Pieholden Suite Sound
  • Pieholden Studios Wall of Altec
  • Pieholden Suite Sound Ampex 2 Track
  • The Korg MS-20 @ Pieholden Suite Sound
  • Inside The Grand Piano at Pieholden
  • Pieholden Suite Sound Amp Collection (Partial)
  • Hammond B-3 (w/ Leslie) @ Pieholden Suite Sound
  • Pieholden Suite Sound Degan Bells
  • Pieholden Suite Sound Control Room
  • Pieholden
  • Electric Guitar Collection at Pieholden
  • Jay's Magic Leslie Preamp
  • Amps and Amps and More Amps
  • Pieholden's Guitar Wall
  • Jay Bennett's Gibson Dove
  • Pieholden Suite Sound Live Room
  • Control Room Lounge Area
  • Matt Dewine Audio Engineer
  • Pieholden Suite Sound's 2 inch 24-Track
  • Pieholden Suite Sound's Record Player
  • Pieholden Suite Sound's Guitars
  • Pieholden Suite Sound's Control Room
  • Pieholden's 'Crusty' Upright Bass
  • Pieholden's 'Alien Head' Gibson Amp
  • Inside the Mighty B-3
  • The Three Weekend Album

The 3 weekend album:

Time and money for the recording process always seem to be in short supply. Pieholden Suite Sound has recorded many albums efficiently and affordably because of this reality. Here is a common scenario showing the process of how bands record great albums (usually recorded mostly live) in three weekends at Pieholden.

  • First weekend: Tracking

Friday night: Load gear in, set up, get sounds/ levels/ monitoring worked out.

Saturday: Check sounds/ levels/ monitoring. Record/Record/Record.

Just because you can play your set list in an hour does not mean you can record all your songs in an hour, things take time. Changing guitars/amps/keys, tuning drums, finding the right tempo for the song, getting the right take. Five songs a day seems to be a good average but can vary for a variety if reasons.

Sunday:

Check sounds/levels/monitoring

Listen to takes from previous day.

Record/Record/Record, maybe rerecord something from previous day.

Do rough mixes for everyone to sit on.

  • Second weekend: Overdubs

Friday Night: Get bearings on songs, set game plan for weekend. Get set up for various instruments, begin overdubbing.

Saturday: Overdubs/ Overdubs/ Overdubs. Sometimes it makes sense to work on one song at a time doing everything it needs and hitting a rough mix at the end. Other times, if the singer is feeling good or a player needs to lay the same instrument or clean something up on a few songs you just hit it on those songs. It’s usually a mix of both.

Sunday: The same as Saturday, making sure everyone leaves with rough mixes to sit on.

  • Third Weekend: Mix

Friday: Start mixing. The first song usually takes a while to dial in but then things pick up from there because from song to song things were recorded similarly. Usually a few last minute overdubs/edits/ fixes can be done during the mixing process.

Saturday: Mix/Mix/Mix

Sunday: Mix/Mix/ Mix

Matt DeWine has produced many records like this and the results can be great. A lot of its success is up to the band. There is little time for debate. Arrangements/ lyrics/ overdubs should for the most part be written/ decided. Although there is some time for exploration and last minute ideas, Matt has done this enough times to not let you fall into the usual studio time traps.

So there it is, the three weekend record. There are many variations and variables to this equation and this is just a generalization. Feel free to contact Matt DeWine to discuss the specific needs and goals of your next recording project.

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