Novice Pre-Production tips.

[christianmurphy]

Hey there. I've had my own set up for the last couple of years, but only in the last 6 months have i started micing up my drums properly, and recording actual "band" style music, rather than using samples etc. However i've been working like a mad man, constantly picking my college music tech tutors brains, and i get a pretty good sound from my own band.

However, this weekend will be the first time i record a band i'm not part of. Just a friend of a friend sort of thing. I'm used to this because i record plenty of vocalists, particularly urban style artists, and pre-production is practically non existent because they just bring me an MP3 "beat" and record over it. (I desperately try and get wav files off any that i think have actual talent!) But obviously with a band there's certain things i'll have to go over with them before hand.

I'm gonna be carrying out all the studio roles as it is in most home studios! Producer, sound engineer, tea boy etc! So i was wondering what sort of pre-production questions should i ask.

So far i have (Not actually worded like this of course:D):

Metronome or not.
Multi-track each instrument or one/combined takes.
Any extra equipment they would like to bring.
The overall sound they want and bands they would compare themselves too.

Hope you can help! Thanks, Christian.

[Jonnypopisical]

Ask them what they are looking for from the session?

Get an idea of how experienced they are in the studio?

How many tracks do they want to record?

Is the drum use to playing to a click?

Do they want to add overdubs - or just do totally live takes?

The answers to the above will guide you to a few important decisions.

1. To use a click or not
2. To record everyone together - or not
3. How much time it will take to record the tracks - hours or days

JP