Multiple tracks for the same instrument

Xcaliber

Xcaliber

New member
Ok, so I have an old laptop that I'm using for recording in my home studio. The specs are in my signature, but I think I'm hitting the limit on what I can do with it these days.

My question is this, is there a "rule of thumb" when it comes to setting up tracks in my DAW...meaning in this current song I'm recording (a remake) I've decided it's easier to record all of the guitar parts individually and punch-in to fix the mistakes (I'm not that good :) ). So I'm planning on having a programmed drum track, a bass track (or 2, maybe) and guitar tracks for each individual part and guitar. The song has 3 simultaneous guitars in certain parts and I was planning to make separate tracks for "Guitar 1 Intro", "Guitar 2 Intro", "Guitar 3 Intro", "Guitar 1 Verse"...etc.

The issue with that is with only 2 of those tracks I'm already pushing 35-40% CPU utilization because I do all of the recording in the box (using plug-ins). No amp and mic, but I'm using amp sim plug-ins.

Is there an advantage to the way I'm laying it out, with all of the parts of the song in different tracks? I was thinking I could apply effects/plug-ins when mixing to the separate parts, but I'm not sure if that's even necessary. I think I'm going to have to record all of the parts into each guitar's track and just mix from there.

Just curious about thoughts on this, I know I can do it either way and it will work.

TIA.
 
You need to freeze the tracks, which creates a downmix and doesn't need the cpu's attention during playback or recording of another track. Even with a beefy machine I freeze tracks because I start to notice latency (recording a new/live track) after only a few heavily effected tracks.

How To Freeze an Instrument Track in Studio One

Q: I’m using a lot of virtual instruments in my song in PreSonus Studio One. I’d like to “freeze” those tracks into audio files so that I can free up DSP processing power. Is there a way to do this?

A: Virtual instrument tracks can be “frozen” (and “unfrozen”) in Studio One using the “track transform” function. Simply right-click on the instrument track and select “Transform to Audio Track” from the contextual menu. There are several options you can choose from, such as rendering with or without any insert effects on the track, removing the instrument after the transform, and so on. We like to select “Preserve Instrument Track State,” which allows you to unfreeze and modify the track later.
Click to expand...
 
If you want to have all those tracks separated, Pinky has the solution.

If the guitar sound doesn't change from part to part, why not have them all on the same track? You can (probably, I use Nuendo) add markers to the timeline and mark the different parts of the song.

Alternately, you could send all the different parts for guitar 1 to a buss and put the amp sim on the buss. Do the same thing for guitar 2, and so on. That way, you can have all the separated parts, but still only have 3 amp sim plugins going.

There are always a bunch of different ways to accomplish something, which one you use will depend on which one fits into your workflow.
 
Most DAWs have some sort of take system nowadays specifically so that you don't have to use separate tracks that way. I'd highly suggest you figure out how that works in your system. Some folks just aren't comfortable with that, in which case Farview's idea about bussing will be your best bet, unless you really need to change things that can't be automated from section to section. Freezing isn't a bad idea either, but I prefer not to do it until there are no other options, because at least in Reaper it makes all other editing on the track impossible until it's unfrozen.
 
Long term... get saving for a new lappie! :)

It gets really annoying dealing with such constraints and works against the creative flow...
 
Thanks guys. These are great solutions and I'm sure I can implement one or more of them to get my project moving again. There really wasn't a "good" reason for separating them into their own tracks, I just thought it would allow me to organize things better and give me the most flexability in the mixing process. I'm still pretty new to all of this so I was looking for ideas and options. I appreciate the help.

As for saving for a new computer I am in the process, but I want to make it a significant upgrade so it's going to take a little while. :)
 
The only time I separate tracks like that is when the guitar sound changes. If I need to organize the song, I use markers.

Once I have everything edited, I will actually render the guitars as audio and place them in the mix. That way, when you revisit the song a couple years later, you don't have to worry about whether or not you still have the same amp sim plugin.
 
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