Why can't bands be on time

[Jesusfreak999777]

All I ask is for bands to show up on time. I have a band booked for today through friday, and they're scheduled to start at 1 pm everyday, which they are aware of. Its 2:49pm and i still haven't heard from the band. They haven't shown up at all. It bugs me. They're supposed to lay down drums for 3 songs today. Plus setting up drums. Plus hooking up mics and checking levels. Plus getting click tracks set up. Plus making sure that everything is tight. Plus me tightening everything up before guitars come in tomorrow.

I guess its a good thing i don't ever sleep.

But please, for those in bands that are going to record, have a heart and arrive when the studio has you booked, or at least call and let us know you're going to be late.

[psycho_monkey]

Studio time starts at the booked time, surely? So...if you do 10hr days, you're just 2hrs into that time.

You did take a deposit, didn't you?!

[DontLetMeDrown]

I'd call it day. The band is obviously not serious about recording, despite what they might say. Just go home. If the band calls asking where you're at, say something along the lines of: "Well you guys weren't here and you didn't call so I made plans. Maybe we can reschedule in a couple weeks..."

When they call in a couple weeks, tell them you're booked solid. These are the kind of people you DON'T want to work with.

[NathanEldred]

Originally Posted by psycho_monkey

Studio time starts at the booked time, surely? So...if you do 10hr days, you're just 2hrs into that time.

You did take a deposit, didn't you?!

+1. I always (at least after being burned many times) have taken a 25% non refundable deposit of the estimated time for the ENTIRE project. Clock starts at scheduled time, no exceptions aside from proof of life threatening occurance. NO CREDIT, entire balance of time must be paid on that day of session after the 25% deposit runs dry, otherwise there is no 'next session' until payment is given in full (so if they have a session booked for the next day, they had better walk in with 100% of the money from the night before). If people have the opportunity to take advantage of you, they will...and I say this from experience.

[Uncle Bob]

And NOTHING leaves the studio until it is 100% paid for. If they don't pay for that days work they don't get CDs of that days work. And you also charge for the time of doing back-ups and whatever you are backing it up on.

[lowfreq33]

I always tell everyone that I work with that the clock starts at the agreed upon time whether they are there or not. They're paying for my time, so if they choose to waste it it's not my fault.

[Makinithappen]

I don't really care when people are late... since there is always a deposit in, it just gives me more time to surf GS.

What I really can't stand is when people are an hour late and then want to bitch when "We only have a couple backup vocals to do!! Can't we just keep going for another 1/2 hour!!"

[NathanEldred]

Originally Posted by Makinithappen

What I really can't stand is when people are an hour late and then want to bitch when "We only have a couple backup vocals to do!! Can't we just keep going for another 1/2 hour!!"

Yeah, that's part of the rub. I'll schedule say from 2pm-10pm. They get there @ 3pm (or later) and want to go until 11pm (or later)...I lose focus and should be eating dinner so it throws my entire next day off.

[Jax]

Guess I was lucky when I had a client who would show up 1-1.5 hours late almost every time, but at the end of every session, she paid me for those hours without my having to ask or explain anything. Since I normally show up an hour or two before sessions and make sure everything is ready, I was happy to spend the extra 1+ hours practicing drums or guitar.

Another client would show up early and he was really difficult to get along with, but again, he paid me at the end of every session. However, I couldn't wait for him to leave.

Then there's the old friend you've known for 20 years who just doesn't get it and expects you to do everything for free.

You can't win.

[AllAboutTone]

Same goes with family outings...

[HookedOnHardware]

Originally Posted by AllAboutTone

Same goes with family outings...

My parents live in a different country. So does the rest of the family .

Joy.

[24-96 Mastering]

Originally Posted by psycho_monkey

Studio time starts at the booked time, surely? So...if you do 10hr days, you're just 2hrs into that time.

You did take a deposit, didn't you?!

Wow... can you still pull that off in the UK?

I mean, is the market over there healthy enough that customers actually get to bear the consequences of their mistakes / bad planning?

I'm impressed :)

[slaves666]

Late bands = PS3......

[Gilli C]

I had a band years ago that would turn up hours late. they had paid whole fee in advance. After I'd waited round a couple of times I'd started just leaving if they were more than an hour late. They would then ring and say were are you?? .... "err, at home, session was to start four hours ago and its now 11pm"

in the end they were able to arrive only 2 hours late. I'd say 10am, they would turn up at 12 and I'd actually expect them then. all good.

Bizzarely, they would sometimes arrive inapropriatly early: as in 2 or 3 hours early. Maybe they thought they were somehow making up time?

G

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by 24-96 Mastering

Wow... can you still pull that off in the UK?

I mean, is the market over there healthy enough that customers actually get to bear the consequences of their mistakes / bad planning?

I'm impressed :)

Most of the time, I'm lucky enough not to be dealing with people as flaky as that..but generally, I think it does happen!

Jesusfreak - did your clients ever show up?!

[Jesusfreak999777]

it turned out that they had car trouble. and the guy that had my number dropped his cell phone on the highway while flicking his cigarette. haha. They did show up though, and I had taken a 50% deposit. They were quick and made up for the lost time easily.


