Biggest studio mistakes and 14 ways to avoid them...

Number one for those without a lot of experience: not knowing the material.

When I was in school and engineering bands for free, I thought they were disorganized and confused because they weren't paying money. Then I saw folks doing the same thing on their own dime and I thought... wow.

Now, mind you, fooling around in the studio can be a lot of fun when there's not a time/money budget to deal with.

But if you need to get something done?

• the band should know its material and have it arranged -- no, really
• the band should have thoroughly practiced and have multiple practice recordings of the song in precisely the arrangement they will be recording it in
• no last minute re-arrangements
• no last minute lineup switch ups
• there should be a hard, fast plan for what will be tracked live and what will be overdubbed
• the band should give the engineer and producer, if any, lead sheets or lyric sheets with section notations already legibly on them so that he and the band can communicate about what's what and where they are in a given song
• the engineer should talk to the band and figure out how they want to be arranged in the studio given his own understanding of the studio floor, drum room, gobos, localized acoustics (there's often a good/bad place for different instruments, even in a well-treated live room
• the engineer should know what mics he's going to use on what and have them on stands, cabled up, signal-checked, out of the way at the edge of the room more or less so they can be brought in with a minimum of fuss
• the engineer should have headphones ready to go with rough cue mix(es) for the musician
• the engineer should have aligned and calibrated any tape machines that will be used
• the engineer should make sure that the gear is warmed up and stable
• the engineer or producer should try to assure that the musicians are relaxed and comfortable and should avoid making them self-concious or nervous
• the engineer or producer should keep an eye on the attitude and attention of the band; don't let them get frazzled; don't let them go too long without food or fluids -- dehydration in the studio, particularly a hot, sweaty studio can be a real problem that sneaks up on everyone
• the engineer or producer should keep an eye on any, ahem, performance preparations to make sure that no one, for instance, drinks too much coffee, smokes too many cigarettes, et cetra (and a half)