Looking for a good quality recording studio

Bastack

Hi all,

We are a 5 piece band and we are looking to go to a studio to record 3 good quality recordings. Can anyone recommend a good quality studio with good professionals? We are willing to pay for quality.

Thanks in advance.

Brian

EL_Loco

http://www.saltrecordingstudio.com

We've recorded here. t'was good. were a 5 piece at the time too.

Bastack

Thanks Loco,

Were you happy with the recording or was it only ok? Did you record live or layer each musician one after the other?

thanks

studiorat

Bastack wrote: »

Thanks Loco,

Were you happy with the recording or was it only ok? Did you record live or layer each musician one after the other?

thanks

If anybody suggests layering one musician after the other leave!

Bastack

studiorat wrote: »

If anybody suggests layering one musician after the other leave!

Should we all play at once? The way I did it many years ago was to play a rough live recording and then the Drums are recorded on there own followed by Bass, Guitar etc. Is this the wrong way to do it?

Thanks

EL_Loco

they seperated the amps and mic'ed them up, gave us all head phones, singer was in the control room. Did it live a few times, took a good take, then added a bit of decoration, backing singing, some extra bits of percussion.

layering isn't bad per se, it's just a little sterile as everyone is playing to a click track, which if you're not used to can sink you, waste time, and end up with nothing at the end of your sessions (worse case scenario there of course).

so in a nutshell, salt studios were able to handle a 5 piece playing live and recording what was being played cleanly to a seperate track so it could all be manipulated in the mix later.

edit: eh, I suppose whatever you're most comfortable with, personally I found doing it live was best for us. Only thing with that is you're not playing exactly the same each time, so the take has to be satisfactory from beginning to end for everyone involved. If anyone slips up it's taking it from the top all over again. Just be well practiced before you even get there, have a good idea of what you want, coming up with new ideas on the day really isn't recommended unless you've a shed load of time to spare.

cornbb

Niall - Dahlia posts here regularly, he works for (or owns?) Salt as far as I know.

There are plenty of studios listed in the Pimp My Services sticky at the top of the thread, although its obviously better to get recommendations

studiorat

Bastack wrote: »

Should we all play at once? The way I did it many years ago was to play a rough live recording and then the Drums are recorded on there own followed by Bass, Guitar etc. Is this the wrong way to do it?

Thanks

Set everybody up, get the instruments sounding good, make sure everybody happy with their headphone mix and off you go. Obviously there's no right or wrong way per se, but usually you'll find it better to record all together. That way it's easier to tell if it's a good take or not.
We'd usually overdub bass parts again. or at least do a few fixes if necessary, and then work on other overdubs etc. (actually on one of the last albums I did we did the bass almost last, it was easier to dial in a sound to fit into the mix) I've also done gigs where we ended up using the guide vocal as the master 'cause it was just more vibey that what we ended up with in the vocal tracking sessions. Ended up as a single too!

Before going in you should rehearse to a click track. I know some professional drummers who won't record without one, guys who have no trouble playing in time.

I'd nearly always edit a master take together from different takes, even if it was just a verse or something. Listening carefully to different takes some parts just kinda 'light up' and some may have little mistakes or just feel lackluster, so we'd just pop in a section from another take.

Got any links to the band?

PaulBrewer

(actually on one of the last albums I did we did the bass almost last, it was easier to dial in a sound to fit into the mix

)
I was reading an interview with Whatshisface who produced Fall Out Boy. He always records bass after doing drums and rhythm guitars for tuning.

Before going in you should rehearse to a click track. I know some professional drummers who won't record without one, guys who have no trouble playing in time.

Yep, even if you don't perform with a click it's a great way of getting lads to tighten up.

studiorat

PaulBrewer wrote: »

)
I was reading an interview with Whatshisface who produced Fall Out Boy. He always records bass after doing drums and rhythm guitars for tuning.

Monty outa that band where yer man who used to sing in them now works in Vicar St wha? turned me on to that one. Revenants?