However, today i was supposed to start recording a band and they didn't show up at all. I haven't met them yet so i haven't had the chance to get a deposit. If they show up tomorrow (they are scheduled to) I'm going to charge them a 30% fee for missing today.

And i'm never going to book them again.

On that note, I'm going to start tracking for my band in the time that they were booked for. So at least their missed time isn't a total waste of mine =]

[Stevil]

i hate to have to be the one to break this to you guys but ::news flash:: most musicians are flakes.

[Bouldy]

Originally Posted by Stevil

i hate to have to be the one to break this to you guys but ::news flash:: most musicians are flakes.

Thats why they become musicians "Art doesn't work to a timeline, Man"
Hahaha,
(remember "MOST")

Dave

[Stevil]

Originally Posted by Bouldy

Thats why they become musicians "Art doesn't work to a timeline, Man"
Hahaha,
(remember "MOST")

i think it's way past the point where we need a new name for the ones that aren't flakes, since they are so rare & the term "musician" is so tainted.

[donsolo]

I nominate "Music Professionals"

Musicians are flakes

Music Professionals are not.

We can even put a parenthesis to replace the guitarist, keyboardist sort of musician term

Music Professional (guitar)

Music Professional (vocal)

Music Professional (production)

Music Professional (rhyme)

Music Professional (multi-instrument)

[Bouldy]

Originally Posted by donsolo

I nominate "Music Professionals"

Musicians are flakes

Music Professionals are not.

We can even put a parenthesis to replace the guitarist, keyboardist sort of musician term

Music Professional (guitar)

Music Professional (vocal)

Music Professional (production)

Music Professional (rhyme)

Music Professional (multi-instrument)

Music Professional (stick-man)

Was initially referring to just drummers but could be so many!

[sinicalmicmusic]

OK guys try this one on for size.

a singer whom i work with(lets call him Timmy) has a brother who wants to record with me (lets call him john). we setup 2 5hr sessions. one on wed at 6pm the other on thurs 6pm. wed 6:30 rolls around and I'm not happy. i call Timmy to see whats up cause he was attending the session and john doesn't have a cell phone. Timmy tells me they are having family problems but they both are on there way (they both left at the same time in diff cars).

OK fine they'll be late but oh well its not like I'm working 13hr days (oh wait i am)

Timmy shows up....no word from john. Timmy says "OK ill take an hour and work on some of my stuff till he gets here" i say fine. john finally shows up and is acting a Lil funny AKA drunk. we then proceed to spend a whole 4hrs on 1 hook. yes i said it "1 hook". the whole session he was getting even more drunk till i finally said "OK your voice is done for today and I'm gonna tell you something you don't wanna hear" he said "what?" i said "tomorrow i dont want you drinking during the session cause its hurting your music" he said "dont tell me not to drink".

next day 6pm rolls around and i get a call from Timmy asking if i talked to john today and i said no. he then tells me that he talked to john earlier that day and he was too hung over and his voice was shot AKA cancel the session. wow

ps. that hook took 200 takes to get it down. sonar can count lol

[slaphappygarry]

Group I am working with today are now 40 minutes late...

*Sigh*

[Storyville]

I'm generally a pretty mild person, but there is one thing that makes me go ape shit. If I book a session player and the session player shows up late. I had a guitar player show up an hour late for a studio session once with no call. I cursed him out for two minutes, then told him to go home because he wasn't getting paid. Normally I'm not that bad, but I was having a tough session already.

Also had a really sophomoric drummer who honestly should have been content with getting gigging experience play with my band as a sub. His attitude was terrible, he didn't learn the cues for the songs, he acted like the gigs were beneath him, and he played terribly.

A lot of musicians just suck as people. The good ones are hard to come by.

[HookedOnHardware]

After reading all the posts I still don't know why bands can't be on time .

[jimcroisdale]

Originally Posted by Storyville

A lot of musicians just suck as people. The good ones are hard to come by.

A lot of people suck, period. Then they bring that attitude to their music 'career', and bandmates, studio owners and everyone else has to suffer as a result.

I try to be punctual, but that often means that I have to wait for everyone else to show. I try to learn the material to the best of my ability, but that often means that I have to show everyone else.....

I'm looking for a drummer for my originals band and I know at least two who are good enough, but suck as people, so I wouldn't dream of asking them.

I suppose this is the world of personal relationships - these things happen in every walk of life.

Ho hum.

[lowfreq33]

There are lots of people out there that think they really, really want to succeed in music.

They don't.

Generally everyone I know who has had a successful career in music (this includes session players, sidemen, engineers, stars, etc.) have a great work ethic and don't mind at all showing up on time and putting in the work. Any of these people would more than likely have been successful at whatever they chose as their profession, because they understand the whole 1% inspiration/99% perspiration thing. People who want to be in music because they think it's a way out of having a proper job usually don't go very far.

On the flip side, I occasionally see that unfortunate soul that works harder than anyone on the planet, because they just want it that bad, but they'll never get anywhere because they just don't have the talent. That's always depressing.

[ajv205]

if they paid for the you and the studio ahead of time or you have a label PO then go ahead and work on side projects during your free time.

[Newcleardaze]

Originally Posted by HookedOnHardware

After reading all the posts I still don't know why bands can't be on time .

They just can't.................