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Phils Audio

Typical Recording Session

Recording Times
A 5 song demo requires about 34 hours (2 or 3 days to record the basic tracks, vocals, harmonies, and solos, plus one or two days to mixdown and master). A good rule of thumb is: 1 minute of recorded music = 1½ hours of studio time. Here's a "typical" recording project breakdown:

The Day Before The Session
We'll have your drummer come in to set up, tune, and get the drum sound the day before the session or early the day of the session.  When the drummer leaves, the board, mics, and drum kit are set and ready for the session the next day. Since drums tuned for stage use are different from studio drums, we suggest you use one of our drum sets, since it's fine-tuned to the room and we can get an awesome drum sound with them. We have three different snares to choose from. Bring your own cymbals, snare, kick drum pedal, and drum seat if you like. Of course, you're free to use your own drum set, but figure on a lot more setup time.

Day 1, Basic Rhythm Tracks
The bass can go direct to the board, or to our David Eden Highwayman preamp/amp with Bag End and Ampeg speakers or your bass player can bring their own rig. We'll usually mike the guitar amps and we have the all tube Peavy Delta Blues 15" combo amp, an all tube 1963 Ampeg Jet 12D with a great vintage sound and a Marshall VS65R Valvestate with Celstion Goldbacks, which is great for punk and metal. 

Song 1 usually takes about 3 to 5 hours to record (including guitar amp setup, placing microphones, eliminating hums, hiss, and buzzes, setting headphone levels, getting everybody warmed up, etc.).

The rest of the songs take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour or so per song, depending on the number of takes or effects needed. (One song will take a lot longer than the other songs - I don't know why - it just works out that way.) Figure about 6 to 8 hours for the basic session. It's a very long day but we'll take a lot of breaks. All you're going for on Day 1 is a good drums/bass/rhythm groove with a scratch vocal. The singer shouldn't push on any of the vocals today.

Day 2, Solos, Overdubs, and Vocals
You'll add solos, and possibly redo some tracks because you came up with something better. That takes about 5 hours. You did rough vocals during the basic session to help with timing. Now, you'll do the finished vocals & harmonies if you didn't blow your voice during Day 1. Figure on about 2 to 5 hours for vocals.

Day 3, Mixdown Session (Several Days Later)
Final mixdowns take about 4 hours for the first song and about an hour each for the rest of the songs. You'll listen on different speaker systems  and we'll adjust the sound to get the best compromise for the final mix. Figure about 8 hours for mixdowns, or longer. Add another 4 hours for mastering. A "typical" five song recording project runs something like this: