Studio Etiquette

[diskwave]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

I worked with many signed up/chart bands bands in the 80/90 who weren't up to scratch in the playing dept and they certainly weren't replaced. There would have been a mutiny if they had been. 

Back in the day they would have been sent off for coffee and a session outfit would have done the biz...Happened all the time back in the 60's, 70's. Its a myth that record companies paid gazillions for no name musicians to spend days doing retakes ad nauseum. Name bands like Floyd, Queen who were accomplished musicians anyway, totally different matter. I've done sessions onto 4' tape and the pressure to get value for money was immense...

[Lozz196]

4 hours ago, tauzero said:

Back on the subject of etiquette, has anyone mentioned personal hygiene? Also consider what to eat on the night/morning before going into the studio - garlic and onion sandwiches might not be appreciated, nor anything flatulence-inducing.

That’s a very good point, especially if doing football-terrace type backing vocals altogether. 

[TimR]

I suppose that's another reason to give the drummer a few hours head start...

[Stub Mandrel]

11 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Yeah if you listen to some of the classics now they speed up/slow down something rotten. But they sound great.

 

 

 

Exhibit one: Deep Purple.

[Stub Mandrel]

Interesting views. My experience of hearing plenty of 60s/70s pros who are now with local bands on the pub/club circuit suggests that either they have vastly improved or, just maybe, they were pretty good back then.

 

A few weeks ago I saw the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. No sign of any iems for click tracks, in fact the guy runningvthe back projection was synching it live on his phone.

 

But one track, Space Captives, is historic in being the first commercial track recorded with a drum machine instead of a live drummer. For that one track the drummer was like a human metronome. Worked in context, but didn't have the same groove.

 

Quantisationnis mainly driven by bands/producers who want to be DJ/dance friendly.

[cheddatom]

16 hours ago, tauzero said:

Back on the subject of etiquette, has anyone mentioned personal hygiene? Also consider what to eat on the night/morning before going into the studio - garlic and onion sandwiches might not be appreciated, nor anything flatulence-inducing.

 

The drummer on Saturday dropped a terrible fart in the control room, flat out denied it, then asked where the toilet was and disappeared for 20 minutes 🤣

 

The smell of energy drinks and rustlers burgers really gets to me, and this is the diet of the modern greebo. Subsequently, the greebos have corresponding BO. I try to avoid these bands but it's tough when I've not met them before, and I need the money.

 

Would a sign saying "No hot food or energy drinks in the control room" come across as rude?

[neepheid]

9 minutes ago, cheddatom said:

 

The drummer on Saturday dropped a terrible fart in the control room, flat out denied it, then asked where the toilet was and disappeared for 20 minutes 🤣

 

The smell of energy drinks and rustlers burgers really gets to me, and this is the diet of the modern greebo. Subsequently, the greebos have corresponding BO. I try to avoid these bands but it's tough when I've not met them before, and I need the money.

 

Would a sign saying "No hot food or energy drinks in the control room" come across as rude?

 

 

I don't think it would come across rude - your control room, your rules.  Don't like it, go record somewhere else.

 

[Mykesbass]

10 minutes ago, cheddatom said:

Would a sign saying "No hot food or energy drinks in the control room" come across as rude?

Do you have a lounge/kitchen area? Food and drink only in that area. Your studio, your rules.

[Mykesbass]

@neepheid just beat me with the same phrase. Great minds...

[cheddatom]

There's a kitchen but it's small and no seating... I'll buy some stools and print some signs

[Dan Dare]

15 hours ago, zrbass said:

I've done sessions onto 4' tape

 

Blimey. The studio must have had an enormous tape machine.

 

58 minutes ago, cheddatom said:

 

The drummer on Saturday dropped a terrible fart in the control room, flat out denied it, then asked where the toilet was and disappeared for 20 minutes 🤣

 

The smell of energy drinks and rustlers burgers really gets to me, and this is the diet of the modern greebo. Subsequently, the greebos have corresponding BO. I try to avoid these bands but it's tough when I've not met them before, and I need the money.

 

Would a sign saying "No hot food or energy drinks in the control room" come across as rude?

 

Why not a sign saying "No food or drinks in the control room"? It's safer if there aren't cups of tea and drinks cans waiting to be knocked over the gear. As long as there's an area where people can eat and drink, that's quite reasonable. 

[cheddatom]

7 minutes ago, Dan Dare said:

Why not a sign saying "No food or drinks in the control room"? It's safer if there aren't cups of tea and drinks cans waiting to be knocked over the gear. As long as there's an area where people can eat and drink, that's quite reasonable. 

 

The problem is that I'm addicted to tea, and constantly have a brew on the little coffee table in the control room

[neepheid]

9 minutes ago, cheddatom said:

 

The problem is that I'm addicted to tea, and constantly have a brew on the little coffee table in the control room

 

Do as I say, not as I do

 

Maybe if you have it in one of those travel mugs with the flip top thing for drinking out of.  I remember one job I worked at, they had a rule of no hot drinks at desk, unless in one of these types of mugs.  H&S I guess, but it was a reasonable request so I ran with it.

