Band Tips - Allow Time For F#@k Ups

Hey crew,

I hope you're all doing well, staying positive through these uncertain times and keeping the music flowing.

So let's talk about how much time you need to record some cool tunes. Some of these thoughts are thing's I've touched on in the past but I can't stress just how important this is.

Something I'm asked often is to how much time should be allocated to record singles, EP's and the like. There's no real one straight answer to this as everyone operates differently in the studio depending on their skill level, their style of music's technicality and the amount of experience they have in the recording studio environment. I find I'm often suggesting to a band that they need X amount of days for their particular project and then they'll say we can do it in less time than that... and sure, sometimes they can. But here's the thing, you really do need to allow time to make f#@k ups! Booking a comfortable amount of time in the studio to get your recordings done is honestly the best thing you can do, in fact, the most important thing you can do to ensure that what you lay down comes out sounding killer. The last thing you want is to be looking at the clock thinking, ok, I've got 40 minutes left to nail this guitar part before we need to start on the vocals and then we only have 2 hours to get those done. When that starts happening, trust me, that's when you will start making real f#@k ups, and then start stressing, rushing and just overall making a mess of things and not actually having the time available to get things sounding just right.

When you book a session and do allow enough time to record things properly, you won't have to rush, your whole world just becomes better. You have time to try things out, try out peddles, amps, select the right combination of cymbals, try the lead a bunch of different ways, play around with the vocals, backups, harmonies and all the rest. But the big thing is, you will have enough time to lay down what you and your band have spent months or even years toiling over and do it properly, make a few f#@k ups, and then have the time to work on them and get those parts right before moving onto the next thing while not be stressed about holding the rest of the project up. You'll feel relaxed, comfortable and confident with what you are doing and intern probably end up making way fewer f#@k ups.

Studio costs.
Ok, I know you might be sitting there thinking that what I'm talking about is all well and good, but if you can't afford to book extra days, or you have to try fit it into a certain budget because that's all the cash you have.
To that I say, just record less music. If you have a 5 track ep but you are struggling to afford the time needed to do things comfortably then just record 4 songs with the same amount of time you were going to use to record 5, simple. An EP with 4 killer tunes on it that you gave yourself enough time to nail during the recording process is so much better than 5 songs you had to rush because the clock was ticking. When you listen back you'll be stoked with it and when you had it over to people to listen to it, you'll be proud of what you have done. This also means that whoever is mixing your music can spend more time polishing it up and making it sound super mega awesome, instead of fixing up timing issues and doing repair work to the sub-par performances.

How to book enough time without blowing out the budget.
I know that not everyone has a million bucks to spend and endless pockets of cash so this is what I like to do. Let's say for an example you want to record a killer 5 track EP, we know there's a fair few vocal harmonies, guitar layers and in general a bit too it. Your a decent band that plays shows regularly and feel confident that you can get everything done in 4 days reasonably comfortably but want to make sure that you don't end up running out of time and rushing on that last day. We also know that there's going to be say 4 days worth of mixing on this particular project. What I would suggest is that we book 6 days strait. If all the band member’s nail their parts during the recording aspect of the project within the desired 4 days then awesome, I would just use those last 2 days we booked to start mixing. But if things are taking a little longer than expected, what this does is give the band the freedom to take that extra day or so if needed while recording and really nail those parts. I can always just book in the mixing for the week or so after, the man thing is that you get the right amount of time you need to perform at your very best.

Honestly, allow time for f#@k ups, it's the best thing you can do!

Thanks for reading my rambles!

Milla