In this article Julian shares 7 ways a recording session can go south, shares some thoughts on how to avoid these pitfalls and how to handle it if something does go wrong. Running a session might be a technical job but not all of the skills are technical.
For the artist, a recording session should be an occasion. It should be memorable for all the right reasons, and the recordings created at it should present the artists at their best because they feel and play their best. Sounds simple, but it doesn't always work like that. Here are 7 ways you can ruin a recording session!
Not Being Ready
The session starts long before the client arrives. Leaving to one side the work that gone into getting this far - the emails and messages, the arrangements, the written record of what the client expects of you and what you expect of the client to one side for the moment, the day of the recording starts with being ready.
Assuming you know precisely what and who you are recording before they arrive (if you don't, then why not?), setting up as much as you can in advance is non-negotiable. Your computer naturally is tiptop and session-ready, hopefully you haven't decided to install an update the night before. If you have, then you probably deserve whatever happens next! But what about the mics and cables and other essential equipment?
The fact that a lead worked last time you used it doesn't mean anything. Setting up and checking everything works before anyone important gets there really takes the pressure off. If something isn't right, then it doesn't take long to figure out what is wrong in the majority of cases by assuming that it's probably a lead before you start checking anything else and changing one thing at a time in a methodical manner until you find the problem. The important thing is to check, and do it before anyone else arrives, not just because broken stuff isn't a good look, but because it is infinitely easier and faster to fix stuff without an audience.
I've been in many recording sessions and if there is one piece of advice I would give to everyone it's to check the headphones work first. Before everything else. I've lost more time to headphone issues than anything else in recording sessions. Route some audio to all of your headphones and just check that they're working. Once you know they are, including talkback, turn them down but not off.
Not Creating The Right Vibe
A recording session should be an occasion, your artists should be looking forward to it and first impressions count, so make sure that they know how to find you, and once they have arrived, have somewhere for them to put everything. Having somewhere to put equipment and belongings is really important. Don't leave them to figure it out. And definitely have somewhere for equipment cases once the gear is set up. I remember visiting a studio and asking where I should put my cases, the corner of the room was indicated, and I wasn't very impressed that I was being told to stack the cases in front of the fire escape.
The live area in the studio can become very chaotic very quickly so keeping clutter to a minimum is important. Coats and bags and drinks and food. All of these things shouldn't be in the studio, and if it can get trodden on or spilt, it will. Particularly while getting set up. We've probably all done claustrophobic sessions like this. They feel stressful, and stress is a vibe killer.
There is, of course, more to vibes and just being tidy. Does the studio smell? Is there somewhere for people to go if they're not needed? Is the toilet clean? Is there somewhere you can get a drink? Have you thought about where people can get and eat lunch? All of this really helps.
Trying To Do Too Much in Too Little Time
This is so common, I've had bands want to record and mix 10 songs in a day. It can be done, but the results usually speak for themselves. It’s one mix ten times! Setting up and getting sounds dialled in takes time and once that much time has been invested, it makes sense to record as much as the band are comfortable with. It’s a mistake to think that recording and mixing on the same day is even a good idea, thankfully the sessions I'm thinking of when I tried to do double figures in a day were a very long time ago now. And mixing and recording are no longer tied to being in the same room as a tape machine. But artists still want something to take away with them on the day and planning enough time to export bounces of everything needs to be planned in. My preference is to present these as a record of takes for reference, with any mixing being kept very vanilla to minimise the chances of suffering the consequences of ‘demoitis’ later, by which I mean the artist becoming too accustomed to a rough mix, and potentially becoming resistant to a proper mix, which deviates from that familiar rough.
