Do you guys use solid takes of your tracks, or do you cut and paste?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Whoopysnorp
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No, I don't use those options. Since I'm working with 32 tracks
(2 LX & 2 XT ADAT's) I'll use extra tracks to record something different to see how it fits in general to the whole song.
For example, I'll record the bass on 3-4 tracks,or rhythm gits on 3-4 tracks and then use the best 1-2 that fits the song!
Almost like using virtual tracks!
 
Postal Blue wrote:

now that i've tracked with the help of cutting and pasting for some time, and gigged in support of these very same recordings, i've learned to get things on tape/disk faster without so much editing. mainly because i became a better musician.
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Hey, Adriano, I just read this post and I totally agree with you. Since I have been recording, cutting and pasting, and striving to match the sounds live, my musicianship has improved no end. And you are dead right, its all about attitude.;)
 
Strange Question

First of all, what does it matter what others do. It's what works for you that counts. Secondly, the material dictates what sshould be done. If, for instance, the track is a techno type looped kind of thing, well then, you would have lots of opportunity to cut and paste and, most importantly, it would make sense. Now, on the other hand, suppose it is a blues number, you know, some type of deep blues groove, then the track should be played straigh through. See, what I mean is that the music tells you what to do. If the music is very repetative, you could conceivably cut and paste. I am sure you get the point here. My own personal preference is to play the tracks through. When I use a drum machine, the feel of the groove comes from the instruments being played. This is an intergral part of my recording. By putting a real feel on the tracks, even the drum machine starts to have some feel. So, let the music be your guide
!
 
The recording method I use is a hybrid analog/digital method. I have a Tascam 38 reel-to-reel that I record all the basic tracks on, tracks that I know I can, after enough takes, play tight. It's too hard to do punch ins and editing on that machine anyway.

Then I mix down to my computer and add the rest of my tracks. Many of these tracks are of instruments that I am not very experienced with, like theremin, keyboard, slide whistle, congas, etc., etc. If I didn't use cutting and pasting the end result would be embarassing.

So, in the end, I avoid cutting and pasting when I can. I feel that that tracks recorded done this way sound more "human" for lack of a better word. I would never do cutting and pasting if I knew I could do a good take without it. However, I think its better for a track to be slightly less "human" than for it to have tons of mistakes. I guess on this issue I probably agree with most of you. Cutting and pasting is a necessary, if not evil, then compromise.
 
Boy this is a sore subject with me...

All my recording is with my own band rather than clients. Since we all have different day jobs we are really "amatuers" just doing this for fun. So I have to accept that we are never as well rehersed as I would like. Even so I am constantly having the situation where we will record a track, say a guitar track, and there will be one blown note. And then it's always "that's cool, you can fix that note in the mix, on to the next song". At which point I say BULLSHIT, we can just record this track again and you can get it right this time!

There seems to be this attitude that any error in the playing can be just magically fixed in a few seconds by applying some "fix bad note" plug in. At which point I say, well yes I CAN fix it, but no it's not quick, and it's not guarenteed to sound flawless, and it would be a hell of a lot easier if you would just PLAY IT RIGHT.

I loose about half the time, and wind up doing fixes. However for my own tracks (guitar), if there is a flaw I keep doing it over until I get it right.
 
RWhite-- that sounds hauntingly familiar, only with me the battle is internal - between my Id and Ego.
But you have the right attitude. It's SO much easier to just re-record and play it right, even if it takes several takes.
 
But you have the right attitude. It's SO much easier to just re-record and play it right, even if it takes several takes.
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I agree with this in principle, but when you're not very good at playing the instrument you're recording, sometimes the only way to get a decent take is with clever editing. My editing skills made me appear to be a decent theremin player, for example. I know someone's going to come along and say, "Well, if you're not good enough to play a decent take all the way through, then you should get someone who is!" Well, if you can find a good theremin or slide whistle player in the Boise, Idaho area who will play for free, let me know!
 
cominginsecond said:

I agree with this in principle, but when you're not very good at playing the instrument you're recording, sometimes the only way to get a decent take is with clever editing. My editing skills made me appear to be a decent theremin player, for example. I know someone's going to come along and say, "Well, if you're not good enough to play a decent take all the way through, then you should get someone who is!" Well, if you can find a good theremin or slide whistle player in the Boise, Idaho area who will play for free, let me know!
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I hear ya dude. Whatever works for ya! 'scool
 
I have a Cakewalk program and a cheap Tascam 4-track and a Boss Digital 8 track,...i do both, i copy&paste and do real time because with my hip hop tracks its easier to use real time but when i make rock tracks i use copy & paste for solos and things along the line of that.
..::Bye::..
 
I try to get a solid take. Most of my fave albums weer done that way, plus, I'm a perfectionist, but sometimes I will cut and paste, but very rarely.

But do what you feel works best for you.....In the immmortal words of RUSH(anyone else love the production on Hemispheres?)

"All this machinery making modern music can still be open hearted."

Do what you feel....feeling is what makes it music!
 
It strokes my ego to play something in one pass.........but to save time,I cut and paste a part that might take awhile to get right.Now,as far as playing the parts live,that's another story.:p
 
Actually, when I play live, it's nothing but cut and paste.
 
Just my $.02, it all depends on the type of music I'm creating.
 
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