is 1 day enough per song in a commercial studio?

[departed]

so we're off to hit a studio in february. the track isnt super technical, just some straight-forward rock/alt stuff. now, the studio has recommended 2 days for the single we hope to release but that's going to be a little pricey for us. i think that if we get our shit together and make sure we demo and know the song inside out we can do a track in a 9-5 day.. am i being unrealistic here?

 

[narcossintese]

Totally. Not sure about the mix, but if you guys know how to play the song (have the "execution" part taken care of) you can totally track all the instrumments on a single day.

 

[Sinister Mephisto]

Sounds totally reasonable to me as long as you aren't overestimating your abilities.

EDIT: oh yeah, as long as mix isn't included. You'll probably need another day to mix.

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

As long as:

1) You really have your shit together, no second-guessing the moment you're supposed to cut the song, the bassist actually knows which of those little shiny metal things he should press down on and you don't have to write the lyrics while taking a crap just before starting to track the vocals (this might sound stupid, but believe me, this has all happened, more than once)
2) You show up on time exactly when you're supposed to, and you know where the bassist is and he isn't drunk somewhere completely elsewhere (this might sound stupid, but...)
3) You keep it simple and don't decide to try out some whack experimental percussion stuff or decide you don't like the guitar takes after all when you have half an hour left (this might... oh, wait...)

...you should be fine. You can even squeeze in a super fast mix if you absolutely have to, but anyone in their right mind should be willing to pay a bit extra for a proper mixing session the next day.

 

[ahjteam]

I would say 2 days minimum. I used to work in demo studio, you were allowed only to book 1-3 days, 8 hours a day. Usually first days was always setting up and tracking, last day mixing. The setting up took usually minimum of 1-2 hours even if we used the house drum kit. The longest thing I did was 20 minutes worth of end product, but the band was pretty well prepared with their material.

edit: And I'm with Jarkko, bass player was usually the weakest link in the band when it came to recording, main reason was that they couldn't hear themselves when they were rehearsing. And they were usually pretty sloppy too.

 

[AdamWathan]

Yeah I would also say 2 days if you want to do a good job on it. If it's a demo or something maybe one day, especially if you don't intend on doing any editing at all, but setup and getting sounds takes a lot of time.

 

[Ermz]

Setting up and getting sounds does take a lot of time. That's the real time investment that many people don't factor in. I usually spend one whole day just getting the drumkit tuned and mic'ed up. As long as you go in there ready and know roughly what's going to record well for you, you can probably do it.

I imagine you're intending to track it all live, as a whole band?

 

[crillemannen]

I usually count 2days per song if the band wants a professional final product. One band out of 15 has been really fast to pull 1 song/day.

Save up some money and do it right

 

[crillemannen]

edit: And I'm with Jarkko, bass player was usually the weakest link in the band when it came to recording, main reason was that they couldn't hear themselves when they were rehearsing. And they were usually pretty sloppy too.

I have the total opposite experience with Bass players haha. They usually are one the best players in the band

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

I was joking about the bass player thing, nothing against the Brotherhood of Four Strings

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Setting up and getting sounds does take a lot of time.

Yeah but you can minimize this if your flexible on what you use. If the studio already has their kit up and ready to go then setup time should decrease dramatically (besides, in my experience studio kits are maintained a fuck ton better than most kits brought in, that and they are also usually nicer IMO).

 

[C_F_H_13]

IMO you can't do it in a day. I have bands come in all the time with that in mind and it works out maybe 1% of the time.

The reality is this:

1. You aren't actually as prepared as you think you are. I don't mean this negatively against you personally, it's just fact that no bands are ever prepared enough. The biggest things bands forget is that playing the song to a click will drastically change how everyone preforms. If you are planning on using a click, practice to it. And when you do, actually make sure you're on it.

2. Setup will eat up alot more time then you think. IF you're doing a 9-5 day (which is insane IMO if you're paying for a real studio), factor in 2-3 hours of setup, 45 minutes of eating/break/smoke breaks and an hour or so for tear down. Roughly that translates to 3-5 hours of an 8 hour block gone before you've even played a note. I've been working in the same room for close to 3 years now, and even knowing what works when, it'll still take me 2 hours to get a drumkit mic'd and sounding rad.

3. Whomever is mixing the song, will do a far better job if they don't mix after tracking. I guarantee that you will be infinitely happier if you let him mix the 2nd day.