Not Taking Enough Time Getting The Sound
I've always thought that DAWs make it too easy to do things the’ wrong way round’ when it comes to recording and mixing music. By this, I mean that, because of the convenience, recallability of sessions, and the wealth of options there are at the mix stage, it can be tempting to rush the recording phase. This is understandable. It takes effort and organisation to get artists and engineer together in a studio all at the same time. Once in the studio the band want to play. An experienced engineer can get a decent sound quickly, particularly if they are in their own place, using their own gear. This can lead to the engineer, heading straight to their ‘defaults’. Something which worked last time, and probably the time before that. There's nothing wrong with this, it's called experience and it's usually a good thing. However keeping the time available to experiment can make all the difference between a good recording and something a bit more special. Plan in time for those ‘what ifs’ and ‘how abouts’. But most of all make sure it’s right before you proceed. On that first playback it’s easy to hear all the good things about a take, we usually spot the unnoticed flaws (which will never be un-heard) later. Make sure you’ve spotted them while setting up, not when everyone has gone home!
Not Spending Enough Time Setting Up The Monitor Mixes
One of the best things I’ve done in the last five years is to join a band. I hadn’t been in a band for about ten years and its easy to forget what its actually like to be the performer. Particularly how quickly you get bored when you’re waiting on the engineer! If you can’t hear what you need to well enough it affects your performance. If it’s really bad it’s hard to ignore, but the difference between good enough to get through the take and a great mix is something its easy to underestimate unless you’re the performer.
I used to mix a lot of live sound and if you mix monitors you get good at this. I think everyone should mix monitors at some point. You soon look differently at the front of house engineer with only one mix to worry about! Headphone mixes are about communication. Inexperienced performers are often vague about what they want. “A bit of everything” often means “I don’t know”. Some people are very fussy. These people either know what they want and will give you clear direction until they get it and then be happy, or they might be uncomfortable, nervous or insecure and are focusing that on their headphones mix. You can’t necessarily tell which is which, but someone who changes their mind a lot is probably the latter. Just be attentive and receptive and try to work it through. It’s important.
Poor Communication
Technical competence is a given, you need that to engineer a session. But its the soft skills which can really make the difference between happy clients and unhappy ones. Making people feel looked after and inspiring confidence in them is just as important a part of your job as running the gear. Being positive, encouraging and creating a good energy is your job, unless there is a producer, in which case you should defer to them. Clear communication is important, people want to know what is happening and to feel heard. But don’t over-communicate. This is something I’ve been guilty of in the past. If someone asks whether they can do X, don’t enthuse to them about the relative merits of the three ways they might do that. Instead say “yes” and do it…
Be careful about talkback. You need a way to talk to your artists. If you are in a proper studio with a separate control room and live area then proper talkback is necessary but do have suitable speakers set up in the live area so you can address the performers after they have taken their headphones off! And make sure that performers can hear conversations in the control room, particularly if tracking overdubs, it can be uncomfortable to feel like you’re being talked about but can’t hear. I’m a fan of mobile setups these days, particularly since I’ve had a Pro Tools Carbon. If you’re set up in the same space as the performers, you might still need talkback.
Bullshitting
Mistakes happen. How many depends on your level of preparedness. If you find you’ve done something which means there is going to be a problem, this could be anywhere from inconvenient to a full-on catastrophe, the only thing which really matters is whether or not there is anything you can do right now, to fix it or to minimise the damage to the project. The thing you shouldn’t be worrying about until later is whose fault it is or how you can minimise the damage to you. Own it, own up and fix it as best you can. You can figure out whether it was your fault later. A reasonable client will respect you for thinking of the project. No-one will respect you for throwing your assistant under the bus to save yourself!
Most mistakes are excusable, if there is an exception its data loss. You can forgive someone forgetting to hit record, but backing up is so important that anyone who isn’t doing during a session is playing fast and loose with someone else’s data. Drives fail, Pro Tools sessions get corrupted. Backup!
The recording session has always been my favourite part of the process. It’s the part where something new gets created. I like mixing, but I like recording more. It should be fun but things can and do go wrong. Good sessions are joyful, but they are easily ruined! What advice would you share?