What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

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We all know Murphy's Law, so we won't repeat it here, but suffice it to say multiply the norm by ten, and you get a rough estimate of what can go wrong on a session! Experience is the usual cure, but it's interesting to note that with more experience, people tend to allow more time to accomplish the same tasks than people newer to recording. This is to allow for the most important item lacking in a lot of projects - QUALITY CONTROL. Always take the time to carefully listen to every performance that is going to be kept. Always proof EVRY SINGLE MASTER that leaves the studio. Listen in entirety to every final print of a mix. Listening to a song for the thousandth and first time won't kill you, but dropouts on your DAT at mastering might!

We strive to keep our sessions running efficiently through almost constant maintenance on our rooms and equipment. A week doesn't go by without connections being soldered, cables being checked and replaced, unity gain being checked, and so on. We log a lot of hours making sure our equipment works as it should. We have to: we can't charge studio time when it's broken!

It pays for a band to have a similar mindset. Constantly check your instrument. Send it out for repairs when it makes noise it shouldn't, or when the intonation is bad. These things can be fixed, and should be dealt with before coming into the studio. A good guitar setup is usually in the fifty-dollar range, and will save HOURS of work in the studio. Extend this mindset to all the other instruments. Check out our page about things to know before recording. It has a lot of info about specific things to look out for to help keep your sessions running smoothly.

Outside of that, know the tunes. Know the chords, the words, etc. Know when sessions are scheduled, who needs to be there, and the directions. If members of the band aren't specifically needed at the sessions, encourage them to take a night off. Less distraction often leads to a better end-product, and nothing is more distracting than conflicting opinions! Also, STAY FOCUSED!!! Stray comments and jokes and screwing around are part of the studio magic, for sure. But taken too far it will destroy the atmosphere needed to achieve great results.

We say it a million times, but again and again we repeat it: don't drink, and don't get high for sessions. You'll end up redoing the tracks. Trust us!

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