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Part 2: In the studio |
Bring a book - a big one, with lots of small print. Studios are arse-numbingly boring, and 80% of your time is spent listening to the drummer whack his snare drum, or the engineer playing the same ten seconds of music again and again. Expect to get through a lot of cigarettes. If you don't smoke, you'll probably start. Avoid drinking or smoking too much hash. The former often leads to fist-fights, the latter often leads to piss-poor playing. If at all possible, break your studio sessions in two so you can go away and listen to a rough copy in the car, in the house, on yer mate's stereo, etc etc etc. Anything sounds good in the studio, so you need to get that other perspective. Simple things - the bass might sound pumping on the big speakers, but disappears when you listen to it at home. You'll be spending a lot of money, might as well get it right. Take breaks if you can - not from playing, but from each other. Studios manage to be boring and stressful at the same time, and it's easy to end up smacking each other with microphone stands. If the bass player's getting on your nerves, go for a walk and come back when you've cooled off - but make sure you're not going to be needed for a while, or you'll cause a fight with the rest of your band. Resist the temptation to experiment: many studios have instruments lying around, and you might decide to add handclaps, sitar or hammond organ to your songs. This is almost always a mistake. There are exceptions - we've done some of our best stuff through mucking about in the studio - but we've also had to bin entire studio sessions because we made a mess of things. Remember, too, that you're paying for this. If you want to do something one way and the engineer isn't too enthusiastic, be assertive. But don't be an idiot, either. If the engineer's got a good reason for doing something a particular way, listen to what he or she is saying. After all, he or she knows the studio better than you do. Studio Ears Is the guitar loud enough? Vocal too quiet? You're way past caring, you've heard the song 300 times today. You have studio ears. If possible, bring a (musically aware) mate in for the last kick of mixing, the fresh ears can make a huge difference. Don't rely on your own judgements, because you've lost your perspective by now. Get it wrong here and you're stuck with a record you don't like and that you're embarrassed to play to anybody. Be ruthless: if something sounds a bit out of tune in the studio, that means it's very out of tune. If a vocal sounds "a bit flat", it's very flat. If it annoys you now, it's going to drive you insane within two weeks of leaving the studio. Above all, know exactly what it is you're trying to achieve. Nobody knows your music as well as you do: the studio's just a way of getting it down on tape. If you're unhappy in the studio, you'll be unhappy with the tape or CD. Don't settle for second best. If the above all sounds alarmingly sensible, that's because it is. There's a time to fill the studio with your mates, get monged on drugs and spend three weeks getting "a good snare sound"; but that time is when a record company's picking up your studio bill.
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