How to record a full band?

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darkecho

New member
What I mean is, do you record each person seperately? all together? if seperate, then in what order? do you wait to do the drummer last or vocals last? that kind of thing, what goes into recording a full band?

do you just record one person, then record the next person while they listen to headphones?

should the first person have really good timing and use a metronome? should they all use a metronome or just listen to eachother?

thanks!
 
Well, you can either record all tougether or separately, depending on a) the sound you want and b) your equipment. I'd say it's easier for a beginner to get a good sound by tracking everyone individually because you don't have to worry about isolation, but it takes a lot of work to make a 'tracked' performance sound 'live'
Generally, if tracking you would record the drums first, followed by bass (get the rhythm down) then guitars/keys etc, then vocals last. But that's just a basic guideline, people record in all kinds of different ways/orders. If you use a metronome, tracking order is less of an issue, but generally in a rock context everyone followws the drummer for time so it makes sense to record that first....
There's lots of good posts on this board to help you with all the details of recording and help you with either method you choose. Good luck!
 
you'll probably get many different answers because there isn't one specific way to do this. But, here is my method:

1) Find the tempo/set up a click track
2) Have the guitarists(or maybe keyboardist) play the song through with timing being the main focus - I don't normally do bass because if the bassist is off at all, it will ruin the groove of the drums.
3) Have the singer sing once through the song

These first three steps are what I do to get the song sounding as close as possible to the finish product. I've found that this makes it easier for the drummer, based on my experiences.

4) Record Drums
5) Record Bass (make sure he's locked in tight with the drummer)
6) Re-Record Guitars
7) Re-Record Vocals

Those are the basics of how I do it. Maybe someone else will have a method that suits you better.
 
well personally for me since im the drummer of most of the bands i record, i just play the songs on drums from memory. i dont use a metronome, mostly cuz of the time changes and i feel it takes the life out of the song. just so u know i play mostly punk/hardcore/metal/grind/crust stuff.

after drums are done i usually record 2 guitar tracks or all guitars, then bass, then vocals, then back ups/group vocals.
 
I usually do drums and a 'scratch' guitar track at the same time. I use a V-AMP pro direct for the scratch guitar track, that way it does not bleed into the drum mics but sounds realistic enough to for them to capture the guitar feel of the song.

Then I do the vocals next, over the scratch guitar track(s) and the drums. Then I do bass, usually direct, then a couple takes of guitar using the guitarists own gear.
 
personally i love the sound of a live set (everyone playing together), but that also take 1) a lot of mics 2) a lot of takes 3) a lot of isolation and 4) a lot of practice. and generally u wont be satisfied with the sound ;o.

as for doing it individually, it kinda depends on the band. if the band is tight, ill record the drums, then bass, then guitars, then vocals. if the band is sloppy, ill usually try to find the tightest player (either guitar, bass, or drums) record a scratch track, and go from there, DESPERATELY trying to find the best take for each player. sloppy players r the worst to work with, so thats usually takes a LOT longer than a tight band. if they dont have ANY tight players (they'll usually say they're used to playing together -_-), then setup a click track and have someone do a scratch track to it and hope the rest of the players can adapt to it.

ive actually had a band that only knew that song by what the vocalist did at one point. so they had no idea when to go into the chorus and verse and so forth, cuz the vocalist would usually do something to trigger that. i had to record a scratch track of the guitar w/ the vocalist singing, then do that for the bass, and had the drummer essentially "LEARN" the song in the studio. it was pathetic, but i got more money outta it so i cant complain -_-. anyways good luck recording and if u have any other questions, this forum is VERY helpful and the people here are more than welcome to help u out
 
Depends on the band

I'd say it depends on the band. Usually there's one intensly anal person in the band that HAS to play in time and always be on beat. They're usually the perfectionist, so I usually get them to play to the metronome first and lay the rest of the tracks on top of that. As long as one person can play perfectly to the beat, I don't usually find a problem adding all the other stuff in.

However, I recorded one band once that had never used a metronome before and were useless on their own. For some strange reason, they couldn't play unless they were all together in the room recording. So, for that band, I just did multi-track recording and everyone had to play on time.

For myself, I usually record the guitar first (because that's the part I usually write first). Then, I add the drums. After this, usually the bass. Then, extra guitar parts. Finally, I do vocals when everything's done.

So, to answer your question, like all questions, who really knows? Just be flexible.
 
I prefer to record everyone at once, with guitars and bass in isolation. The drums are recorded for keeps, and usually the bass too (to keep the two locked tight in rhythm). Guitar is generally used as a scratch guide and guitars are overdubbed, as well as vocals and any other stuff. Overdubs are done in no particular order, just whatever order the band feels like doing. If the guitarist just played a bunch of scratch tracks he might want a break from playing for a little bit on tracks that are keepers, so vocals might be next in line. Whatever they want to do.
 
It all depends on the band, and the time requirements.

The key to running a good session is making sure everyone is comfortable. This might mean spending some time before hitting the studio seeing the band live, taking them out for a beer, or just hanging out with them. It also never hurts (if they are cool with it) to go to one of their practices and get tempos/song structure information down before you ever hit the studio. It also helps to be able to get a solid order and schedule down first. I find it easier to track the band's easier songs first and save the more complicated ones for last. If you get things rolling well in the beginning, your session will most likely go very smooth from there.

