Budgeting
People always want to know how much their whole project will
cost from start to finish, and the bottom line is, we don’t
know. The amount of time a project takes can drastically change
from group to group. A large portion of this is determined
by you as a recording artist. On average, an album quality
song takes about 6 hours to record, 6 hours to mix, and at
least
1 hour
to master.
So that’s very roughly 13 hours of work for each song
you want to do. If you don't want an album quality project,
but just a quick demo, those numbers will be more like 3 hours
for recording, 3 hours for mixing, and 1 hour for mastering
equaling about 7 hours per song. However, all these numbers
can change
drastically with factors like how
rehearsed
you
are,
how many
instruments
and tracks the song has, even the genre of music can be a factor.
Here are some tips to make your project go faster and smoother:
 Make sure all your gear is in working order. Make sure you
have extra guitar strings, and picks you like. Make sure
you have good drum heads, and that the heads are worn in.
We can’t stress enough that you need to rehearse, rehearse,
and then rehearse some more. If you can play every song perfectly
before coming into the studio, then you should be able to
play them perfectly once you’re in the studio and save
lots of time.
Often when a band is rehearsing, they can’t
hear the vocals very well. We’ve had people in the
studio who hear their singer sing and say “Wow, we’ve
never actually heard him before!” We recommend turning
down the guitars and having the drummer play soft for at
least a few rehearsals so that you can hear the singer.
It’s
often times a good idea to make a home recording of your
band, even if it’s only with a tiny hand held tape
recorder. Just hearing a recording of your music will help
you work out kinks, and play better for the real recording.
It’s also a good idea for singers to record themselves
and listen to make sure they’re hitting notes properly.
These are just a few basics, and we recommend taking a look
at our studio prep page to really get ready. But in short,
being organized and prepared will make your project cost
much less.
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