This is a pretty interesting thread. It's always weird to me to hear about other people's experiences in the studio and how long it takes them, etc. My band is trying to get an April date with Steve - for one day. We are very used to working really, really quick. I personally have done a 16 hour session and recorded 50 minutes of music, with lots of overdubs and different instrumentation (including a couple guest singers and a French horn player, as well as ONE GODDAMN SONG which had TONS of overdubs) and had it all mixed and everything by hour 17. I took the band on a 5 hour session once and taught them on the spot 4 quick songs...hour one was spent on set up, hour two we recorded the songs, hours 3 and 4 were spent playing around with an 'experimental' noise thing, we tidied it all up hour five and that was it. We have 26 minutes (about 12 songs) we want to do with Steve and to make sure we got it together before we go in we're going to a little local recording studio here a month beforehand and making sure we can do everything there - in 6 hours. (record instrumental live, vocals afterwards, with 4 total guitar overdubs). With a standard 10-12 hour day that gives Steve an extra couple hours setup time + couple hours mix time then we're giving the local Joe. We've begun practicing in earnest for this and I think we're gonna do it. I guess I'm calling it like Babe Ruth - one day with Steve we're gonna have a 20 minute 12" EP + a 7" single. I'm pointing to the right field. I'll keep ye updated.

EDIT: I should say that continuity is a big motherfucker for me in doing it this way. No changing guitars, no changing amps, no fooling around with effects from song to song. Get it so once you mixed the first song you can pretty much leave the faders where they are with only tiny adjustments for vocals. But that's a given for quick recording right?
I just really hate LOTS of recording. I like to get it over with, like a band-aid - whip! & it's done. I've been in sessions where you spend one day on one or two songs and ..it's just so painful, and I'm not getting younger.

My band recorded with Steve in October last year, Studio B. In the past, we were used to spending a long time getting tracking sounding right, long set up times and gear fiddling before recording could begin. As an indicator, by the end of day 1 we had successfully nailed 6 or 7 out of the 10 songs that were to go on our record. this includes set up time which was a couple of hours at most. (4 to 5 hours, as posted earlier, is NOT, in my experience, a long set up time for an engineer and band AT ALL!) we recorded it all live together with the exception of vocals and the odd guitar OD. i think we had completed basic tracking by the end of a not very long day 2. this is due to a) Steve being a genius and working super fast which is an aid to any band i think, and b) us being very well rehearsed and demo-ing the record 2 or 3 times previous to going into EA. you can here a couple of tracks here:

www.myspace.com/mdband

benjaminwayne wrote:My band recorded with Steve in October last year, Studio B. In the past, we were used to spending a long time getting tracking sounding right, long set up times and gear fiddling before recording could begin. As an indicator, by the end of day 1 we had successfully nailed 6 or 7 out of the 10 songs that were to go on our record. this includes set up time which was a couple of hours at most. (4 to 5 hours, as posted earlier, is NOT, in my experience, a long set up time for an engineer and band AT ALL!) we recorded it all live together with the exception of vocals and the odd guitar OD. i think we had completed basic tracking by the end of a not very long day 2. this is due to a) Steve being a genius and working super fast which is an aid to any band i think, and b) us being very well rehearsed and demo-ing the record 2 or 3 times previous to going into EA. you can here a couple of tracks here:

www.myspace.com/mdband

Ben you lead a good life!

benjaminwayne wrote:My band recorded with Steve in October last year, Studio B. In the past, we were used to spending a long time getting tracking sounding right, long set up times and gear fiddling before recording could begin. As an indicator, by the end of day 1 we had successfully nailed 6 or 7 out of the 10 songs that were to go on our record. this includes set up time which was a couple of hours at most. (4 to 5 hours, as posted earlier, is NOT, in my experience, a long set up time for an engineer and band AT ALL!) we recorded it all live together with the exception of vocals and the odd guitar OD. i think we had completed basic tracking by the end of a not very long day 2. this is due to a) Steve being a genius and working super fast which is an aid to any band i think, and b) us being very well rehearsed and demo-ing the record 2 or 3 times previous to going into EA. you can here a couple of tracks here:

www.myspace.com/mdband

you are the most exciting band i've heard in a long while! truly excellent stuff.
how do i get your record? (I live in Italy).