As many of you know, I just signed a deal with R & R Records to record their artist Garret Shields, and I've been consequently thinking quite a bit about how to get production up and running.

Here's 15 semi-random things I'm going to do to make the recording session go smoothly:

15. Have food on-hand at the sessions.
14. Bring batteries for guitars, pedals, etc.
13. Test all cables beforehand.
12. Get a comfortable chair for the studio.
11. Bring extra headphones.
10. Bring extra power cables.
9. Bring backup cables for everything.
8. Grab any extra stuff like picks that you might need.
7. Make sure your phone is on silent, or even airplane mode.
6. Get plenty of sleep the night before.
5. Budget 1-2 hours more time than you actually need for recording. Just in case.
4. Test all your equipment before you go.
3. If you're the producer, make sure you have a plan for what you want to cut and when.
2. Make sure you have all of the right session players there at the right time.
1. Start planning far in advance. The more time you have to plan, the smoother things will go.