What to Expect When Recording at Rudy's Studio
A hard drive will be needed in order for the band to record. Rudy's is not responsible for providing the storage medium. I suggest this hard drive (I have never seen one fail and they are reasonably priced at $114.95).
A 500 gig hard drive you can hold between 15 and 25 songs depending on how elaborate and long the songs are. This hard drive will need to be formatted in order for Protools to be able to communicate with it. This takes up to 6 hours. I do not charge for this, but it will need to be done. I prefer to have the hard drive dropped off a few days in advance, but I am flexible and can start a project on one of my drives, and then it can be copied to yours once it is formatted. (There is no loss of quality in a digital copy).
A click track is strongly recommended in most recording situations. When using a click track many things can be done to make the performance sound more solid such as grid snapping and tightening. We can also do drum sample placement during this process. A click track will make a song sound much more professional. The click can be programmed to speed up, and slow down in addition to being able to change the number of beats per minute (tempo changes) inside the song.
The cheapest and fastest (not the best audio quality or performance quality), would be to record the band live in the studio. The drummer would be in one room and the band in another. Baffles and direct boxes will aid in keeping tracks seperate. Minimal overdubs can be done in order to fix mistakes. The rhythm section would be recorded this way. Any vocals and solos can be recorded after and then we will be ready for editing, mixing and mastering.
The preferred way to record a band is to record each part of the music seperately. We typically set up the drums in one room and set up the band in another. The band (not drums) will be playing with the drummer. The guitar, bass and vocal tracks will be scratched in order to make way for better tracks later on in the process. The drummer will be in one isolation booth, and the band will be in the other. There is a large window between the rooms so that the musicians can keep eye contact.
The first day is centered around setting up and capturing the drum tracks. I have Yamaha 30th anniversary maple custom drum kit with cymbals for use in the studio. The kit is usually miked and close to being ready to record. You are welcome to bring your own drums if you prefer, but it will take longer to get them in, set up, tuned, miked out and dialed in. New or near new heads are preferred. For rock and metal bands, I usually suggest a plastic beater opposed to felt (for the kick drum). We will mic the kit, get tones dialed in, and then set up the headphone mix for the drummer and the band. Lastly, we will find the correct tempo with the click track and then program any tempo changes that need to take place.
Once the drum tracks are done for the day, I will give the band a disc so that the performance can be evaluated. If there are any fixes that need to take place, we will come in the next day and do any punch-ins or re-takes.
Next is the time to fix the drum takes and snap them to the grid (if desired). This can be a time-consuming process, but can make the song sound a lot better especially if there were timing issues to begin with. This is at an additional cost. I can also add drum samples to the performance during this phase at an additional cost. Drum samples help to make the mix more punchy stable and solid.
Next we will be recording the guitar tracks. We will record the songs tone by tone. We will do every part in every song with that first tone. Once the first tone is done in the song, we will move on to the second and so on, until all of the songs are done with this tone. We will then move on to the second most used guitar sound and record it in every song. We will continue this process until all of the guitar tones and parts are done.
Vocals will be laid down last. We will have the vocalist in an isolation booth, with a mic and a pair of nice headphones. Once the lead is finished, and any doubles needed are done, the harmonies and background vocals will be recorded next. Last, any group vocals will be done. We will repeat this process in each song until all are finished.
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