I have been fortunate enough to work in some of the top studios of the world. I have worked with many famous artists, I have seen and worked on many interesting sessions. I would like to share some of my battle stories, but I can not share exact names, due to the fact that I will probably get sued if I do. I have even signed NDA's for some artists, so I really will get sued if I disclose exact details.
I am happy to say that a large majority of the sessions I have done have been great, this is not the 70's and 80's where people would do cocaine all day and night and work for many days straight gacked out of their mind. For the most part people have relaxed a bit and are not as out of control as before.
The first story I wish to share is more of a funny one about a very well known artist. He is a hip hop artist that is very fond of marijuana. I was working with a very busy producer, he was so busy that he had two rooms booked at the studio. The one I was working in we were mixing, and he was recording another artist in the room next door. We heard about the big artist coming through to do some vocals in the other room, and halfway through the day the producer comes in and says to us, "Hey guys I'm so busy next door that I need you guys to stop mixing and record xxxxx in here instead."
So we took a break, set up a mic and got ready to record instead of mix. When the guy showed up, he had an entourage of about 6 huge guys with him, some were bodyguards, some were friends. We were waiting in the studio for him to come in and record, and he never showed. Eventually I went into the lounge to check on them and of course they were all smoking a lot of weed. Clouds poured down the hall.
So we waited, figuring it would only be a few minutes. About an hour later we were very confused as to why it was taking so long. So I went in the lounge again only to see everyone in the room asleep, some were on the couch laying all over each other, some were in chairs. About 6 huge guys all passed out.
We laughed and went back to mixing, knowing that it may be a very long time before he was ready to record.
A few hours later, he finally came in the room, groggy-eyed, and started recording. About half-way through he stopped in between takes and said, "Man! Dude brought in some weed and the shit was so damn strong that we were all out there passed out cuddling and shit!"