Preparing to Record

Here's some advice on how to prepare for an upcoming recording session. If you're an experienced studio musician, you probably know most of this stuff already. But if you're new, I hope you'll find this information helpful.

Everyone

Get plenty of rest the night before recording. Keep the chemical abuse to a minimum, or, better yet, leave it alone. You need a clear head in the studio.
Know your parts completely, and be sure you can perform them well. You don't want to be the one who holds up the recording and costs the band more money because you can't nail your parts. More importantly, confidence (or lack of it) will come through in your playing.
Don't bring friends, boyfriends/girlfriends, spouses, relatives, or anyone else that's not needed. They will be a distraction.
Make sure everyone agrees on tempos, lyrics, arrangements, parts, etc. BEFORE you get to the studio. You don't want to be paying for studio time while you're arguing about the song.
Don't be afraid to take a break if you're not playing your best. There's usually something else to do if you're not feeling it.
Sloppy playing is usually bad, but technical perfection isn't always the goal, either. Feel means a lot. A take with a great feel is going to be the one I choose over the "perfect" one 99% of the time.
Remember that your engineer needs breaks, too. Sometimes the ears need a rest in order to re-calibrate.
In the studio, almost everything takes longer than you think it's going to. I'll do what I can to keep things moving forward, but this is the reality. Budget accordingly.

Drummers

Be able to play to a click (metronome). This will make the whole process go faster for everyone. Tracks that aren't recorded to a click take longer to complete. This is true even after the drums are done.
Put new heads on all of your drums. Do this a couple days before the session so they have time to break in.
Know how to tune your drums. If you don't know how, find someone who does, and learn.
Check your pedals, stands, lugs, and other hardware for squeaks, rattles, and buzzes. Seek and destroy these noises. You're going to have a lot of microphones on your drum kit, and they'll pick up everything.
Make sure you have several extra pairs of sticks.
Bring spare drum heads. If you can't afford to have spare heads for everything, make sure you have at least an extra snare drum batter head. Even if you don't break it, you might wear it out and need to replace it before the session is done.
Clean your cymbals, and replace cracked or broken cymbals. If you can't afford to replace them, try to borrow some from a friend.
It's called a KICK drum, not a bass drum. If you call it a "bass", you're going to confuse me, because I'll probably think you're talking about the bass guitar.

Guitarists/Bassists

Guitarists, put new strings on your guitars. Make sure you give them a day or two to stretch and break in.
Bassists, you may or may not want new strings. It depends on the tone you're after. If you want a bright, modern tone, you'll want new strings. If you want a more old-school or rounder tone, old strings might be just fine.
Tune often. Imagine getting a perfect take, and then hearing that you have to do it again because your tuning was out. Don't let this happen to you.
Related to tuning, make sure your instrument is properly intonated. If it's not, you won't be able to get it in tune no matter how hard you try. If you don't know how to intonate a guitar, have it done professionally.
Have at least one spare set of strings on hand. Yes, bassists, even you. Recording often happens after hours, and you can't always count on the music store being open in an emergency.
Make sure your amps are in working order. Do you use a tube amp? If so, how old are your tubes? If they're more than a year or two old, you may not be getting the best sound from your amp. If you're not sure, get a pro to check it out.
Check your speaker cabinet for squeaks, rattles, buzzes, and other noises, and get those fixed.
Check your cables, too. Bad cables can kill your tone. Also, make sure you're not using a speaker cable for your guitar, or a guitar cable for your speaker cab. You'd be surprised how many times I've seen that.
Plan to record with as few effects as possible — usually none. Most effects (delay, reverb, chorus, flange, etc.) will be added after you record. If there's a particular effect that's integral to the song that I can't duplicate in the computer, then we'll record it.
Remember your slide, capo, EBow, or other gadgets you will need.
Guitarists, you don't need as much distortion as you think you do. Layering guitars will thicken them up. Ease back on the gain for recording. Believe it or not, less distortion will make it sound heavier in the end.
If you're not happy with your amp/cab sound, I have several options for reamping.

Keyboardists

Know what sounds you want. Make sure all of your patches are programmed and ready to go.
Decide whether you want to record MIDI, audio, or both. If we record MIDI, we have the option of easily fixing mistakes and changing sounds later on.
If there's a particular sound you're after that you don't have the gear for, let me know. I might have something that works. Just be aware that searching for the right sound will take some time.

Singers

More so than anyone else, make sure you're well rested. Don't schedule a show too close to a recording session.
You should know what's best for your voice, but generally speaking, smoking, alcohol, caffeine, spicy foods, dairy, and extremes of hot and cold are bad for your voice. Try to keep those things to a minimum as you get closer to a recording session.
Drink a lot of water before and during the session. Plain, room temperature water is the best thing for your voice. Be sure to have plenty with you.
Learn how to warm up your voice. You don't want to be recording vocals cold.
Print lyrics for each song, and bring at least two copies -- one for you, and one for me. Even if you're sure you know the lyrics by heart, bring a copy for yourself. The studio does weird things to people.
Yes, I have Auto-tune. Don't be afraid to ask for it, and don't be offended if I think you need it.