Advice please - recording guitar and vocals

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hawk

hawk

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I'm thinking this must be a common question. When laying down the first track (in my case acoustic rythym guitar,) how do you keep up with how many times you play the progressions? For example, Im working on a version of Led Zeppelin's "That's the Way," and the guitar plays this chord progression 21 times before changing. What's the best approach to recording that? Just count it 21 times in my head? How do the pro's do it? Also, would it be better to just play it a few times, then loop it with software? Any advice would be appreciated !
 
SOme pros will play it once and loop it, some will play the whole thing, and then double it, even triple it. Some will play the whole thing dozens of times and select the best take, some will paste together the final track from sections of various takes. Rehearsal is the only way to get it right, playing to a click track. There is no one way, you just have to find what works best for you.
 
Yup, I just count the measures. By the way, I just did a cover of That's The Way myself for a friend who wanted to sing it. I'd be interested in hearing your completed project.
 
The problem mainly is I lose track of how many times I've played it and have to start over. I guess I just need to practice it more before recording it. I may experiment with looping, but that almost sounds like cheating - I mean I want the song to sound natural and looping it might make it sound too unnatural.

Track Rat - maybe I'll post it when it's done (which at the rate I'm going should be next year!) I love the song though. The open G tuning has a really nice, full sound. Page actually recorded it tuned down to Gb but I'm just using G 'cause it's too much of a pain to re-tune back to standard tuning when I want to play something else. Thanks for the replies, cheers...
 
You could import an MP3 or WAV of the song as a separate track and then feed that into your cans while recording. That way you could hear the change coming. It would kind of serve as a click track also-- although probably not as effectively.
 
Hawk- Try this. Record first with a click track, either with an electric, or an acoustic with a pickup, and feel free to sing along. Then record the acoustic with mics, using the original scratch as a guide track. Then scratch the guide track.-Richie
 
what he said...

Richard Monroe said:
Hawk- Try this. Record first with a click track, either with an electric, or an acoustic with a pickup, and feel free to sing along. Then record the acoustic with mics, using the original scratch as a guide track. Then scratch the guide track.-Richie
Click to expand...

... and if you use an electric (quieter) and a dynamic mic for the scratch vocals (57?), you will have very little of the scratch guitar to distract you from your playing. you'll get to track to a faint electric guitar (in case you need it at times), and a vocal guide with a click. i've even done this effectively without a click, but drums were my first instrument... so i keep perfect time ;)

by the way, how do you know there's a drummer at your door?
... the knocking speeds up :)

peace - jv
 
if you have some simple drum loops, count out the measures, and insert fills into a running drum loop right before the switch, or maybe a full measure before the switch to build up to a transition. A drum loop well timed to your strum rhythm helps, and ideally you'd make your own customized loop with one-shot drum samples.
a scratch track is a good idea too, but I play better guitar when I'm not singing and am more likely to stay on time with a beat track.
 
Whenever I lose track (no pun intended) I stick a vocal count alongside the click.

I simply say what part of the song I'm at ("Intro, bar 1", "Bridge" "2" "3" and even all the way up to "24" if the track requires it)

It sounds pathetic saying these words in time, kinda like some terrible fitness instructor, but if it helps get the track down quicker then I don't care.

Just remeber to delete it - I forgot once and someone asked why I kept saying "sex" at bits !
 
drummers

reading drummers (reading mucicians generally) tend to have to count many measures (bars), pop over to the drum forum and see if they have any tips! Personally I would play along with the original in the cans as suggested if you have the facility.
 
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