[TimR]

37 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

Do as I say, not as I do

 

Maybe if you have it in one of those travel mugs with the flip top thing for drinking out of.  I remember one job I worked at, they had a rule of no hot drinks at desk, unless in one of these types of mugs.  H&S I guess, but it was a reasonable request so I ran with it.

 

Spillages are expensive. Had someone yesterday spill a whole mug of coffee into their PC. Took out 6 desks when the breaker went and ruined the PC. That's an hour out for 6 people while maintenance replace the power strip and reset the breaker, and another, for the persons whose PC went bang, while IT replaced the PC. A smoke head went off so security attended as well. 

 

The thought of energy drinks being spilled into anything worries me.

 

Ultimately it's your control room and if you spill tea on your gear, you pay to replace it and you lose money while it's being replaced. If your guests are happy to stump up for replacement equipment and lost revenue then I guess let them drink whatever they want. 😆

Edited December 5, 2023 by TimR

[TimR]

I wouldn't expect anyone to put their beer on my amp at a gig, but quite happy to put mine up there. 

 

One beer is manageable and if I spill it, its my gear. 

 

An amp turning into a drinks tray is a recipie for disaster while those responsible for the blue smoke and pyrotechnics dissappear in the nearest Uber.

[cheddatom]

It's a bit of a weird setup, very little chance of any spillage

 

[tauzero]

You could always just talk to the bands  and ask them to keep energy drinks away from you, and no hot food in the control room.

[meterman]

13 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Space Captives, is historic in being the first commercial track recorded with a drum machine instead of a live drummer. 

I think “Family Affair” by Sly & The Family Stone pipped “Space Captives” by about a year or 18 months?

 

 

 

[meterman]

And no, I wouldn’t allow hot food or energy drinks or much else in the control room. Small bottles of still water, maybe.

 

Once I was in a band that got signed and the studio owner where we recorded our single arranged for the local newspaper to visit the studio to photograph us celebrating the event and do an article on us in the paper. I opened a bottle of champagne not knowing that one of the other guys in the band had shaken it up before handing it to me. When the cork popped, the bubbles sprayed over the mixing desk, monitors, talkback mic, etc. I was mortified.
 

The look on the studio owner’s face was priceless. Probably so were the repair fees. We got banned from there the same day and the paper never did an article on us. 

 

[nilorius]

Some one - please don't take it personal, but what is it so bad with those small energy drinks ?

[Lozz196]

1 hour ago, cheddatom said:

It's a bit of a weird setup, very little chance of any spillage

 

Looks really nice

[Dad3353]

21 minutes ago, nilorius said:

Some one - please don't take it personal, but what is it so bad with those small energy drinks ?

 

Energy Drink Consumption ...

 

Extract . Conclusion ...

 

...

Energy drinks may show positive beneficial effects on exercise performance in various sport activities. However, while energy drinks might benefit performance, possible detrimental health problems have been documented, particularly amongst children and adolescents. Various parts of the body are negatively affected by energy drink consumption. Considering this fact and the increasing popularity of these drinks, caution should be exercised while consuming energy drinks. Overambitious marketing and non-scientific claims should be regulated by governments until independent studies confirm that that these products are safe.

[peteb]

21 hours ago, BigRedX said:

However you've forgotten that on the whole up to the late 80s sound quality at gigs was appalling compared with what even the lowliest of pub covers bands expects these days.

 

Speak for yourself bud! 

 

The big difference now is that you can get the same results from a PA that you can easily fit into a small hatchback, whereas before you were packing a transit to the roof. Everyone from that era can remember lugging huge amp racks and Martin bass bins up fire escapes, etc. It all sounded great, but today's gear is so much better in terms of efficiency, size and weight. 

 

[BigRedX]

28 minutes ago, peteb said:

 

Speak for yourself bud! 

 

The big difference now is that you can get the same results from a PA that you can easily fit into a small hatchback, whereas before you were packing a transit to the roof. Everyone from that era can remember lugging huge amp racks and Martin bass bins up fire escapes, etc. It all sounded great, but today's gear is so much better in terms of efficiency, size and weight. 

 

 

This is from personal experience as a punter. In the bigger venues (I'm talking Rock City main stage and upwards) it might have sounded OK if you were stood by the mixing desk, but down the front the vocals were bordering on inaudible. In smaller venues like The Boat Club it was just a barrage of loud sound. 

[cheddatom]

1 hour ago, nilorius said:

Some one - please don't take it personal, but what is it so bad with those small energy drinks ?

 

Something about the smell of them makes me nauseous but I'd rather not impose my weirdness on clients... will do the "no hot food" thing though