Depending on the band, I'll start with drums. A lot of the time I'll have the guitars and bassist in the control room playing along. From there, do overdubs on drums and then do all of the guitar tracking with their amps. I usually save vocals for last.
 
As mentioned... it's entirely dependent on the band. With someone like "The Swinging Steaks" we recorded it all at the same time... if someone needed to do a punch or an overdub we did it on the spot then did whatever vocals needed to be done and moved on.

With the CARS it was drummer to a click then bass to the drums then guitars, keys, vocals, etc. By "Heartbeat City" I don't recall them actually being in the studio at the same time.

On Aerosmith's "Just Push Play" album guitars were done first then bass and/or vocals leading up to drums a good month after everything else was done.

On the last "King's X" record it was drums in one room, bass direct, guitar amps in another room with the bass player and guitar player in the control room listening to the monitors... then the bass and guitar parts were redone, and vocals were added later.

My point being that every record is different. Whatever feels best to the band as they record and works best for "the production team" as the album is being recorded is the right way to go.

On a personal level... I generally feel that if the band can play together then I like to try to get bass, drums and RTH GTRS at the same time. If other guitars need to be overdubbed fine... if a bass overdub feels better than what the player did in 'real time' with the rest of the band then so be it. There have been a couple of times where the singer's "scratch" vocal was the best performance of the song and ended up on the record [who cares about the sound... we're in the business of selling emotions, not "audio"].

The only two things I try to recommend to people starting out in the recording thing are [for the recording part]; try to make sure all of your sounds work well together in "one speaker mono" as it will make everything much easier to mix and allow you to focus more on "creative" things when mixing instead of sound 'resurrection'... and to ALWAYS have fun.

It's really easy to hear when people spent too much time "working" on a record and too little time "playing". Remember... it's not "working drums"; it's not "working bass"; it's not "working guitar" it's "playing"... which means you need to have fun while you're doing it so your audience will have fun listening to it.

Best of luck with all you do.
 
I have allways done it either of 2 ways...Record the whole band live minus vocals and then do your Guitar Overduds ect and Record the Vocals Last..

Or record the Bass and Drums first and then do the Guitars and then the Vocals.....

Since I am the Only one in My Band I have to First Record the Drums and then the Bass and then the Guitar and then the Lead and If I knew how to Sing I would Record the Vocals last but since I suck at singing I don"t do them....


Cheers
 
Minion said:
Since I am the Only one in My Band I have to First Record the Drums and then the Bass and then the Guitar and then the Lead
Click to expand...

I had a client like that once... I also have a piece of paper at my lawyer's office that prevents me from mentioning who that client might be... it's part of a "nondisclosure agreement" that was part of our divorce proceeding.

What I would suggest for the "one man band" scenario is to record whatever instrument is the center of the feel of the song first. If the guitar is really going to be driving the song, lay the guitar down first. If you can program a percussion loop [instead of a click track] that should make it considerably easier to lay the rest of the overdubs on top of the guitar track without the guitar track feeling "stiff".

Sometimes the bass is actually the most important instrument to the feel of a song so that wants to go down first... or sometimes it is indeed the drums.

My point is don't let yourself get derailed by somekind of misconception that drums need to go down before anything else... I've worked on more than a couple "hit records" where the drums were 3rd or 4th on the list of things that were recorded.

Best of luck with all you do.
 
This is how my band's doing it
set a click track,
record a guitar direct in , with a real clear sound ,
then the drums,
then the real guitar tracks
then solos/overdubs
Then bass
then vocals

The bass is so late in line because we're trying despratly to find a bassist right now, and a vocalist other than me, the drummer. I have an good voice for our music but I love drumming and can't do it as well while singing. :mad:
 
like they said, theres no one way to do it, but, i like to record it live, everyone playing together, then re-record tracks separate, while they listen to the live recording.. thats just me, and usually start off with the drums, then bass, then guitar, then vocals... but, thats jsut me. hope you find what yer lookin for man!
 
Fletcher said:
Remember... it's not "working drums"; it's not "working bass"; it's not "working guitar" it's "playing"... which means you need to have fun while you're doing it so your audience will have fun listening to it.
Click to expand...

I've never heard it put like that before, but its so true... If you're not having fun, then what's the point?
 
Generally:
*Click > Drums > Bass > *Percussion > Rhythm Guitar >
Lead Guitar > *Keys/Piano > Lead Vocals > Backing Vocals

I've had a band in, where the guitarist had shocking timing and literally couldn't play without the vocalist.
So we did a scratch track of vocals. There was the same scenario and we set up a mic in the control room and sent
it the headphone mix.
 
Record them the way they they perform the best. always remember that what makes a recording great to listen to is first and foremost the content, the performance. Anything we do as recordists we of course want to do to the absolute best of our abilities, but when the process becomes obtrusive to the performance, we are shooting ourselves in the foot.

In other words, if we trade a great performance for a mediocre one over a little bleed or something like that, we are doing a disservice to the performers, the audience and ultimately ourselves.
 
I'll throw my 2 cents in.

I think that regardless of whether the intial tracks are scratch of what, if you are not going to use a metronome, it is very important to have two of the musicians track together. Whether it's 1 acoustic guitar and a tamborine, or drums and electric. Whatever it is, i think that the dynamics and timing of two are nearly always better than just one.
 
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