Am I doing it right?

[DeanHartley]

Okay so I just registered and am sort of new to the home recording scene. I have one question that might sound a little dumb but what the heck. What do I record first? I normally record drums,guitar, and keyboards.

What I normally do is record drums to a Tama rhythm watch with headphones on whatever tempo I desire, then record guitars and keyboards over that drum track. Is that how its normally done? There must be an easier way because when im recording the drums with out any music to play too, I sometimes forget what im playing haha. Im a noob so please exuse me. Also here is my first real recording with my equipment. http://kiwi6.com/uploads/hotlink?id=tc2avmeo30

 

[dintymoore]

Cool tune sounds like movie music.

It's normal to start with a drum track like what you're doing, but everybody has that problem of not knowing where they are while they're playing drums.

So a lot of times I'll get a click going and then play keys (I don't play guitar) to the whole song. I call that a guide track. I'll quantize it sometimes so it's right with the click. Then I can do the drums along with that. The guide track later gets deleted unless it's ok.

But the basic idea of starting at the bottom, recording drums first, is probably what happens most of the time, not always though. After drums I'll usually record bass, but sometimes keys then bass.

 

[moresound]

Okay so I just registered and am sort of new to the home recording scene. I have one question that might sound a little dumb but what the heck. What do I record first? I normally record drums,guitar, and keyboards.

What I normally do is record drums to a Tama rhythm watch with headphones on whatever tempo I desire, then record guitars and keyboards over that drum track. Is that how its normally done? There must be an easier way because when im recording the drums with out any music to play too, I sometimes forget what im playing haha. Im a noob so please exuse me. Also here is my first real recording with my equipment. http://kiwi6.com/uploads/hotlink?id=tc2avmeo30

How many tracks can you record at one time?

 

[mjbphotos]

There is no set answer on this.

Many of us record a 'scratch' guitar track to a click track first. Then record the drums to that, go back and rerecord the guitar track, etc.

 

[miroslav]

Right...you need to use a "scratch" track until you have enough final instrument/vocal tracks laid down.

My method is to record a combination guitar & vocal scratch track(s) while playing to a click track. That allows me to get my song structure worked out and also to set the BMP of the song.

Then my drummer comes over and tracks drums against the scratch/click tracks. Then I'll usually do a couple of basic rhythm guitar tracks, that way I can get rid of my scratch/click tracks...and then follow with bass, keys, vocals...etc.

 

[Dark Imagery]

Pretty much what everyone else said, though my process is a little different. I compose all of my music on guitar. I then use a program called TabIt which allows me to tab my song out and play it back for me using any MIDI patch I want. This is a great way to archive the music I've written and also allows me to try out different 2nd guitar parts while hearing the first (or keyboard, vocal melodies, you name it.) Aaaanyway, I then export the file to MIDI, load it up into protools, add a click and record the drums. So yeah I always start with the drums. I then add the 1st guitar, bass, lead guitar, and finally vocals. The cool thing about doing it this way is that your drums always match the dynamics, energy, and feel for each part of the song. Plus you have something to practice with before you go to record. You also may want to include a few subtle tempo changes to the backing music because humans tend to speed up a bit during exciting parts. This can lend to the illusion that all of your tracks were played live.

 

[grimtraveller]

This thread and this one are a couple of additions to this interesting question. I think most home recorders start with some semblence of the rhythm section, which usually will mean drums/percussion/click/bass/guitar or keyboard in varying combinations. Certainly throughout the period in popular music as multitracking in sectiions became de rigueur, that's how it was done in the studio. Probably still is in some guise. And it makes sense to get the rhythm down first as it's the foundation upon which the building goes or the bed upon which the kiddies jump.....