed down. So I'm policing that. Take the fill question out of the equation and suddenly he's in the pocket.

Guitar amps at the first rehearsal were the loudest thing in the room for about the first 5 minutes. I turned them down and then I got the guys listening to the drums- always drums and vocals as the most imperative element to any song that works.

The equipment question hasn't even come up. The drummer has a terrible kit, but for what we're doing it's workable. One of the guitar players has a shitty amp, but it's workable. Those things would be rented or borrowed when budget comes down to record. Budget which management says they can get...

An annoying aspect of doing this work in an unheated garage is the temperature last time we worked was around 50 degrees. We were in there for 10 hours. At one point a propane space heater was fired up for a few hours, but the fan made so noise, recording while it was on was pointless. I remember the Vegas bands I produced and those garage rehearsals were over 100 degrees.

Best of all, everytime I pack the gear into the car to take to their rehearsal space and then unload it at the other end I get this gleeful 'fuck it' attitude. I set-up differently for each session just to see what that will yield. One only has to document the parts really, forget the sonics.

[wendy f]

i also think it really helps to bring in reference materials for the engineer. demos/home recordings obviously but also mix tapes (CD-Rs) with songs that have the aesthetic you are shooting for or even just one element (i.e. so you can say "i want this kick/snare/guitar/vocal/whatever sound").

also thinking about things like: whether or not it is important for some or all lyrics to be intelligible, do you want to have a different album version (in terms of structure or length or instrumentation) of the song than the one you play live, and also what would make you feel most comfortable and inspired in an alien environment (i.e. how can you make the live room feel more like your practice space or whatever).

obviously practicing is super important but i think bands should take a day or two off before going into the studio so they feel well-rehearsed but fresh and not sick of the songs or eachother. . .

[joel hamilton]

I agree with almost everything said so far,
BUT....

I have to say,

I really have gotten over the "bring in stuff you like" type of vibe.
I am so much more into making THEM sound like the best THEM they have ever heard.

I think the minute someone starts playing the song, it should be self eveident where the song needs to go sonics wise.

I have also had people come in with CD' sthat have songs that are all under 90 bpm, and say "that is exactly how we wanna sound" and then go in the room and play 3 times faster and expect the sounds to be flattering?!?

They might be cool, fast songs, but some kind of room decay or verb over 2 seconds is still ringing when the next snare drops, ya knowwutimsayin?

I really like working on tempos and takes these days, and really helping to clarify the message, so to speak.

creating an environment where people feel comfortable, and creative...

Pre production should be a priority. Preproduction makes everyone sound better.