A great way to optimize your time in the studio is to do some pre-production before you begin the recording process. This is your planning stage. Do not skip this step. Pre-production should be done before you go into the studio.
There is nothing like getting to the studio and the song hasn't been written or fully rehearsed, for example. Then your only option is to sit there and write a song or rehearse a song for $75+ an hour. That is just insane and a plain waste of valuable studio time. I just won't do it. I insist that everything is ready to go on studio day or else studio day is cancelled. And, you should do the same.
Sometimes pre-production planning is done is a smaller studio that maybe charges a minimal fee or, more often these days, it is done in a home studio with a desktop workstation. Below is a list of tasks that should be completed during pre-production
1. songwriting
2. song selection
3. song adjustment
4. key adjustment
5. style determination
6. instrumentation decisions
7. tempo corrections
10.creating a working demo
11. rehearsing band
