your "it wasnt gonna end well" recording studio stories?..

That was a good on Ian.  Here's one from my Sound Logic days in L.A..

A young, heavy metal band comes in from Beverly Hills.  They load in (studio was on 2nd floor w/no elevators!).  All great and expensive gear.  They set up and are really excited to record three of their songs.  

As I was setting mics, they broke out a case of beer and by the time I finished with the sound check and first rough passes (about an hour later), they were so high and/or drunk they couldn't concentrate enough on the beat, tuning, starts and ends to get decent takes.  They called it and came back the next night with clearer heads.

Rimshot

I tell people that have never recorded that recording will be brutal for a few sessions... or maybe a few years.


I'm saving up for a couch.

I have many but as a player...

The first one to mind-

I was hired to do an 8 hr session. I was to write and play the lead guitar part(s).

A couple had hired me. He wrote songs and his wife sang.
They hoped to get at least two completed tunes from the session.
They had friends come from out of state for the session. He was to cover all the acoustic work and she was to cover the keys.
The bassist was a guy I had heard of that played "Up With People" trips and at that time slap and pop bass was his thing...on everything lol. (these were rockin'country tunes)
The drummer I had heard play. Very steady, simple and average honky tonk drummer.

They spent like what seemed forever trying to get the drums sounding right...I sat in a booth ready, listening to all the racket.
Bass player slappin' and poppin....Ed, the acoustic player had turned engineer/producer and his wife was playing any and everything she could think of....I sat in the booth, ready.

While waiting I knew Ed turning into engineer/producer wasn't going to do his part(s) and got my head ready to cover the acoustic guitar part(s).
Wasn't long and he stuck his head in the booth and asked me to...no problem.

Finally a run through. They kept the tracks and let me lay down the lead. Then they spent the rest of the 6 or so hours trying to get the other parts...total gas. Nobody had prepared for any aspect of recording in a studio and their parts?...not good. That was a very long session to me.

There is more than knowing ones part and how to lay it down. There is studio etiquette.
They were all upset with each other. Each being right and each at fault.

I unfortunately had many sessions with players that really didn't know how to prepare for a session. Many of them were excellent musicians and handled their part but....there's more to it...and if I'm not clear, it may be something to pickup on if you're planing on paying for studio time.

They got a rhythm and lead part for their money...so they said. Pretty sad really.

Not really a recording studio story but....

About 20 years ago a bunch of us set about recording some acoustic stuff in a friend's bedroom, on an old 4-track. Of course we were all high, and there were some extra friends in the room just to get high and listen. Everyone's mind was all over the place and it took forever to get things set up (as simple as the setup was). Just when we thought we were ready to roll, someone would announce some problem with their instrument or with the mic placement or forget which song we were playing etc. 

So finally, we were ready to roll. The tape started, "1...2...3"

All of a sudden, Peter, who was just there to get high and watch, stood up and yelled "WHOA...NO...HOLD IT...STOP...STOP!"

And I said "What IS it Peter?"

"Gotta adjust my boxers."