Studio Sessions are a huge commitment of resources, especially for independent artists. If you’re going to venture out into the world of entertainment here are a few things you should bring with you before you pay a deposit to book the room.
1. An Agenda
Weird, I know. But the goal here is to get the most for your money. Professional studios can range anywhere from $50/hr upwards of $250/hr and most have ‘minimums’ attached to booking the room i.e. if you want ‘X’ room for ‘Y’ amount of hours you have to at least book 2 hours of time. That means for whatever the hourly rate is for the recording studio expect to spend double if not quadruple that time to book the room (mixing and mastering are generally separate fees that aren’t included in the session)
With that said, if you’re going to be spending money on studio time you need to know what you’re working on before you get there. If you’ve had the beat for a few days before the session you should have something written — even if the idea isn’t fully formed otherwise you’re wasting money. It looks cool when you see an artist ‘vibing out’ all day in the studio, right? Well, the clock is running so somebody is counting how long they’ve been there. And you can guarantee that whoever receives the invoice is going to be paying a BIG amount.
2. External Hard Drive
Leaving with an MP3/WAV of your session is cool but you need to have the actual recording session. First, it gives your engineer something to work with during the mixing phase, and it contains every recording you made in the booth — you may hear something later that needs to be changed and without the session, you’re f&$*ed.
Keep in mind, some studios do save your recording sessions for you on the computer or the cloud, but it’s YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO KEEP UP WITH YOUR WORK because shit happens. Studios generally don’t like to keep sessions on their computer for rando’s to go through, so after a set period of time, they delete them (sometimes if you’re lucky they’ll even reach out to let you know). If the studio can’t retrieve your files exactly when you need it, you’re gonna be upset about it so make sure you get a copy of your session before you leave.
3. Phone & Laptop Charger
Not much really needs to be said here… If you’re a beatmaker bring a charger or you can’t play beats for anyone. If you’re a rapper, bring a charger or you can’t read the lyrics off of your phone. Bring the charger. Love the charger. Don’t leave the charger. You’ll thank us later.
4. Food &Â Drinks
You’re going to be in one room for a long time & you need to bring something to snack on. If the studio has ‘runners’ on hand chances are they could be doing a number of tasks that can delay how fast you get your food — and if you happen to book your session on a busy night odds are the runners could be working a recording session as staff; now you’re hungry with no one to get food for you so what do you do? leave your session. Does the clock stop running? NOPE.
Remember that you’re renting this room— the worst thing you can do is wait for something as essential as food to help you deliver peak performance when with a client or under time constraints. So before your next studio session make sure you grab something to eat or bring something to the studio with you; Not doing so can cost you huge amounts of time & money.
5. Good Vibes
You’re in a studio using your God-given gift, and if you’re lucky it’s in a room that one of your favorite artists has worked in before. If nothing else, this is a reason to be a good mood. Over and above that, you’re also expressing yourself which is a cathartic experience you shouldn’t take lightly.
We know things happen before you hit the studio — that’s life. For the sake of the session and making sure you get what you came to make sure you bring a positive vibe and surround yourself with the things and people who bring that out of you.
Hope this helps you all navigate the world of recording studios a little bit more. There’s more nuance to these things but if you do the 5 things we’ve listed above I PROMISE your next session will be pretty good.
 — Snobhop