Being a dick engineer, to make the prodcution as good as can be

[Goodfellas453]

do any of you guys have a strict list of requirements when tracking a band? like pre-pro recordings/tempo list mapped/new strings/good guitars etc, I'm just curious because i have had some guys with dead ass bass strings which i can only make sound so good, or their fender squire just isn't sounding that great..

i have a pretty good guitar which i happily lend to guitarists in order to make the production sound better, but i am starting to wonder if i should be stricter towards the band having to meet requirements, I'm not too concerned with the tempo or pre pro recordings but i do want a very specific idea of the direction of the songs so were not experimenting halfway through the tracking etc.

so i was curious how you guys go about it?

 

[timislegend]

clearly, it always depends on the situation.

joey has a great professional method that is suggestively more intuitive than it seems. not everyone can create demos before tracking in a studio. some bands will only have access to the studio ...and more unfortunately, that will become their demo. but joey's organization is probably the most common and most efficient.

a good way to capitalize off that is by offering a separate service for bands without demos. you can record the sessions in garageband, on a macbook pro and charge $50/ song. then after you are finished with a rough level (output) mix, you say; "hey i know a great engineer that can produce this... ME!"

and charge them ...whatever.

 

[corybrunnemann]

do any of you guys have a strict list of requirements when tracking a band? like pre-pro recordings/tempo list mapped/new strings/good guitars etc, I'm just curious because i have had some guys with dead ass bass strings which i can only make sound so good, or their fender squire just isn't sounding that great..

i have a pretty good guitar which i happily lend to guitarists in order to make the production sound better, but i am starting to wonder if i should be stricter towards the band having to meet requirements, I'm not too concerned with the tempo or pre pro recordings but i do want a very specific idea of the direction of the songs so were not experimenting halfway through the tracking etc.

so i was curious how you guys go about it?

i have some equipment that i bought SPECIFICALLY for letting bands use, bc i can't trust a band to bring decent equipment, and MY recordings aren't gunna suffer because of it.

 

[setyouranchor]

Demos, new strings and know the songs inside out. If i've seen a band live, I dont always ask for demos etc.

I'm also a nazi tracker. Do it right and do it tight.

 

[Goodfellas453]

how often do you guys check tuning? ive been kinda neurotic lately

 

[corybrunnemann]

I'm also a nazi tracker. Do it right and do it tight.

+1 i am too, and its sad when the guitarist doesn't even know he's done something wrong haha. i say "do it again" more than anything else in my life.

 

[Seth Munson]

how often do you guys check tuning? ive been kinda neurotic lately

probably about 2 or 3 times in a riff with punch ins.

 

[Joel4662]

This is why I only record myself ;D

 

[Tommy Evans]

I check tuning everytime we do another take. Even on vox takes I make the sure every guitar in the room is in tune.

 

[kool98769]

how often do you guys check tuning? ive been kinda neurotic lately

usually every other take, unless I hear something weird. Which happens quite a bit.

 

[corybrunnemann]

I check tuning everytime we do another take. Even on vox takes I make the sure every guitar in the room is in tune.

hahaha!