Tone/Equipment/Expectation
Lets be clear up-front: this is your vision, not ours.. Our job at RCR is to make the dream of your project become a reality, do it efficiently, and to make it sound as great and professional as it can, in a casual, comfortable, safe, fun environment . So, this is a best practice tip sheet.
Pre-Production
Practice practice practice. I know this may be obvious, but it may help get everyone on the same page. Be as tight as possible before hand. The recording studio isn’t a writing session. Every song should be worked out completely beforehand. Best practice for a recording in today’s streaming environment is to keep the songs shorter than 4 minutes. Long intros and extended music only interludes should be condensed if possible. Save the longer versions for live shows and remember, asking to keep short attention span listeners interest, in our ‘7 second society’ is a big ask these days.
Communicate
By all means, please let us know what recording sounds and tones you envision this project to come close to. Having a point of reference will help us hit your target. We strongly encourage you to send us a list of songs that have tones to reference the way you want to hear your instrument or overall song. Each musician should have input here.
Equipment
So we have gone to great lengths to have great sounding equipment at the ready if you choose to. You know your sound, so, if you are even the least bit concerned about getting that sound…BRING YOUR GEAR. Even if we don’t use it, we have the option. The number one most important thing in as session is to get the sound right at its source. Postproduction possibilities are amazing, but if it sounds wrong at the time of the recording it will always sound wrong. Don’t forget to bring tuners and check your instruments for intonation before the session. New strings on guitars should be done at least a week or 2 before the session. Fresh guitar strings and recordings don’t really mix. Drummers, please bring tuning key and any baffling. Fresh bass strings can be a plus if that’s the sound you’re going for. Amps with buzzing or humming may be ok for a live gig, but not great for recordings. Also, we provide headphones, but if you have a favorite pair of closed back headphones, and you know your comfortable with them you can choose to bring them.
Comforts
This may sound odd, but the studio should completely fit your vibe. Lighting can be changed to your tastes. We can change colors, darken things, or brighten them. We’d like to know your preferences. Same goes for room temperature. If you like a certain temp, please let us know in advance. It’s a large room, so it takes time to change the temperature. Also if there is any particular scents you might want to bring, feel free. Let us know! Water and coffee will be available but bring what you might need. There are take out options in Chatham but not delivery, so it’s a short ride to pick up food. Smoking is an outside only activity. Feel free to roam the grounds during breaks. Also before the session, please send us the band roster with first names and instrument played. I don’t want to have to call out “hey drummer” if possible.
Lastly, please keep in mind that load in, and load out will take about a half hour, so account for that in your arrival time and exits times. We will make every effort to be as prepared as possible for you. But inevitably there is always an amount of time that it takes to get sounds adjusted, and levels set. Be prepared to do a bit of hurry up and waiting, and a few aborted song takes. Your headphone mix might take a bit to get to your tastes, so we will be as efficient as possible, tweaking them in. They will never be perfect, but you should be comfortable with what you hear.