Equipment solution for drum tracking

[h2blink]

I am currently running Pro Tools M with a Firewire 410 and an ART DPSII thru s/pdif. When it comes to recording drums, i use all four tracks. however, some drummers request a scratch guitar to play along on top of the click track. Seeing as all four of my inputs are taken up, what would be the best solution to drive that scratch guitar track to the drummer (and guitarist) along with headphones to each player?

One solution i came up with was to buy a small mixer and send an output from the interface (pretty much just the click track) to it. Then plug the guitar player into the mixer and then send headphones from the mixer to the players.

I dont need to guitar to actually be recorded, just heard while tracking for reference.

Let me know of any other suggestions you can think of! thanks in advance, jason.

[mikeyhasnobones]

yeah that works! thats what i usually do, and it seems to be fine as long as they don't decide at the last minute they want the scratch track to be recorded as well

[h2blink]

Awesome, thanks for your quick response. i figured that would be the easiest solution to my problem. I was looking at the ART PowerMix III

I have, however, thought of another possible solution. Seeing as i would have to buy a mixer that i would only use for this purpose and outgrow when i eventually upgrade systems. Why dont i buy a piece of equipment i can grow into?

I was looking at the Presonus HP60 headphone mixing system. It has two inserts. A (being the mix from Pro Tools) and B (being the DI guitar track) and this rack has all sorts of useful features that i could use an any level system.

The price tag is a bit more, but it would be an investment verses a temporary solution. What do you guys think?

[second skin]

i did something kind of similar this weekend. i had a band in and i was recording 7 channnels for drums and 1 for scratch guitar.

the drummer needed vocal along with one song so i gave the singer my talkback mic and it worked rather well in a pinch. the tracks came out fine at least. the only problem is that it wouldn't come through my monitors of course.

[genesisariana]

Am I the only one who records scratch guitar and vocals way before the drums? I dont understand why you have to do them and the drums at the same time?

[PhilGood]

Originally Posted by genesisariana

Am I the only one who records scratch guitar and vocals way before the drums? I dont understand why you have to do them and the drums at the same time?

Same here. I always lay down a click track first, then a rough guitar track and some vocals, then start doing the drum tracks. I might even do a rough bass track.

[second skin]

i guess it would depend on who you are working with.

with my own music i do it like that because i typically write at least partially in the computer and i already have the parts there so i just play what i have through the phones for the drummer.


with bands that come in to record...and anytime that i've ever been to a studio with one of my own bands we did it all at the same time.

[genesisariana]

I always schedule a pre-recording session for a couple of hours. During this time, the drummer dosnt have to be there, unless he is singing the lead part of the song. I take time to listen to the guitar (piano whatever carries the song). We find a tempo map, and I create a cheesy drum loop/click track to follow along. Then slap a rough guitar and vox track for others to build on. 3 hours of planning gives a starting point, and you dont need everyone standing around waiting.