simultaneous multi-track

X

Xolo Rescue

New member
Okay... dumb question but anyway. Is it recording gospel that you have to record each track individually? Is that why most of the postings seem to involve hooking all of your gear up to a mixer, and then sending one channel to the PCI input?

For example: Say you have a duet. One is lead singer and plays rhythm guitar. The other is lead guitar and plays harmony. If you have a 4-channel PCI card, you can just hook up the two mics and two guitars, and record 4 tracks simultaneously right? Or do you hook each instrument up to a separate channel, but still record each track separately?

What if you only have two inputs on your sound card? Do you put the vocals on one channel, and the guitars on the other channel, and then only record two tracks? Or does each "band member" get their own track with their vocal and guitar? Or do you record twice, and unplug the other band member's analog input from the PCI card, to ultimately have four tracks? Or do you still record four separate times?

What would you do?
 
jonnyc said:
I'd use the search function with key words like multitracking, soundcards, etc...
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C'mon dude...

I'm all for reminding people to search but...

THIS IS THE NEWBIES FORUM!!

You could at least help a newb out, he's asking for an opinion.


I would take the pains to get each voice/guitar/input to it's own track, even if it's going to take more time. Just because you sing and play on stage at the same time doesn't mean you have to track them at the same time. In fact, I hardly ever do.

Hope this helps,

Pete


Pete
 
you have to have an input channel on your soundcard for every simutanious sound source being recorded. For example the drum kit. You can easily use 7 mics on a drum kit. Well to record the drum kit and be able to edit each indiviual mic recording you will need 7 inputs on your soundcard or also called A/D (Analog to Digital) converter.

p Let say an entire band is playing a gig and wanted to record a live record. You would need enough soundcard inputs for each instument and all the mics on a drum kit to be able to edit all the channels individually after the recording is done.

But for a studio album you could possibly get away with and 8 channel input card and record one instrument at a time (that is if a drum kit is involved).

To record just vocals and a guitar, all you need is one input channel on the soundcard (record the guitar first, then record the vocals)

Hope this helps
 
battleminnow said:
C'mon dude...

I'm all for reminding people to search but...

THIS IS THE NEWBIES FORUM!!

You could at least help a newb out, he's asking for an opinion.


I would take the pains to get each voice/guitar/input to it's own track, even if it's going to take more time. Just because you sing and play on stage at the same time doesn't mean you have to track them at the same time. In fact, I hardly ever do.

Hope this helps,

Pete


Pete
Click to expand...



Well newbies need to be the first people using the search function. Yes he did ask what we do but he also had technical questions in there that could be answered by searching. What's so bad about telling someone to search? It's one of the more helpful things you can do and one search could lead to hours and hours of learning while posting can lead to just sitting around waiting for people to answer your question. Oh and BTW I prefer multitracking, if you don't have drums or just do acoustic stuff something like the delta 0404 would be a great choice paired with a mixer. There, you happy now?
 
jonnyc said:
What's so bad about telling someone to search? It's one of the more helpful things you can do and one search could lead to hours and hours of learning while posting can lead to just sitting around waiting for people to answer your question.
Click to expand...

I don't think anything's wrong with telling someone to search. If you read my first post you should notice that I am all for it.

I just think there's a distiction between this section of the board and everywhere else that lends to a little more leniency.

Besides, what's wrong with creating new dialogue to search from by actually answering people's questions?

Pete
 
What I do Is since I only have 4 Inputs (Delta 44) and I have a Full drum set to Record that is Miced with 8 Mics I use a 8Ch mixer to Mix the 8 Drum Mics into a Stereo Signal (It takes a Bit to get the Mix Right but once the Mix is good you just Mark the Levels down for the next Time so you don"t have to go through the Mixing again) and Input it into the Delta 44 Via Inputs 1 and 2...

I then Go DI with Bass and Guitar into Inputs 3 and 4 and I have a Headphone amp Hooked up the the outputs on the Delta and every one wears Headphones and then we record....

I just record to get the Drums down Tight and Delete the Di Guitar and Bass Tracks and re-record them Individually.....

This way I can record Live without any Bleed over from the Guitar and Bass into the Drum Tracks and it is easiesr for the Drummer to Play allong with the song as Opposed to Playing the Drum track by himself and then recording the Bass and Guitar....

After I have the Drums and Guitar and Bass recorded I then do the Vocals Last and then do Mixing and Mastering after......

For me this setup is the Best and It would sound even better if I had good Mics and a Better Mixer which I will eventually get in the Future and More Inputs would also be good.....

Cheers
 
Do Both.
Sometimes voices blend beautifully in the real world. Like the Everly Bros. Others need to be processed to make it.
Record the instruments sep. Then the voices together, then the voices sep.
Listen & decide. That's YOUR job.
There's nothing wrong with recording "live" in the studio. Why wouldn't you try to use the multi inputs if your comp can handle it? At least to see what you can see.
Some folk can't get their act together unless they play in an ensemble. It's all a matter of horses for courses.
 
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