Studio Paperwork

[Brice]

Hey guys,

So when you guys have a recording session, what is the general paperwork you guys use to help keep track of everything?

I've heard of take sheets, but I don't exactly understand what that is. I think I've heard it used on comping vocals to keep track of all the good takes.

But what other things would you guys recommend to help a session run smoothly and well-transitioned, especially in multiple sessions?

Thanks,

Brice

[SignalAudio]

I have some track sheets, I mark down what we need to accomplish in each song (drums, guitars 1, 2, vox, vox b-up, etc etc). There is space for me to make notes (ring in snare around 2k, gtr is too bottom heavy, etc), so I can either remember to fix them later without much of a headache, or so that I can bring it up to the producer/band/client. I also have a log sheet for my hours, in - out, what was accomplished and for who, that type of thing. That way, if there is any discrepancies with the client, I have documentation of my hours/etc.

Typically, I dont use take sheets unless I am recording ADR/VO, script based stuff. That way I can throw the talent in the other room, hit record, and let it roll the whole session. When it comes time to edit it down later, you already know which takes were good vs bad, and if you need to chop some sentences together.

[Brice]

Thanks for the reply! Anyone have anymore suggestions??

[los marbles]

I hate paperwork. What I have found important is mainly keep track of what's recorded, who did it, and for how long. When giving a detailed invoice you'll need that stuff. All that I keep in my day planner. You have one of those...right? If not, get a good one.

For tech notes and production charts I write them on pieces of standard size paper and keep them in folders for each client. Folders are handy to keep all the info together that a session can generate. Often, there are clients notes that they give you, phone numbers, reference cds, lyrics, mic set-ups/choices, rental receipts, etc...all together in one place.

[MTStudios]

I dislike DOING paperwork, but love having it further down the track. It's also great in the studio, because me 2 weeks ago is taking care of half the thinking I have to do now.

My paper work tends to be like this:

Production grids:
Table of what needs to be recorded for what sections. Each song gets it's own grid, then the entire project gets a grid for each instrument on each song. These grids get coloured in/marked as the parts are recorded. This way, if you have any session musicians/guests etc you're far less likely to have to call them back and ask them to come in again! They're just generally brilliant.

I also write general information around these grids about the songs, like tempo, key, tuning, etc.

Input lists:
So you don't blow up that ribbon mic by switching on 48v to the wrong channel! Plus it's great if you have an assistant.

Plus if I already know the songs, mics, room, gear, players, instruments involved I generally already know what I want or at least I have a fair idea, And i'd much rather spend the time making takes. This happens more often then you might initially think. But think about it, I'll bet most of your work is return clients and such too!

These are also great in the long run, because you can remember what you did to get that sound.

Track sheets/Take sheets:

I don't know the proper name for these, but I include what studio I'm working at, the sample rate and bit depth, who else is involved in the project, the client, etc at the top of the page.

Then I've got a table with instrument, take quality (I use a number of ticks) Good from - until, general comments, and AUDIO FILES/playlist. That last part saves your butt when things get complicated/or you start making silly-hour mistakes at the end of long projects (Mistakes happen to everyone, being prepared and dealing with them is the important part)

MISC Notes:
Write down everything. Guitar amps, room position, settings, mic position, everything. If you wind up needing to redo parts here or there, or the band brings in a girlfriend/boyfriend who decides to play with knobs, this will absolutely save your arse.

Hope this helps

[los marbles]

Originally Posted by MTStudios

I dislike DOING paperwork, but love having it further down the track. It's also great in the studio, because me 2 weeks ago is taking care of half the thinking I have to do now.

My paper work tends to be like this:

Production grids:
Table of what needs to be recorded for what sections. Each song gets it's own grid, then the entire project gets a grid for each instrument on each song. These grids get coloured in/marked as the parts are recorded. This way, if you have any session musicians/guests etc you're far less likely to have to call them back and ask them to come in again! They're just generally brilliant.

I also write general information around these grids about the songs, like tempo, key, tuning, etc.

Input lists:
So you don't blow up that ribbon mic by switching on 48v to the wrong channel! Plus it's great if you have an assistant.

Plus if I already know the songs, mics, room, gear, players, instruments involved I generally already know what I want or at least I have a fair idea, And i'd much rather spend the time making takes. This happens more often then you might initially think. But think about it, I'll bet most of your work is return clients and such too!

These are also great in the long run, because you can remember what you did to get that sound.

Track sheets/Take sheets:

I don't know the proper name for these, but I include what studio I'm working at, the sample rate and bit depth, who else is involved in the project, the client, etc at the top of the page.

Then I've got a table with instrument, take quality (I use a number of ticks) Good from - until, general comments, and AUDIO FILES/playlist. That last part saves your butt when things get complicated/or you start making silly-hour mistakes at the end of long projects (Mistakes happen to everyone, being prepared and dealing with them is the important part)

MISC Notes:
Write down everything. Guitar amps, room position, settings, mic position, everything. If you wind up needing to redo parts here or there, or the band brings in a girlfriend/boyfriend who decides to play with knobs, this will absolutely save your arse.

Hope this helps

That seems like too much to me. Do you really refer to old sessions so much that it's worth all the documentation?

Set-ups that I really like I always seem to remember. Most of the time everything is too different from session to session to get something exactly like something previous anyway (in my case)

I just want to go home after a long day. The thought of filling out charts and forms makes me tired.

I do make production charts though. They are indeed necessary to keep things going in the right direction.

Mine are a list with the songs in a column, what tracking is done, and what tracking needs to be done. Like your grid, it has tempos, ideas, session players phone numbers, and various scribblings.

At least I don't use napkins or backs of envelopes anymore for this type of stuff.

[MTStudios]

It's not too bad if you're prepared in advance.

For example, I have sheets set up with spaces to just scribble in quickly the settings on the pre's I'm using for this next session, and scribbling down the position of knobs quickly isn't such a big deal. These are set up before heading into the studio.

To be honest, Yes, in the past I've been annoyed when I remember doing something good on a previous project and not having the information there. But it's really great when you can get someone else to take notes

To me, input lists and take/track sheets are absolutely essential. I never like trying to keep a project in my head.

During mix down I don't run any outboard gear, so I don't have to write down anything there. However I do use EQ and compression on the way in.

I've had situations where we've come back to a tracking session the next day and someone's changed something, either by accident when we were closing up last night, or they just didn't realise it would matter.

[frans]

The gear shouldn't get in the way of the music, so get organized.
I have some homemade drawn sheets with the frontplate of every micpre, outboard, amp and whatever, pics of the cabs and whatnot. So when everything is set up and the band is warming up I have time to mark with a single little line, where this pot was at, scribble down which mic went into which channel and so on. It takes less than 10 minutes. When the band is having a break I take a photo of each amp, pedal, guitar to document the settings and what was plugged where. Photos how the mics were positioned. Another 5 minutes. Session notes what was recorded, if the solo was done or if we want to have some backing vocals on that later, blahblah. You get the idea.

If you are too lazy for tech notes, just take photos. Make more photos of the band playing and goofing. They can use them for the booklet or their website.

Did I mention I have 80% return customers?

[stacey]

This was such a headache for us at first, since there is no right or wrong way to document sessions & its something that really has to be customized for you, the studio, and even your clients - we use custom docs for some of our frequent clients and that saves quite a bit of time on the admin side of things.


Take a look at the Grammy docs - then customize them and keep optimizing the sheets until they work. Documentation is sooo key and so hard to get everyone to keep up with it - I just did a major overhaul of ours and they are exactly what we need, doesn't look anything like our first docs but now they work for us, our workflow, billing, and are as painless as possible.