Studio Preparation
May 3rd, 2008 by Mike
Studio Preparation seems to be a fairly simple notion, yet some artists continue to waste their own time and money being unprepared for their session. Not only that, but wasting the time and energy of the people you are working with as well. A couple quick notes on the subject are:
— Be on time, ALWAYS! What a way to have a bad start for a session, right? 
Be early and it shows you care about yourself, your project and your engineers. Nothing is more frustrating than someone who wastes your time, unless they expect not to be charged for it. Time is money and every moment is costly.
— Keep distractions minimal. This means, leave the kids at home or with a nanny, get snacks and drinks before the session and focus on the task at hand. These distractions may be fun until the client realizes they didn’t get what they wanted done, and this soon turns to frustration and expectations from the engineer to make things better. It’s on the client to focus and get things done in a timely manner.
— Practice, practice, practice! Most people are in a rush to get things done under the hourly-rate demands of a studio, so have your material rehearsed in all of the ways you are expecting to record. This means, your vocal lines are solidified, harmonies arranged, words memorized, back up vocals are planned and any other ideas are written down. Do not try to remember a list of requests because it will never be as efficient or as particular as working from a list. Anything else is sure to waste time and money.
— Lastly, be courteous and treat your engineer well and he/she will show you love on the other end. Don’t know what I mean? Try starting a new session by giving a six-pack of (good) beer to the engineer and see what happens… A simple colloquialism fits: Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.
