Rehearse prior to recording. Run through every song and make notes of the areas that require improvement. Practice using a click track, or metronome, so that your drummer is familiar with the concept when you get into the studio. The metronome will help the drummer stay in time, resulting in the rest of the band being in time. Editing an out-of-time drum track in the studio is a time consuming process, so using a metronome before hand will save time in the studio.
Take spare parts to the studio with you. If you break a string, you don't want to spend valuable and potentially expensive studio time driving to the nearest guitar store for replacements. Put a new set of strings on each guitar three days before your first session in the studio. Three-day old strings still sound new, but they will be "worked-in."
Record multiple songs in one take. Don't get hung up on using different guitar sounds and drum skins for each song. Once you're happy with the source sound and the producer is confident that he can get a clean take, record one song after the other. Maintain the momentum and only take a break once you've done one pass of each song. You can always go back and do over-dubs later.
Copy and paste small sections of beat to create a longer loop. If you are sequencing your drums, do it bit by bit. Don't sequence the whole track. Do one, four-measure section, and copy and paste it across the track. Then edit the copies so that they are distinct from the original.
Arrange songs simply. Strip your songs down to the basic parts of chords, melody, bass, percussion and accompaniment. If your goal is to produce a high volume of music, the simpler the song, the quicker you can record it. If you want to add any extra production, such as synthesized strings, practice the part on your own synthesizer before you get to the studio. If necessary, record it on your cell phone so you can show the producer exactly what sound you want.