I was just wondering what is the "average" time do you spend tracking a band...(just recording) Lately i´ve been asking myself if i spend too much time tracking... Lets say that you record an 8 song cd... i usually spend: *(1 day = 8 hours)* -2/3 days recording drums (usually 2 days ..3/4 songs per day) -2/3 days rhythm guitars (i edit timing on the spot so usually a song takes 2/3 hours) -Bass 1/2 days (timing edited on the spot) -Vocals 3/4 days (depends on the complexity of the tracks...many background vocals/harmonies/etc..) -Keyboards 1/2 days (again depending on the complexity of the arrangement)
There's not really a general rule... tracking clean vocals for an album might take 6 days, growls could even be done in 1-2 days... sometimes drums are finished the second day, sometimes it takes 4-5 days... bass can often be done in 1 day, might take 3 days (I don't really like spending more than 2 days on bass though).... then there might be folk instruments, synths etc.... A day here is anything between 8 and 16 hours (if it's going really well I won't stop recording usually) So what I usually do is really customise a schedule for each band, most of the times tracking will be between 9 and 16 days (for a 10 track album)... here's an example of how the first page of my quote could look
You're pretty on with the timing man. That seems average, at least for this genre/ style. Other styles can be done quite a bit faster if the band is good and can record live together in the proper environment.
I spend 3 weeks tracking + editing and then 1 additional week for mixing for a standard album. I usually spend an average of 2 days per song to track/edit for an Ep though.