What to bring to a session, and what the room should already have

There is a category of session hour that disappears into somebody driving back for a cable. Nearly all of it is avoidable with a list written the night before.

Check the listing before you pack

What the room has is on the listing as structured fields rather than buried in the description: the gear, the amenities, whether there is a drum kit, a piano, a vocal booth, outboard, or backline included. Read that first, then use the message thread to confirm the two or three things your session actually depends on.

Always yours

• Instruments and spares. A spare set of strings or sticks or reeds, already broken in.
• Headphones, if you are particular, though check they will work with the studio's amp.
• Anything that is your sound. The pedal or preamp that is part of the part, rather than a nice to have.
• Small tools. Tuner, capo, slide, whatever the part needs.
• Reference tracks, on something that does not need the internet.
• A drive with space on it, formatted for the studio's system.

Usually theirs, but confirm

Microphones, stands, cables and headphone amps are normally the room's. So is a drum kit if the listing says drum kit, but confirm that one specifically, because studio kits range from immaculate to a shell pack with no hardware. Ask what heads are on it and when they were last changed. The same goes for an amp you are counting on: listed is not the same as working this week.

The small things that save hours

• A power strip. There are never enough sockets in the right place.
• Gaffer tape, which nobody brings and everybody needs.
• A charger and a battery pack, since your phone is the reference library.
• Snacks and water, because the alternative is a forty minute break.

Arrive knowing your parts

The most expensive thing you can bring to a studio is an unfinished arrangement. Working it out on the clock is the single largest cause of sessions that overrun. Rehearse to a click if you intend to track to one, and decide the key before you arrive rather than after the first take.

Getting in on the day

The exact address and the studio's access instructions, which is where door codes, buzzers and lockboxes live, appear on the booking once it is confirmed. They are in the confirmation email too, but the booking page is the copy that cannot be lost in a mailbox, so open it before you set off rather than at the door.

If something is not covered, ask in the booking thread the day before. A question about a buzzer at nine in the morning is a much smaller problem than the same question at your start time. If plans change entirely, cancel from the booking rather than going quiet.