Musician Forum - Band Discussion Board - BandMix

what do you think is a good price per hour to pay ,im seeing any where from 30 to 50 hr or 3 songs for 300$

That's about the going rate around here.

Seems like we had a similar thread a while back...That's a decent price range, but I would personally be wary of that 3 song/$300 deal. I would find it hard to believe that if you spent an extended amount of time on one song, a legitimate studio would simply stick with the set price.

I.e, if one studio charged you $50 an hour, and you spent nine hours on three songs, that's $450. Is the studio with the set price going to honor their agreement after finding that they basically lost $150 that their competitors would have made?

I know it sounds crazy, but if you are going to save that kind of money, you have to ask yourself what you are LOSING in the process...Quality? professionalism? Most of all, the desired results?

I don't like package recording deals. How does anyone know exactly how long it will take to record how many songs? Your best bet is to go with a per hour deal. What's going to save you the most money is rehearsing the songs over and over until everybody has their parts down cold. This way you'll have as few takes as possible. Also know exactly what you want each instrument and vocal to sound like on each song. By the time you get to the studio you should NOT be rehearsing anything. The studio tech who recorded us told us when we were done it was the most efficient band he ever recorded. We knew what we were doing and what we wanted it to sound like. DON'T ALLOW THE RECORDING ENGINEER TELL YOU WHAT YOU SHOULD SOUND LIKE. His or her job is to do what YOU tell them to do. Anyway good luck and BE PREPARED. Later....

the less honest studios will either push you to 'hurry up' if you made a per song deal, or intentionally slow you down if you pay by the hour. Just something to be wary of.

Also, A friend of mine is a singer/songwriter, so needed studio musicians to fill in bass, drums, etc.. They had my friend lay down all his tracks, then bid him farewell, THEN had the studio musicians come in and lay down their parts. He totally got separated from the creative input/control, and I could tell. Some of the fill in stuff didn't match the mood of the songs. It wasn't terrible, but he wasn't happy with it either.

And, guys, listen to Bob.
Guesswork during a recording is ridiculous. ("Oh, at that part of the song, I thought I was supposed to _______" . . . (fill in the blank.)
You need to be 100% positive of exactly what to play, or you'll be paying for expensive practice sessions . . . .
.
Learn to be able to play your part in the song flawlessly.
If you "only screw-up once in a while" - hey, sorry; that's not good enough . . . unless that's the kind of sound you're looking for . . .
If each member can play the song 10 times in a row without screwing up anything, then that's good.
And, when you DO record, don't try something you've never done.
If you're trying something you've never done in the song before, then you probably haven't practiced it enough, eh?
Also, while I'm on the pulpit , decide exactly how to end each song.
Nothing worse than having a song 'click' and sound better than every, and then have a crappy ending that destroys the song . . .
Get the ending down great, first . . .
Here's another time saver when recording songs.
When it's time to record a song, give yourselves 5 seconds of silence before you count-off the start of a song.
If a song starts even 1/2 second before everyone's ready, you can be playing for 10 seconds before your realize that the song sounds 'off.'
Instead, say "Everyone Ready?"
When everone says 'yes,' wait an extra second or 2 longer than normal before starting the count of your song. You'll hear the difference . . .
Good luck with it . ..