Basic question about recording demos

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ebertius

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I would like to start recording demo tapes on garageband. I have an m-audio "fast track", a macbook, microphone, and various instruments. My question is this: are traditional lo-fi recordings on four-track recorders - like Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska and Iron and Wine's the Creek Drank the Cradle - recorded ONE TRACK AT A TIME? Or are the vocals being recorded at the same time as the guitar? What is the standard protocol here?
 
Let me elaborate... I'm curious HOW these lo-fi four-track albums are recorded. Guitar and vox simultaneously with two mics, or one at a time? I think recording both at the same time can capture the live energy better, but does it make sense when recording? Your opinions please...
 
Hm, I can't say I know much about how those old records were tracked...
However, in the modern era, I think there are 2 main things to consider (assuming you're recording acoustic guitar/singer stuff?)

First, I think you hit the nail on the head with the energy of recording both at the same time, especially if this is how the performer practices and plays most of the time. It can really add something to the tracks.

However, you might find that the guitar bleeds into the vocal mic, and vice versa. But, you mentioned only one mic. Again, Idk how they did this in the day, but I'd assume they used two mics, even if they only had 4 tracks to work with. Recording simultaneously could have gone either way, depending on the performer like I noted. The processing you would use for an acoustic is very unlikely to suit the voice and the same goes the opposite way.

In your case, I really don't think you want a guitar and voice on the same track. I just can't see it being very usable. You'd have to record from some distance away to capture them both, and in doing so, not capture much of anything good, especially in an untreated space (but I don't know what you're working with in that regard).
I'd say, use two mics, or record them separately.
 
I also understand that a "guide track" might be a good way to go, which would have the guitar and vox together. Then, record each separately. Anybody recommend this technique?
 
That can work very well. I will say that while tracking acoustic guitar and a vocal simultainiously might capture the "vibe", the phase cancellation that you'd encounter between the two mics could be a mother. If you want guitar and vox in one throw, personally, I'g go with a single mic.
 
I have a friend that tracks similar to this..He plugs an electric guitar into a DI for a scratch track and puts on headphones for his " keeper" vocal track. He then go back and overdub his acoustic "mic'ed" guitar on another track..Now both are on separate tracks without bleed..Good luck...
 
Track Rat said:
If you want guitar and vox in one throw, personally, I'g go with a single mic.
Click to expand...

i'd agree with this and the "di sracth track" ideas. After falling in love with "i will follow you into the dark" by deathcab for cutie i was amazed to find out that it was one of those happy accidents in the studio where it was just the singer messing around in the vocal booth with an acoustic whilst the engineer sorted out some headphone issues with the vocal mic still live. The engineer thought it sounded cool so suggested they do a couple of takes to see how it went and one of those ended up being the keeper take! After reading about this i spent ages playing around with this idea and, although it takes a lot of time setting up the one mic in the right place to get a nice balance, you can get pretty solid results and you do tend to get a better performance than doing it separately ime. Also, and this may just be me, but because i didn't have a mic right in my face as usual and didn't have to worry as much about not moving whilst playing and messing up the sound of the guitar too much, i felt much more comfortable and almost forgot i was recording. it just felt like playing in my lounge. it was surprisingly liberating :)

I also do the DI'd acoustic guitar and a 57 tilted at 45 degrees upwards to my mouth to try and keep out any guitar spill for guide tracks and a lot, especially if i'm going to add other instruments later on. every now and then you get a take where you think "it may not sound perfect in terms of production quality but the performance is awesome" and, usually, the two tracks are clean enough to get a reasonable sounding result (although, these are often fare and few between, but when it happens it's ace). However, i end up re-recording both the guitar and vocals "properly". For a while, i did a lot of main vocal tracks whilst strumming along on an unplugged and muted electric guitar (which a dish cloth between the strings) as i'm so used to singing and playing guitar together that i used to feel really uncomfortable singing without playing. This worked quite well but after much practicing i realised i did get much more confident vocals takes when i wasn't half concentrating on playing guitar at the same time

I've done a handful of tracks for myself and as an engineer recording an acoustic and vocals at the same time with two condensor mics and, as track rat says, the biggest issue i encounter is phase problems between the two mics. however, if you spend the time and really listen carefully when setting up the mics to check for the phase relationships you can get really good results. Sometimes, you do almost have to compromise and just get the best balance at source between the vocals and guitar in the two mics which is ok if the track is just acoustic and vocals, but can be a pain if you're adding other instruments as you have way less control
 
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