If we’ve arranged to work together, we’ll have set a time and a date. SOMETIMES I will allow you to drop off your equipment on the day before, but only by special arrangement. I tend to be very busy, and you might be surprised to find that what seems like a small distraction for you can severely affect my work flow. Please understand. You may even wish to set up your equipment on the night before, and do a little sound check. If the studio is free and I am available, that’s just fine. But you will be charged for the time exactly as you would for any other session.
Compared with most other great cities, Berlin is VERY peaceful. But Freeborn Sound Studio happens to be located in one of the busiest parts of town. Many clients have been very surprised to find that they have trouble finding a place to park, and that load-in and load-out involve dealing with large amounts of foot- and automobile- traffic. This is a good argument for consolidating deliveries to as few vehicles as possible, and for planning ahead.
Generally, I can’t offer parking. There is a small parking area at the back of the building, and if there’s room, ONE car may park there, but it’s most often full, so it’s better to plan on parking outside. The studio is not on the ground floor, but there are two lifts which you may use: a normal one in front for humans and a couple of guitars- that sort of thing- and a big, roomy freight elevator at the back, which unloads directly into the studio. If you need the big one, don’t forget to let me know in advance and I’ll tell you how to drive into the courtyard.
When you get here, and everything’s loaded in, we might begin by sitting down over a cup of tea and discussing our plan. Most often, if a drum set is involved, we’ll begin by setting that up (while the bassist drinks coffee and watches videos on YouTube), and I’ll begin mic’ing and cabling. I work fast, but don’t underestimate the time that this takes! While we do this, the rest of the group will prepare their equipment, too, and probably go over any last minute changes to the plan. Then we do a sound check, get the headphone mix (if needed), and the fun begins!
If there’s video playback involved (we can sync Pro Tools to .mov formatted video), we’ll get that set up, and we’ll get your session set up, labeled, and record-ready.
Again, don’t forget that these preparations are of critical importance and it takes a bit of time to get everything right. I know you’re eager to get recording, but the better we prepare, the more we’ll all enjoy the session, and the better will be the results.