Full album production - What’s your typical timeframe?

In the studio, and I'm assuming pre-production is finished, I've found this is a decent breakdown:

Generic load-in for gear: 30min
Setup of gear: 30min
Setup of mics: 15min
Drum setup, tuning, head changes, finding rattles and noises if not using the studio kit: 30min-2hr
Getting "tones" in guitar/bass amps, changing instruments and strings, setting preamp levels: 15min-2hr

Last minute discussions, advice, calming down anxious band members, 15min-1hr
Last minute DAW setup, assignment changes, etc: 15min

The actual tracking time can vary wildly. First keeper tracks of the first song can happen right away or can be 20 takes into the session depending on how nervous the band is or how (un)practiced. The band could want to do a whole song at a time, or track drums/bass first and overdub everything else later, etc.

I'd estimate that it's about 30min-7hr per song for tracking depending on the band, the complexity of the songs, number of overdubs, how they choose to track, etc.

Vocals are another 30min-4hrs per song depending on the singer's ability, the complexity of the songs, number of background tracks, how many breaks they need, how long their voice holds up, etc.

I'd estimate another 30% in time for all the little stuff that the band wants but didn't tell you about..



Mixing wise, I work quickly and try to get the mix working while tracking.

Rough mix to 80% finished, per song: 1-3hrs
Final changes, automation, band requests: 1-3hrs

Reamping, if needed: 1-2hrs per song

I'll typically do a "finished" mix and then sit on it for a few days without listening, then go back and listen again and decide if I like the mix. I might start fresh, or just do final tweaks.

Also, I generally don't change much in the mixes between songs.  Once I get a mix together for one song, the rest typically fall into place pretty easily.  I usually track the changes that I need, so if a guitar is different on a song, I've already captured that and shouldn't need to change the rest of the mix to accommodate.   If the songs aren't vastly different, it could really cut down on the mix time for the remainder of the songs, so I generally charge less per-song for more songs the band wants to record.  They feel like they're getting a deal, and I don't have to do much else.



And the answer is NO, the actual time spent is never reflected in the hours paid. There's a reason studios are failing everywhere, and it's due to the competition with the home-studio. If a band can go get just enough equipment from Guitar Center to track themselves for less than 500$, you'll always have to compete with those kinds of prices. Price/cost wins almost every time.

Remember, you're working with artists, and they work on emotional levels, not logical levels, so trying to argue about quality and time is almost always ignored in favor of believing in themselves. They will always convince themselves that they're very capable in learning how to record and that the investment in recording gear is an investment in themselves and that spending money for "hours" somewhere else is a waste when they don't have to pay themselves to learn how to record.

That's why I charge by the song, and I figure it's an average of about 6 hours per song all-in, from start to finish.

30-100 hours. Depending on a lot of variables...

For me it depends entirely on the artist or band. If the songs are written and the artist is going to use my players, things move along much quicker. If I’m working with a band, it tends to happen a bit slower depending on how much recording experience the band has, and how many of the members want to have input into how things are recorded. Lots of times they think they are helping when in general the band member would be better suited to keep their gearslutz advice to themselves and concentrate on playing their instrument in time.

For that reason, I stay away from giving a time frame or a price per song. If I’m the producer and engineer, I charge a production fee per song, and then tracking is in a per hour basis. This covers my time and the studio time. I generally will work 10-12 hours on tracking days and sometimes more if there is a time crunch. That’s not to say I’m tracking the entire time, sometimes I show up before the band or stay longer in order to edit and tighten things up etc. This is all billable time.

Mixes are a set price per song. I set aside a day per mix, and a certain amount of days for recalls depending on mixing itb or on a console with lots of outboard.

When I started doing my own projects I did the “per song” rate, and I always wound up getting screwed by bands wanting to experiment, inability to play and spend 8 hours with the bass player on 1 song, the never ending part additions that would tag hours and hours into each day, etc. That’s just not worth it to me and I won’t ever go back to working that way.

Looking back in the past few projects, I’d say it’s about a month for a full length record including preproduction.

Totally...

I usually say we need a good 6 hours to load in and setup. This includes the drummer to show up with new heads that we pick depending on what sound they are going for, me putting the heads on and tuning the drums, placing the drums in the room where they sound best for what they want etc. I usually wind up having the guitarists putting new strings on of their choice, then giving them a setup and intonation job etc. It’s amazing how many times guitarists have come in with a guitar center job that is just plain awful and it pains me to hear they paid x amount of money for what they get...

Making sure we get the amp and pedals situated so there are no noise/ground loop problems etc.

If we budget a certain amount of days for tracking basics in the big room, the studio owner will usually let me have the night before to do all this which makes it much nicer to start day 1 of tracking ready to go and hit record.

From start to finish, 100 hours is the minimum . . . 200+ is more like it. I quote a flat production fee much like Jeremy.

Sometimes you work for your pay, sometimes you work for your job. (love of it, to keep it etc)

I get tons of calls/messages asking if I can record/mix a whole record in 8 hours, because that's the budget.. 40-50 seems foreign, let alone 200+..

That's how I work.

I do 10 records a year. I allocate 2500 hours a year to album production. Thee's the math. A lot... a LOT of folks here have had me throw in a little contribution here and there on their records. I love doing it.

But I'm not 30 anymore. so 1500 hours of marketing a year, 2500 on album work, another 500 on film stuff and 500 on session work is enough for me at 50+ years old now. And 5 kids, from 3 to 31.

So that's how I work, and I know I could do better with less time . . . but I still eff up a lot.

Just curious, what is the sales/marketing process and how hard is it to convert to a sale? Most of the bands I've recorded have a heart attack if I mention what the (already hugely discounted) budget will cost for a lockout, so I quickly offer "well lets just pay hourly as needed" they prefer that and of course they end up spending more than they would have and the project takes months or years.

Man is there such a thing as typical album production time? For every great “we did it in a week” there’s a Chinese Democracy!

The Jack Clement saying “It only takes 3 minutes to cut a hit record” is cute and all, but he was also someone who would record a song, and then strip it all down to just the kick drum, and replace everything.

He put out a wonderful solo record on Elektra in the 70’s and several years ago I was given a dozen 2” reels to transfer and it was the same 10 songs recorded with 10 slightly different backing bands. Rules were made to be broken