Session Planning and Workflow

Before the Artist Arrives

Templates

Create session templates for your most common scenarios. A vocal overdub template. A full band tracking template. A podcast template. Each one should have:

• Tracks already created and named
• I/O routing configured (inputs assigned, outputs and buses set up)
• Headphone mix ready (a cue send with reverb so the vocalist hears something flattering)
• Basic processing loaded (a compressor on the vocal chain, a reverb return for monitoring)
• BPM and time signature set if known

Opening a template takes ten seconds. Building a session from scratch takes ten minutes — and those ten minutes come out of the artist’s patience and creative energy. Every minute spent on technical setup is a minute not spent performing.

Track Naming

Name every track before recording. Use clear, consistent abbreviations: Vox Lead, Vox BG 1, Gtr DI, Gtr Amp 57, Kick In, Kick Out, OH Hi, OH Lo, Bass DI. When someone opens this session six months later — including future you — the track names should tell the whole story without listening to anything.

Avoid “Left” and “Right” in track names for stereo pairs. Left and right describe the output — where something ends up in the stereo field — not the input you recorded. Overhead mics, room mics, and stereo keyboard tracks are better labeled Hi/Lo, Near/Far, or A/B based on their physical position in the room. Today’s “right” overhead might become tomorrow’s panned-center spot mic. Name what the mic is, not where you think it goes.

Color-code by instrument group. All vocal tracks one color, all drums another, all guitars another. This sounds trivial until you’re staring at forty tracks trying to find the bass DI.

Mic Setup and Sound Check

Set up microphones and run cables before the performer arrives. Sound-check with a stand-in if possible — yourself, an assistant, anyone who can make noise into the mic while you set levels and check routing. The goal: when the artist walks in, you say “let me hear a level” and then “we’re rolling.” Not “hold on, let me figure out why input 3 isn’t showing up.”

Check every signal path end to end. Mic to preamp to DAW to headphone mix. If something isn’t working, you want to discover it now, not when the vocalist is standing at the mic waiting.

Before the first take, make sure every instrument is in the state it needs to be in — tuned, warmed up, ready. See Chapter 6 for details on instrument state and tuning considerations.

The Click Track

If you’re using a click track, turn it down early in the headphone mix — loud enough to follow, quiet enough that it won’t bleed into open mics. Warn the band before you start it. And if there’s a fade or a quiet ending, pull the click down before the final notes so it doesn’t show up in the tail of the recording.

During the Session

Recording Levels

In 24-bit recording, there is no reason to record hot. Chapter 5 covered this in detail — 24-bit gives you 144 dB of dynamic range. Peaks around -12 to -6 dBFS give you a clean signal with plenty of headroom for dynamics and transients. If the loudest moment clips, turn the preamp down. Don’t ride the gain during a take trying to keep levels “optimal” — set it once, leave it, and let the performer perform.

Multiple Takes

Record everything. Don’t punch in over mistakes unless the artist specifically asks. Keep every take on a separate lane, playlist, or track. The “rough” take that nobody thought was good enough often turns out to have the best feel. You can’t get it back if you recorded over it.

Playlisting: Every major DAW has a system for stacking multiple takes — playlists in Pro Tools, take lanes in Logic, comping lanes in Ableton. Learn your DAW’s version. This lets you switch between takes to compare, and comp the best parts of each into a final version later. It’s non-destructive, meaning no performance is ever lost.

False starts and between-take moments: Keep rolling. The quiet comment between takes, the half-attempt that gets abandoned — sometimes these contain magic. Disk space is cheap. Regret is expensive.

Before tearing down, capture isolated samples of every drum and cymbal — see Chapter 10 for details. This is your one chance to get those sounds in isolation with the same mics, room, and tuning.

Keep recording running longer than you think you need to. Capture a clean tail after the performance ends — see the Clean Margins sidebar in Chapter 6. False starts, between-take banter, the moment right after the last note — these can all be valuable.

Communication

Talk to the performer. Say “rolling” when you start recording. Say “got it” when a take is good. Say “let’s do one more” if you want another pass. Don’t leave the artist standing at the mic wondering if they should go again while you silently futz with settings.

If a take was great, say so. If you need them to adjust something, be specific: “Can you back off the mic about two inches?” is useful. “It sounded a little weird” is not.

Make sure the person you’re talking to is actually asking for feedback. Sometimes somebody just wants to show you something. Point out what worked. When it comes to what’s not working, don’t bury the lead — offer two or three different ways to remedy what you see as a problem.

The Headphone Mix

The headphone mix is what the performer hears while recording, and it directly affects their performance. A vocalist who can’t hear themselves will push too hard. A vocalist with too much reverb in their ears will sing differently than one hearing a dry signal.

Ask what they want to hear. More of themselves? Less? More reverb? A click track? Some performers want the full backing track loud; others want just a piano and their voice. The headphone mix is for them, not for you. Spend the two minutes getting it right — it pays back in better performances all session long.

After the Session

Backups

Back up the session immediately. Not tomorrow, not after lunch — now. Two copies, two locations. An external drive and a cloud service, or two separate drives.

Hard drives fail. It’s not a question of if, it’s when. A session that exists in only one place doesn’t exist — it’s waiting to disappear. The ten minutes you spend copying files is insurance against losing hours or days of irreplaceable work.

Consolidation

Before closing the session, consolidate your edits. Make sure all audio files are saved within the session folder — not referencing external locations that might move, get renamed, or end up on a drive that isn’t plugged in next time. Most DAWs have a “Save As” or “Collect All and Save” function that gathers everything into one folder. Use it.

Session Notes

Write brief notes while the session is still fresh: what you recorded, which takes were the favorites, any technical issues (the mic on input 4 was buzzing, the headphone amp clipped on loud passages), and any ideas for the mix. You think you’ll remember all of this. You won’t. Two weeks later, “Take 3 had the best verse, Take 5 chorus was magical, skip Take 2” is worth its weight in gold.

Boot and Shutdown Sequences

For studios with outboard gear, power-up order matters. Turn things on in the wrong order and you send pops and transients through your speakers — which at best is unpleasant and at worst damages tweeters.

Power up from source to destination: Computer and playback devices first. Then processors and effects. Then amplifiers. Monitors last. The rule is simple: don’t turn on anything that amplifies until the things feeding it are already on and stable.

Power down in reverse: Monitors and amplifiers first. Then processors. Computer last. Same logic — turn off the amplification before you pull the signal sources that might send a pop.

In a simple home studio with active monitors and an interface, this means: turn on the computer, then the interface, then the monitors. Shut down: monitors, interface, computer. Takes five seconds and prevents the loud thump that makes your heart stop.

What to Practice

1. Build a template. Create a session template for your most common recording scenario. Name the tracks, assign the I/O, set up a headphone mix bus with a reverb send, and save it. Next time you record, open the template instead of starting from scratch. Notice how much faster you’re rolling.
2. Record three takes of anything. Sing, play, clap — the content doesn’t matter. Use your DAW’s playlist or comping system to stack the takes. Comp the best parts of each into one final version. This workflow is fundamental and worth practicing even on trivial material.
3. Back up a session. Copy a complete session folder to an external drive or cloud service. Then open the backup copy and verify it plays back correctly with all files intact. If it doesn’t, your backup method has a gap — find it now, not when you need it.
4. Practice the power sequence. Next time you start a session, power up in the correct order. Then shut down in reverse. Make it a habit until it’s automatic.