Studio Recording

hotpickups

We did some recording about 2-3 years ago. We were really pleased with the results and the sound engineer was extremely fast and knowledgeable. We are thinking of recording again this this year and looked around at other recording studios in the area. On average studios are charging around £200 a day and that includes mixing. That's half what we paid to record 3 numbers in one day. Now I know I said we were extremely happy with the results but feel this time as prices seem to have come down, maybe I could ask him if would drop his prices. What you advise? Better the devil you know etc.

guitarfishbay

You can ask and he can refuse.

Just because the task is the same doesn't mean the outcomes will be, so you'll have to weigh it up and do some listening to tracks recorded at the other studios. 

hotpickups

guitarfishbay said:

You can ask and he can refuse.

Just because the task is the same doesn't mean the outcomes will be, so you'll have to weigh it up and do some listening to tracks recorded at the other studios. 

Well of course they all sound good but they might have spent days twiddling with it to make them sound good. The guy we used and I don't know how he did it somehow mixed us through ozmosis and just knew how to get the best from us. I'm happy to go back to him but the new band line up are, shall we say, more budget concious than me but I believe this could be a false economy ? I just have to convince them

sweepy

The costs of runnng a Studio certainly haven't gone down, I'd be tempted to go with someone who you have good results with rather then risk it in order to save a few quid

Rox

We did a recording session once and the engineer was a passionate drummer.  He and the drummer spent three hours tuning one tom because it "didn't sound right".

It meant the guitarist and I (singist) had to record our parts in two hours between us. So everything we did was pretty much one take.

If you end up with a fiddly engineer who wastes your time, it could end up costing more...

An engineer you know gets results and the sound you're looking for in the time alotted is worth his weight in gold, surely? 

hotpickups

sweepy said:

The costs of runnng a Studio certainly haven't gone down, I'd be tempted to go with someone who you have good results with rather then risk it in order to save a few quid

My sentiment precisely. I feel I'm going to have to pay a bit more than the others to get the result I'm after. I guess, it is my band and I want the best sound for it and they probably don't feel that attached to it as much as me.

hotpickups

Rox said:

We did a recording session once and the engineer was a passionate drummer.  He and the drummer spent three hours tuning one tom because it "didn't sound right".

It meant the guitarist and I (singist) had to record our parts in two hours between us. So everything we did was pretty much one take.

If you end up with a fiddly engineer who wastes your time, it could end up costing more...

An engineer you know gets results and the sound you're looking for in the time alotted is worth his weight in gold, surely? 

Agreed. I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling this.

Danny1969

My own studio 2020 used to charge £200 for an 8 hour day .... doesn't matter if it was tracking or mixing it was still £25 an hour. It does seem to be the going rate for basic recording 

Where you go normally depends on what you want.... do you want to record live in one go or all separate .. do you want to have someone help you produce or do you think you know exactly how the arrangement should go and exactly how it should sound. Different people have different skill sets, my studio was designed with a large nice sounding live room  for band at once recording. other studios can't do that but can track separately very well. 

It's an odd thing but sometimes the most successful recordings are actually hated by the band .... because ultimately the finished product isn't intended as  something for the band to listen to but something your average Joe Punter non musician might like to hear .... bands very often don't get that despite knowing that the most successful records aren't produced by the band themselves

hotpickups

Definately want separate recording. That way I can add instruments or take away instruments as I did when my Sax player left and was able to overdub a guitar solo in place of him no problem. We knew what we wanted in terms of format etc but left it up to the engineer if he wanted to add more delay etc. I trusted him and he was right

I think I've talked myself into paying the extra for him again now and work on the band as it's a good idea.

spark240

Maybe just explain the situation and see if he can do a better deal, it's better for him than no deal at all I Guess?

digitalscream

Moved out of the classifieds...

I'd say...remember that it comes down to how much time the guy spends on mixing, too. When it comes down to it, though, you pay what you have to in order to get the result you want; that's not just the end result, but also how easy it is to work with the engineer; haggling may well make it harder to work with him (because we're all human beans).

In other words...suck it up and stick with the guy you know and like rather than piss him off by trying to talk him down.

hotpickups

digitalscream said:

Moved out of the classifieds...

I'd say...remember that it comes down to how much time the guy spends on mixing, too. When it comes down to it, though, you pay what you have to in order to get the result you want; that's not just the end result, but also how easy it is to work with the engineer; haggling may well make it harder to work with him (because we're all human beans).

In other words...suck it up and stick with the guy you know and like rather than piss him off by trying to talk him down.

Fair commentt @digitalscream He's worked with some of my idols too so he knows what I like. Actually he's a colleague too so I really don't want to piss him off