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

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Whoopysnorp

Whoopysnorp

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I find that when I'm tracking my stuff, I can hardly ever get a good solid take. I'm doing the guitar, bass, drums, and vocals on my stuff, so I have plenty of opportunities to screw up. I almost always edit several takes together, unless it's an easy song (and, to be fair, most of my songs have at least some parts that are fiendishly difficult). I figure it'd be ridiculous to spend the extra time on trying to play it all right at once. What do you guys do?
 
Yo Whoopy:

Don't know from your post what gear you are using; if it is a PC, I guess cutting and pasting will work.

I use the DAW 2816, and the MD8. I like to get the drums [machine] and chords down first. Then, I overdub one track at a time until I'm done. If I screw up a "single" track, it's easy to go back and "undo" the track [which saves it] and do the SINGLE track over. With the MD8, I just record right over the track, no undo to do.

The 2816 has editing but I'm not into that part of the box yet; would rather stay away from trying to get one beat or two notes out, etc. Too much time.

If you sing, you might get some CD background music and put that into your recorder and SING. Less work for the music and you get a whole band usually mixed quite well on the CD.

So, it depends on your gear and how much time you want to spend editing.

Whatever, have fun and keep twiddling the dials.

Green Hornet















:D :D :p
 
"I figure it'd be ridiculous to spend the extra time on trying to play it all right at once. What do you guys do?"

I try to get a good take; I try to play each track right. I work on it again and again sometimes. Occasionally I edit two tracks together. It's not a belief system or anything, I just think that if the track's not good enough to print in itself, then it isn't up to scratch.

I'm a 'warts and all' person. Which is why I try to track things as free of warts as possible. :)
 
I do both. When my playing is just not cutting the mustard I'll cut and paste, but I try to get solid takes of everything.

The most important parts to get in one take are the exposed parts- for me its usually the acoustic guitar that holds center stage during the quiet parts. That section has to be all one take. Parts that are less up front sometimes get the cut and paste treatment- then again, they are just as likely to recieve a "that's good enough" judgement on the full take.

One thing that I will do frequently with doubled parts that repeat is play the whole thing through on one track. Then I'll split it in half and paste the two halves in reverse order for the doubled track. Works *really* well, but only for pieces that have cut at the end rather then transition into the next piece smoothly.

Sometimes the cut and paste thing works really well. Sometimes it sounds horrible. Its great when it saves time, but I sometimes get lazy and waste time trying to get something to work when I should have just played it through in the first place.

Its good to practice getting good takes, anyway, ya know? So I try, but I don't always get them.

Chris
 
Both... it depends on the talent... whatever it takes to get that one cohesive track to sound great!

Bruce
 
Ive never cut n paste guitar stuff. I done some for special effects but thats it, in fact I never to punch in and punch outs either. My oringinal purpose when I started homerecing was for writing for a band, so I also took that time for using the recorder as a rehearsal tool so I could get the live stuff right. Im sure when you listen to my stuff its not as cohesive as lots of people recordings, but everything is usually done staight through in a few takes of rhythm tracks and a few more than that for melody guitars. Yeah, Ill get around to it eventually...editing and whatever, but its more important for me to be able to pull off 5 minutes of guitar soloing than 30 seconds of guitar organized to be impressive to an editor.
Ill get better as I go along just like anything else right...

Peace,
Dennis
 
I usually cut and paste when I'm trying to get the different parts together and see how they sound. To me it is more of a songwriting aid. Once I have the song fleshed out I'll go back and rerecord most of the parts because I've thought of better ways to do it by then.

I dont just track, edit then mix. I do it all at the same time and then eventually the song is finished. I guess thats why I like home recording and not having to know exactly what I want before I start recording.

Chris that is a cool idea for doubling tracks.
 
when I am recording other people ON A TIME LIMIT/BUDGET, you cut and paste, autotune, punchin...whatever it takes to get things done quickly and put smiles on peoples faces. When I record my stuff, the studio rates go WAAAAAY down, so I view that there becomes the luxury of trying to get a great take...in one pass...or at least in segments. Nothing wrong with creating with whatever tools you like to use, but I feel that [without overdoing it now] recording fresh takes is the ONLY way to go [for me] and go for a vibe/feel, that makes ME happy. Why spend your time juggling zeros and ones on a computer screen, when it MIGHT be better spent trying to out do yourself with that take from heaven?
I mean...ya gotta be able to play your instrument at least a little bit now...eh?...or else just step program everything and become the arranger/writer from hell!!

How many people use one finger on their [or insert your fav. synth here] Lowrey fun machines??:D
 
I'll do whatever it takes to do what I'm trying to accomplish. Most of the time I'm pretty good about getting a single take, and the times I do break things up I almost always end up punching in, but if I have to, I'll cut and paste. The song is more important than my pride as a musician.
 
