Possible to get 2 tracks down in 8hrs?

epictring

Hi Ppl!

My band recently won 8hrs. of studio time for this holiday.

Is it possible to get 2 tracks down in 8hrs of studio time if the band is tight enough?

Feels a bit of a close call to me.
I was just wondering if we should try or rather spend more time on 1 (I rather vote for this)

AlanRatcliffe

Do one track and do it properly. You can bank on it taking much longer than you expect.

Heck, I've spent two days just getting a drum sound... ?

21Fretter

How to win the studio time out of interest, you guys place in a battle-of-the-bands or something?

epictring

Alan Ratcliffe wrote: Do one track and do it properly. You can bank on it taking much longer than you expect.

Heck, I've spent two days just getting a drum sound... ?

ahaha I hope that doesn't happen ?

21Fretter wrote: How to win the studio time out of interest? You guys place in a battle-of-the-bands or something?

I dislike battle of the bands events, always about the money - rarely about the music in my past personal experience.

Well let me start by telling our story of how we recorded a complete 5 track EP in a pro quality studio by not paying a cent. I have experience in webdesign and did a few websites in the past including my band's site. Ashley from LoudMouth studios then contacted me and asked if we could work out a deal. I ended up creating 3 sites for him for a few of his music projects as well as his studio site. In turn he provided enough studio time for a EP. Worked out as an awesome deal. So, in my experience I would say, use whatever skills you (or a bandmate) have and try to think how you could incorporate it into working out a similar deal. It worked out really really well for us.

We've won a recording a while ago from a battle of the bands, but this particular one was actually as simple as responding to an ad on a recording college Facebook page by submitting the bands Press Kit to the owners. They then offered to record the band for free in a session where some of their students can participate for educational purposes. But the final product will be handled by lecturers though, hopefully promising a good end result. I've never done anything like this, but it's free, so there's nothing to lose. Maybe try contacting a few of these colleges and offering to come in such a session? You never know.

You can score a few pretty good deals if you use your mind, or if you're blessed ?

PeteM

Good for you Epictring. Creative thinking is not reserved for the arts hey. Entrepreneurialship is the way to go in the world today.

Oh... +1 to Alan's reply.

IceCreamMan

Black Sabbath recorded an entire album in 12 hours IIRC and it sold millions and still does today...so if you all rehearsed i guess its possible to do 2 in 8 hours...however start with the one you prefer and see how yr time goes.

symbolofmylife

epictring wrote: ....responding to an ad on a recording college Facebook page by submitting the bands Press Kit to the owners. They then offered to record the band for free in a session where some of their students can participate for educational purposes. But the final product will be handled by lecturers though, hopefully promising a good end result. I've never done anything like this, but it's free, so there's nothing to lose. Maybe try contacting a few of these colleges and offering to come in such a session? You never know.

Most (if not all) sound engineering schools/colleges require their students to record a band of some sorts.
Now, the problem here: Students.

I've singed up for something like that twice in the last couple of years and looking back on it, it was a massive waste of time. I hope that the lecturers do get in on it to at least deliver something proper to you when it's done. But from my experience, both times what we got back was WTF? For one we recorded a cover: Born to raise hell by Motorhead.

The final "product" we got back was sounding like we recorded the whole thing in an echo chamber or something. Just horrible.

Free recording time is always good but if it's a setup like this I'd ask that the final recording project be consolidated to a harddrive for me so you can also mix it yourself. If we had done that we would at least have had something we could work on and get it to sound proper.

Just my 2c's.

symbolofmylife

IceCreamMan wrote: Black Sabbath recorded an entire album in 12 hours IIRC and it sold millions and still does today...so if you all rehearsed i guess its possible to do 2 in 8 hours...however start with the one you prefer and see how yr time goes.

I think it was Paranoid. Also, the title track was written in (apparently) 5 minutes and laid down in 20.

Mo-Facta

The problem with "winning" studio time is that it's usually in the hope that you WILL want to do more than one track and then, finding out that you need more time, will be forced into booking and PAYING for more time.

Back in 1998 I was in this situation and what seemed like a simple day (also 8 hrs) of recording ended up costing us about R25,000. We got clever.

Cheers ?

exsanguinator

depends if youre tracking live or overdubs,but easily attainable both ways.
The 8hrs doesnt include mixing and mastering does it?

epictring

exsanguinator wrote: depends if youre tracking live or overdubs,but easily attainable both ways.
The 8hrs doesnt include mixing and mastering does it?

Nope, the 8hrs. is purely for tracking instruments.

We'll definitely not go over time, I think what we will do is record 1 track and take as much time as we need (but staying within 8hrs.) and see how it goes.

Mo Facta wrote: The problem with "winning" studio time is that it's usually in the hope that you WILL want to do more than one track and then, finding out that you need more time, will be forced into booking and PAYING for more time.

Back in 1998 I was in this situation and what seemed like a simple day (also 8 hrs) of recording ended up costing us about R25,000. We got clever.

Cheers ?

ouch!