How much time does it take to finish a song in the studio?

Good question. The answer to this question is the same answer to the following questions:

How much time does it take to shower?
How much time does it take to eat breakfast?
How much time does it take to cross the Brooklyn Bridge?

The answer is… it depends on the person.

Lets take two rappers for example. One rapper walks into the studio with an instrumental on a CD and wants to spit a freestyle on top of it. Another rapper walks in the studio and asks to listen to beats so he can write a song. Both are rappers with a goal of leaving the studio with a finished track but the freestyler will certainly complete his track before the songwriter.

When booking studio time it is always more beneficial to the finished track if you book more time than the minimum you estimate. At The NatCave Studio we combine all our studio services under the same rate so you can record and mix in the same session. How many hours you choose is up to you.

Always round up to the next hour, you don’t want to cut yourself short and have to comeback another day. Think of transportation expenses and if you’re in a group think of the challenge getting everyone together at once. Sure, you may save money by booking less time but in the end if you don’t leave with the completed track you were looking to make, was it worth it?

Every artist is different, every song for each artists is different. Some songs take longer than others depending on what you want to accomplish. From what I have seen over the years, rappers usually tend to finish their songs quicker than singers. That’s not a rule, just the majority because I’ve also seen singers do one take (karaoke style) while a rapper spends weeks changing different aspects of a song.

For those who have never participated in a studio session before, I would recommend starting with 2-3 hours per song (recording and mixing) and as you get acclimated to working in the studio, discover what you’re comfortable with. For those who have experience in the studio I say double the time it takes for you to record so the engineer will have time to prepare a mix good enough for you to leave with.