I spend from weeks to months rehearsing the material before putting it to tape.. How I record depends largely on the structure of the song.. If there are breaks in certain places then I'll record each fragment until it's either perfect, or until it's so close to perfect that I can't find wherever it was that I botched upon listening at a later time.. Even when I do it in this piece-meal fashion, I will still do it in one single day because as soon as I put the instrument down and turn off the equipment- even when I don't mess with any settings- things may sound different the next day (sounds crazy, but it happens) and the result can be a good but inconsistent track..

If the song has no breaks.. then tough.. I ain't leaving the chair until that part is recorded to my satisfaction.. That's what I should've spent all that rehearsal time doing.. I figure since I'm not paying for studio time, then I shouldn't need to copy or loop performances.. besides, I'm pretty sure the big shots that I look up to, like Dave Mustaine for example, play most of their stuff straight through without samples, and I try to hold myself up to the same standard...

Cy
 
CMiller said:
I'll do whatever it takes to do what I'm trying to accomplish. Most of the time I'm pretty good about getting a single take, and the times I do break things up I almost always end up punching in, but if I have to, I'll cut and paste. The song is more important than my pride as a musician.
Click to expand...

I can agree with that to a point. I agree, the song is the most important thing...most of the time. Having pride as a musician is a useless point, basically concerning song quality. BUT, being a good musician helps to create better songs, and to perform them. As an example, I equate that with people who have no interest in learning about recording, recording terms, techniques, etc. What happens is they potentially go into a studio, and not having that knowledge, they suffer in communication, and potential avenues that they could pursue. Can they create good music..?.you bet...even great music. But, they are limited in certain aspects. They may miss out on having that *perfect* reverb to enhance their tracks, etc. Just like the guitar player who only plays pentatonic scales with three fingers while his pinky atrophies away. So....my [unclear] point...the guy that HAS to constantly cut and paste, MAY miss out on the groove that was established with other players, the one in a lifetime incredible take......but..then again, a new sound to the masses was created by digital manipulation, and all the worlds problems where immediately eliminated!!!:D
 
when i was taking clients i just kept recording until they were satisfied with the take.

when recording my own stuff, i prefer to get three solid takes, because inevitably i'll here something in each track the next day that wasn't supposed to be there.
 
If it sounds good who's gonna know, it's glued together.
I read all the time about how some engenier takes 10-12 vocal
tracks and edits them together. So there's nothing wrong with it
Just make sure you can't tell.
 
mixmkr, of course I agree with you to a point as well :D . I obviously believe that one should strive for perfect performances. But on the other hand, I don't see anything wrong with looping or punching in or anything else for that matter. Just as you say that practicing until difficult runs are possible in a single take is beneficial to learning your instrument, I would say that being able to blow off the difficult run and opting for a more technology based solution is just as creative. In fact, it might be more so. What is playing a piano but button pushing? Is a pianist lazy because he doesn't manually grab each hammer and hit the string? Certainly it would be more difficult to play Mozart with hammers in hand rather than being able to touch a button on a piano keyboard, right? Would we argue that the piano has turned string hammerers into lazy button pushers who won't take the time to be technically proficient at string hammering? No, technology has made an art out of button pushing the same as it has made compilation of digital information sliced and rearranged an artform as well.

Now before anyone gets on my case let me reiterate that I don't think its wrong to strive for technical profficiency on your instrument. It should be rewarded...especially when you look at all the crap out there these days. My point is that no one should ever be afraid to use technology to enhance their work. Unfortunately, it is often used as an excuse for being lazy or cheap.

I think that's what I'm trying to say. Let me reread it and I'll get back to you.:D
 
Cut and past, when it comes to music, is a whole new aspect to me. But I am developing an interest in it and can see how it can be beneficial to a Sound Engineer in a studio. :cool: But, from a players perspective I prefer to get the thing right just as if I were performing live. I believe that a song's true master, when it comes down to it, is the performer. :)

t
 
Depends. If its a featured instrument in the song, (i.e. piano, lead guitar, saxophone, etc...) I prefer a very solid take. Get it right, not necessarily the first time, but get it down, get it right. It may take several takes, I just keep "rolling" until I have it. Then you can go back and edit out all the other takes you didn't like.
If its an instrument used for augmentation to the main theme, then I'll cut, paste, copy especially if its a short, recurring sub-theme, or mini motif.
 
I do it till I get it right..Sometimes I've gotta punch..I also have had to comp. stuff..Kinda old school , I've always felt that a take from end to end had a better feel.Nothing wrong with grabin' ,slidein' and pastin' though......


Don
 
This has been so libarating to read! The cat´s out of the bag.
I have been a bit ashamed because I quite often copy and/or loop things. I thought I was one of a few lazy bastards...

lately I have made some loops obvious by putting a old grammophone sound on the track, like drums or supporting electric guitars.
 
Hey, I'd love to track nothing but virtuoso musicians that could do one take masterpieces. The reality of the situation is I get a lot of hacks and my main selling point is I can take their sow's ear and make a much nicer sow's ear with an editor.:D
 
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