I say go ahead and bring some snares. It's not like they are hard to change out so it shouldn't **** the engineer off.

As far as advice goes, this something I know a little about. The most important thing to remember in these kind of situations. When the time is free for the band, its not free for the studio. They probably got a flat rate or might donating it for exposure. Don't expect them to spend any more time than the bare minimum on your product.Time is literally money to them. As the drummer you have to be on your game, more so than anyone else in the band. Have your parts written and down before you step foot in that place. And IMO the most important thing. Click click click click click.

In modern day Pro Tool studios everything is mapped to a click track for editing purposes. So that means if the engineer plans on doing any editing at all you are going to have to play to a click. There is no way around it. If you aren't comfortable to playing with one you better spend time working on it. Set the metronome to 8th notes (easier to sit on) and go to town. Play exercises you have to think about. That way you're concentrating on what you're playing instead staying with the click. Just relax and try not to think to hard about that pulse. Make it your friend.

Hope that helps.

When I recorded with my band for our CD, we were in the studio for 2 days recording 7 songs. I brought 2 snares and my choice of cymbals. The engineer I knew fairly well and I respected his opinion even though it wasn't what I wanted. I used a house DW kit and he did cut down my snare a bit with muffling.

Remember that they know what they are doing, respect that and also express your desires and see if you can come to a mutual decision. We didn't use a click track at all. The engineer was impressed by my playing (he knew I played but never heard me) and equally impressed how good my meter was.

He and I both agreed that songs need to "breathe" and playing a little hotter tempo on a chorus, bridge or solo was something we both agreed upon.

Lastly, treat it seriously. Warm up before and listen to the band, play what's needed for the song, not what awesome fill you have learned. Simply put, keep it simple, have fun and think of it as a job.

When you say click you are referring to a metronome correct? So is there a fairly inexpensive one I can pick up, and how do you hear it over the drums?

By the way, this studio is in a tech school and is used for teaching students so its not like they are loosing money but learning/teaching students with that time spent with us. I think it works out good for all, we get an awesome experience, they get to work with the equipment.

If you have an Iphone or an Ipad there is an app I use to practice with. Its called Tempo and its outstanding. I just plug some cheap skull candy earbuds into my Ipad and off I go. (Make sure they are in ears though, it blocks the ambient noise) You can set up accents, 16th 8th and triplet subdivisions and different sounds. I think it was like two dollars, five at the most and worth every penny.

Thanks Bizz, I dont have a fancy smart phone, im old fashion,lol! But I did a quick look at my local store website and see several different ones. I will stop in and talk to my drummer salesman buddy, he will set me up. Im going to take that advice and get one, sure cant hurt. Thanks for your help!

Just looked it up. The official name is Tempo-Metronone with setlists.

1. Bring your own gear you like (though depending on the engineer you might not get to use it)

2. Always go for the click if you can during tracking. I use either my in ears or my Vic Firths for this.

3. Drink some beer - no seriously relax! Everyone tends to get a little stressed so it's really hard to capture how you would play normally under no pressure

Good advice, especially the beer part! But I doubt they will allow that on campus.

So you listen to the click while playing the tune, in the studio? How does that work, I thought I would be hearing the bass and guitars through head phones.

Thanks!

Jeff -

Re: click track... the objective is -not- to hear it as you're playing! When your timing is dead-on, the click track disappears in your headphones because you are right on the click! That's how you know you're playing 'in-time' the click will disappear and all you'll hear is your own drumming. If you can hear the click while playing, you're either in front of, or behind the beat! When you're dead-on the click you can't hear it.

I haven't been inside a recording studio since 98' so things may be different now, but back then, the drums were recorded first! I would either have to play my part to a click, or to a pre-recorded bass line. But somebody has to go first and 'usually' (unless the band was being recorded 'Live' with everybody playing,) I was playing by myself to a click track. Be ready for either situation. That means, -know your part-. You might get lucky and you'll have something with solid timing to play to, but if not, know your part well.

Manny is right, RELAX. Take some deep breaths before you start playing, stretch, roll your shoulders, loosen up. Very important to warm-up well before recording anything. Don't go at it 'cold' with no warm-up. Have everybody play the tune a few times, -then- go for the individual takes.

Practice making the click track disappear at home. You'll get it!

Have fun! It's a memory of a life-time.

John