So, your band's all ready and you want to record. You've spent time on all your parts at a rehearsal studio and you feel ready to go.

On the first day of recording, you plan on getting drums, bass, guitar, and rough vocal sounds. Everybody is tuned up but when the first chord is hit, the engineer says, "Woah! Somebody's out of tune." The guitar player sighs, "I just tuned to a tuner-- how can it be out of tune?"

Recently this has been the scenario with more and more inexperienced bands here at Sabella. Guitar players have been coming in with old strings, and drummers with drum-skins with craters on them. Being prepared with the right gear is just as important as the arrangements, parts, and even the song.

When guitar players such as Tommy Byrnes or Eddie Martinez come through, the first thing they do is change the strings on all their guitars, giving them that fresh feel. When some of these young bands come through here you can feel the rust on the strings. But even if you're saying to yourself, "Hey I have new strings on my guitar," there are still other considerations. One of the most key items in any guitar player's checklist is proper intonation.

When you press on a guitar string, not only do you shorten its length, which raises the pitch, but depending on the distance between the string and the fret (action) you will also increase tension--which also increases the pitch a bit more. This is what must be compensated for. The goal is to get the guitar to play in tune across the entire fret board. Basically you need to tune a string to its open pitch. Then fret its octave at the 12th fret. If the octave is sharper than the open note, the saddle must be moved farther toward the tailpiece (lengthen the string) to compensate. Likewise, if the octave pitch is flat compared to the open pitch, the saddle must be moved toward the neck to compensate (shortening the string length). Repeat this procedure until both the octave and 12th fretted note are the same. Use a tuner, please! Intonation should be redone whenever you change string gauges or change the action. Also be aware that a guitar may have nice intonation for one player but may not be quite right for another, due to the fact that each person may apply different pressure to the strings. When you fret at the 12th, try to fret the way you would normally play. I usually tweak the intonation every couple of string-changes, regardless.

Here is a typical situation: A band comes in with two guitar players, one using a vintage guitar, the other a "new" guitar. Both are tuned to the same tuner. They both play a G chord and each one sounds out of tune. Sometimes we'll tell bands this and they'll just shrug it off. Then they'll go home and listen to their recording and realize the poor results--wasting hours of hard work and a lot of money.

This is because the guitars were not set up properly, and the main problem is intonation. There are plenty of guitar technicians on Long Island that provide this type of service. Even if your guitar is brand new, it should still be checked out twice a year. It's a musician's job to keep his instrument in tune. You wouldn't want to go to a car race with bald tires, 'cause when you go into that first turn, you'd spin out and hit the wall. Believe it or not, this is all relative to your performance and the sound of your recording. Before coming into any recording situation you should get your intonation checked, put on new strings and bring picks. This goes for the acoustic and basses as well. Please keep in mind, I am not submitting this as a guitar technician, but as an engineer and producer who sees these problems all too often. It is a precaution which should never been overlooked!

Now let's talk about drums. Skins with craters on them are not new skins. New skins should be put on before a recording session. Then they should be tuned before the session starts. Most experienced drummers know how to tune their drums, which skins to use, and even what sticks to bring. For those of you who don't, there are drum techs out there that might know the room. This is very important, as it will allow the tech to tweak the skins to accommodate the nuances of the room.

To most of you, this has all been said before, but you would be surprised how much this is overlooked lately. Knowing this information only makes a better sound in the studio environment. Not following these simple steps will cause you a bunch of grief and wasted money. Being prepared before coming to the studio makes the session more enjoyable for you and your band mates, and solid prep makes an easier job of it for an engineer to capture your sound and energy.

So remember, keep those skins changed, those strings new, and you'll see how much fun the recording environment can be. Now let's have some fun and roll tape. We hope to write articles like this once a month. If you have any ideas or questions, please feel free to e-mail me at info@sabellastudios.com.