Session Checklist
Perspective Music Recording Studio

In order to ensure that the session runs smoothly and meets your quality and budget requirements, we've provided a checklist of information to help you plan your session.

1. Sessions always take longer than you think and you're paying by the hour. You will probably be more effective if you arrive at the studio with definite arrangements, tempo, keys and solo ideas etc. worked out in advance. This includes vocal and horn arrangements. If you need help arranging, we can help you with that before the session. For example, writing out horn charts using Finale. Of course, if you have the budget, working everything out in the studio is also fine.
2. Let us know in advance what instruments you are using so we can develop a microphone plan ahead of time. This will minimize setup time.
3. Similarly, if you are planning to use the studio acoustic piano, let us know so we can have it tuned-up if necessary.
4. Have a plan on whether you will record all instruments in simultaneously or over-dub and record in layers. We recommend recording all rhythm instruments simultaneously. Then recording instrument solos, vocals and horns in subsequent overdubs. This is typically the fastest method and results in the best result in the end.
5. Think about whether you want to plug your electric instrument (e.g. bass guitar) directly into the studio preamps or whether you want to bring an instrument amp. This can make huge differences in the sound and setup time. There's no right answer here.
6. Think about how many recording rooms will be utilized simultaneously. Typically, we'll place the drums in the drum booth room unless you're taking a purely layered approach to recording in which case all tracks will be recorded in the main room.
7. Think about whether you want to record the initial tracks using a click track. Use of the click track can make it easier to re-arrange the song after the initial tracking has been done. For example, after recording you decide you want and extra bridge in the song, it can be added easily. Also, timing mistakes can be fixed easier with a constant tempo.
8. Plan on 30 minutes to 1 hour setup time before we "roll the tape". This setup time is used to place microphones, connect DI boxes, get levels and adjust headphone mixes etc. Drums are usually time consuming to position all of the microphones properly to get a good sound and minimize the leakage of one mic into another. The larger the group, the more time this takes. This is time that you pay for and should be budgeted for.
9. We can give you a fast mix with minimal effects etc. However, for a great mix you should plan on 1 hour of additional mix time per song. The more instruments and/or the more effects the longer it takes to do a great mix.
10. After all of the songs have been tracked and mixed, the mastering step will balance all of the songs together and place them on the CD. This is the last step that can change the sound of a song. Plan on 1 to 2 hours of mastering time per CD.
11. If preliminary CDs or mp3's are needed, it takes time to generate them. You can keep your cost down if you do not require preliminary media.
12. Finally, the clock starts at the time you scheduled your session and ends when you're done listening to preliminary or final mixes and leave. Please show up on time to avoid charges for time you're not benefiting from. Although it's great fun to listen to playback over and over and tweak this and that, the time can add up if you're not careful.
13. Typically, when everything is done, we'll put a few audio samples and photos of your sessions on our web site on the client page. If you have a web site, we'll include a hyper-link from our web site to yours. If possible, we'd appreciate a link from your web site to ours. Our business benefits mutually from that and the web crawlers place our pages higher in the search engine results. Here's some example clients who have done that.

    Annie Stephany
    Custom Neon Band

    We prefer something like "Recorded and Mastered at Perspective Music Recording Studio".