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Your First Time?

Never been in a studio before? The first time out can be as scary as it is thrilling.

For me, the first outing was absolutely terrifying. Fortunately as my session-playing experience grew, working in professional recording facilities became less intimidating, and far more productive.

Most of us have seen pictures of pro studios in magazines or on TV. You'll usually see some scary little sterile rooms; and what looks like enough high-tech gizmos to launch a fleet of space-shuttles. A forest of chromed stands holds a collection of weird looking microphones, the likes of which you've never seen. A desk covered in buttons and knobs. Video/monitor/movie screens. Portable sections of wall. Complicated looking keyboards. Speakers. Lots of really cool looking speakers. … and a chair.

That's how it looked to me. Suddenly I was in this stark little room, being observed through the vacuous silence, by someone I think must be really smart to know what all this stuff is for, on the other side of two layers of what looks like bulletproof glass. I felt like I was in a test-tube.

Then an icy, mechanical-sounding voice came through my headphones… "rolling".

Over the years I've dubbed this scenario "the goldfish-bowl effect". Personally, I found it to be the scariest aspect of recording. I tell you this so that you can appreciate the lengths we've gone to so that none of our clients will ever feel this way.

Goblin-Cross Records' on-site studio ("Metro-Gnome") is laid out all in one medium sized room. The engineer and the gear are in the same room with you.
The experience feels more like jamming in a friends' recroom than being on display in a goldfish-bowl. This is deliberate. If you can't relax and get into the project, you'll waste a lot of time doing take, after take, after take.

I try to start the process of "settling in" long before the session starts. We ask a lot of questions beforehand about the project, and discuss different ways of getting it done. We may make some recommendations, but this is only after we have a clear understanding of what the finished goal is in your mind. Then we take a look at how long it will probably take to do it.

Almost everyone underestimates the time required to finish a great project. I constantly hear things like, "we're only doing 6 songs at 3 minutes each, so we'll only need a couple of hours". The band in this case has added together the playing times of all the songs, allowed double that for mistakes, and made what appears at first to be a responsible and economical guess.

What has been overlooked here is that time is needed for set-up of instruments, transfer of any computer files into the studio system (midi files, samples, etc), microphone setup and placement, sound-check, monitor check, sync-check, click-track setup, bed-tracking and overdubbing. With everything running perfectly, an experienced engineer, a well-rehearsed band, and good organization, these steps will still take time.

In the FAQ section, I stated that an average 4-member rock band would need 16-24 hours of studio time to do a 3-song demo. This is not a greedy pie-in-the-sky estimate on my part. It's actually a very conservative estimate based on many years of experience.

In this section, I'd like to go through the whole process, beginning to end, using a hypothetical (although typical) 4-member rock band as an example. Let's assume it's your band.

It starts when you first pick up the phone and call us.

At that time we'll discuss the type of project you want to do,
Will it be in-studio, or on location?
What instrumentation and how many people will be involved?
Is this for a demo or a full CD project?
When did you want to begin this? (Approximately)

The next step is to come in and meet us.

We would never expect anyone to book time "sight unseen", and without meeting us in person. This step is called "the studio tour".

At this meeting we'll show you some similar projects we've helped other clients with, (play some tracks) and discuss in more detail how we might proceed with your project. Once those details are set, we book the sessions.

In our example, the rock band wants to do a 3-song demo. (Get the feeling this happens a lot?) These guys may have some, but not a lot, of experience in the studio, so they expect it will take 16 hours.

The booking is for two days, a Saturday and a Sunday consecutively. This will cost an estimated amount (16 x the clock-rate) plus the cost of any media used. Since the band is doing 3 songs, 6 DAT tapes will be required for backing up the project, plus 1 for mastering. (Add 7 x $10-approx.) A non-refundable deposit of 25% of the expected balance is collected to confirm the booking of the two sessions.

The band arrives at 10am Saturday. There is a drummer, a keyboard player and a bassist, who sings backing vocals and a lead singer who also plays guitar. (Good lineup- I wish this was my band!)

Here is an example of how the day would probably unfold:

Sunday's focus will be on finishing vocal tracks, mixing, mastering, and finally making a master CD.

Again, with all accounts settled, the DAT backups and 1 copy of the CD master become property of the band.

So there we have a fairly common 3 song demo scenario, completed in 16 hours, with not a minute to spare. Surprising that it could take that long, isn't it?

This isn't to say that your project will have to take that much time, but now that you know what may be involved, you can now form a more educated estimate of the time requirements of a professional project.

So what should you expect at Goblin-Cross Records?

Professionalism. We treat all of our clients with equal care and respect.

We look forward to your call.

©2002, Ross Goodfellow

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