A Survival Kit For The Great Frontiers Of The Recording Studio

If you were going to venture into the great unknown of the wilderness you wouldn’t go unprepared for the trials of surviving a host of unusual and unpredictable situation. So why would you show up at the recording studio equally unprepared?

As an assistant engineer, engineer, or even producer there are a few things that you might want to pack in order to survive this harsh unforgiving land. Below I will show you my list of things I would definitely have and also a few other less common things that sometime just might save you from starvation and eating your buddy (its continuation of the metaphor! Don’t actually eat your buddy if you forgot to bring something to the studio!). Here they are…

Essentials... in my opinion anyway!

• Tape- Duct Tape, Electrical Tape, Masking Tape – Used for everything from labeling gear, insulating your quick electrical work, and taping the singer to the wall out side the studio to prevent blabbering when you are recording the real talent.
• Writing tools- pens, pencils, and markers for marking console/outboard gear… and drawing on inebriated band members who fall asleep on the studio couch.
• Pad of Paper – Good for jotting down notes… or doodling when the singer is telling you how artistic they are and that they always sing on pitch.
• Unused paper work - This includes track sheets, recall sheets, maintenance forms etc. Some of this may be unnecessary if you are one of those really hip people that carry their laptop around just in case they get a spare minute to play a game of solitaire, or instant message their friends what they had for lunch.
• Soldering Tools – for on the go emergency repairs.
• Batteries - An assortment of these would be good… lots of 9 volts are always good for those guitarists who put a little too much trust in the Energizer bunny.
• Multimeter- for testing wires, cables and components.
• Multi-tool- with screwdrivers/wire cutters/plier etc. is always handy. If not get individual versions of the tools.
• Flashlight- Places with lots of wires always tend to be poorly lit. This also comes in handy when telling spooky stories about good sessions gone awry.
• Earplugs- For those times you end up working with free jazz musicians, Dave Grohl playing drums… or maybe even the glass shattering high notes of Mariah Carey.
• Chromatic Tuner- Tuning is pretty important but some musicians apparently haven’t heard of it. A regular chromatic tuner will do well but if you can get a strobe tuner for a decent price it will work even better.
• Drum Key!- for tuning drums… unless you are recording the sex pistols or something where you don’t need tuning… the man wants you to tune, down with the man!
• Drum essentials and maintenance products
  -Cymbal cleaner is good for those occasions you can’t get a bright enough cymbal sound… a little cymbal cleaner can go a long way with this… and it makes things shiny. Drummers love shiny things, it will amuse them for hours.
  -Snare wire sometimes break or are too old… a few snare strings is a nice addition to the bag.
  -Felts sometimes are worn out and compressed… or not there. These are cheap like Borsch (soup) so there is no reason not to have a bag of them (felts, not soup).
  -cymbal stand sleeves are handy for the drummer who doesn’t have anything isolating the cymbal from the stand. If you are cheap and like to do the MacGyver thing a bit of surgical hose and a utility knife can go a long way here.
• Utility Knife – good for everything. Especially holding the studio’s secretary hostage to get discount rates… more often though its jail time.
• Lots and Lots of Audio Adapters – Every kind you can get your hands on. You never know when you will need a Male SXVGA to Female MIDI adapter. Well…maybe not that one.
• Headphones – These come in handy doing line checks and setting up headphone mixes for the artists. You can use them to listen to a good CD if a headphone mix isn’t going to help the artist anyway.

Nonessentials… but still good to have!

• Power Adapters – One of those DC power adapters with interchangeable ends can come in handy for pedals and gear that somehow becomes separated from its power adapter.
• Amp Tubes - having a couple of amp tubes on hand can’t hurt… unless you grab a hot one thats still plug into the amp! 12AX7′s and EL6′s seem to be the most popular, see what amps are being used for the session and be prepared if the guitarist has had the amp since he started playing guitar and just thought the tubes were there to make his amp look cool in the dark.
• Strings- Guitar and bass strings are good to have on hand. Guitarists will sometimes completely forget to bring extras. They might have an accumulation of rust as well… the musician might even say “It’s part of my sound man!” to which you reply, “but its not part of mine buddy.”
• Cables- A few extra cables is good to have. A couple of XLR’s and a couple of 1/4″ instrument cables just might be enough to save you sometime.
• Plectrums - an assortment of guitar picks of different thickness can come in handy sometimes. Its amazing the difference in tone you can get just by changing picks.

That there is MY list. I may have forgot something… or left out something absolutely essential. If you think of anything I implore you to drop us a little message in the comment box. I hope it helps save some poor unfortunate soul someday in the session from hell.

-Matt