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Preparing a session
Alright! You're swinging by for a session. This is good news.
Couple of things I want to point out before we start destroying my speakers with loud noises.
- Make sure you know each other's parts (almost) as well as you know your own! The Devil is in the details, and not knowing what your fellow musicians play is a potential recipe for disaster.
- Give me demos! These can be phone recordings, home recordings... whatever you can give me. Besides being a good way for me to check out the songs, it'll also give me an idea of the individual skillsets of all the musicians involved.
- Give me a Spotify playlist of your favorite songs. As a collective, you all need to dig these songs because I'm going to use them as inspiration eventually.
- Practice the songs without vocals! This way you get to know your parts without being reliant on a guide vocal.
- Make sure all your instruments are well set up, intonated & restrung (for short sessions, you can use whatever brand you feel comfortable with, for longer sessions I'd advise Elixir strings. Because of the coating on those strings, we don't have to restring your guitar every other day) and your drumheads either fairly new, or fresh out of the box. Also tune your drums! I'm a guitar player by default. I know what I like, and I got homies that can come in and tune to perfection, but they're going to need something in return. I'm guessing money.
- If you have multiple guitars and you want me to pick: know my answer will always be "whichever one plays best"! 80% of the sound is you. A good amp and guitar are important, but if you have trouble playing that instrument, it'll sound worse than the crappy 100-euro guitar you got laying around.
- If you don't have the equipment you'd like to have going into the studio, go check out my gear page. You can use whatever you like, and if you need anything else, I know a lot of people with cool stuff we can probably borrow for some beers or juice boxes.
- Tell me what my role is. I can be an engineer who records what you wrote, or I can get creative and assume a more producer kind of role. Or anything in between! I just need to know beforehand.
- If you want to record parts of the session at home, I completely understand. Whether it's a stress- or a financial thing, I get a lot of bands that like to work like this. If you are planning a similar session, please keep me in the loop! If you want to record guitars yourself, it needs to be absolutely perfect, or else you'll have me charging you way more because of editing days. I can explain what I require to a certain degree, so let's talk before you start recording yourself.
Let’s Get In Tune!
Ready to hit the right notes together? Drop us a line in the form or hit us up directly via email or a good old-fashioned phone call. Our team at Big Dog Recording Studio is all ears and eager to play a part in your audio adventure. Let’s make your sound resound!