Final Mixdown Question...

[newatthis]

Again, I am very new at this, and obviously still much to learn. My situation is,,, my band just recorded 7 tunes today into my ADAT machines (hopefully soon to be replaced by a Mackie HD24 recorder). Anyway, now that we recorded the "scratch/reference tracks" all together live, we want to seperately lay each track down to get rid of the bleed over from all the open mics we had while recording.

Question: I was going to burn the scratch/reference tunes we recorded onto a CD via my Alesis Masterlink, then run those songs into the headphones as reference tracks (to play along with), while recording all new seperate tracks all over again as the masters for the final mixdown.

Should I do it this way>??>? or just overdub each track thats already layed down that we did today, thus replacing/overbubbing the ones we recorded for the scratch/reference tracks??

Which works better?

The scratch/reference recordings sound pretty decent as they are for a newB, if it didnt have all the bleed between all the open mics that were being used. It makes mixdown a bitch to isolate certain instruments you only want.

Does my question even make sense>?>?

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks
AJ

 

[Rokket]

How I would do it (YMMV):

Use the scratch tracks to listen to whatever mistakes may have been made or to make notes in things you may want to change.

Then record it from the ground up, all over again, and leave the scratch tracks out of it. Unless everything was perfect (and it sounds like it's not), and since you no longer have any real editing control over them, I'd just dump the scratch tracks and record it all from scratch....

 

[Track Rat]

My advice is to embrace the mic bleed. It really is your friend if handled correctly. I feel you get a better over all vibe going if the band plays together rather than everyone plugging their parts in a track at a time.

 

[newatthis]

I can see your view on the "embrace the bleed" but with 6 guys, all who have vocal mics, mics on guitars, drum mics, you cant very well single out seperate tracks without hearing the other insrtuments coming through as well in the background.

Doing them seperately, then I shouldnt have any other sounds in those mics except that instrument,,,,,,right? (I'll then add the effects later)

I think this is probably a stupid question, because all you veterans out there have been recording for years and know these answers, but I am still a newB at it and trying to learn,,,,the right way.

Also ROKKET said about dumping the scratch tracks and doing it all over from ground up. If I start with my drummer laying down his tracks, shouldnt he be listening to a "reference track" through the headphones while he is playing (to play along with)>?>? OR are you saying just do the whole track over as a whole band, and if there are no mistakes, just use that??

I thought most studios always layed tracks down 1 track at a time when recording tunes for a better final product>?>?

Wait till I get my/this first ever recording done. I will post a tune on here, and you guys can laugh your asses off cause I am sure it will suck! LOL

Anyway, just trying to learn,,,,thanks again,

AJ

 

[Track Rat]

Most studios do not record a band one instrument at a time. That's a sure way to destroy any "groove" that a full band playing together generates. There will definately be bleed from other sources in any given mic but like I said, it can be minimized and some bleed will actually reinforce what you're tracking. The worst case you'll have will be instruments/vocals getting into the drum overheads. Take some care when setting up the band to minimize the bleed BUT some bleed of the instruments here can help add some ambience. It's only when you have some phasing going on between some mics that it can get hairy, that's where the "take some care when setting up" comes in.

 

[MichaelM]

If you are going to touch any of the drums, you'd be better off recording them again from the ground up. Get the drummer to play listening to a click track to keep him in time. If you recorded all together without a click, I can garantee you that the drummer will have a TERRIBLE time trying to play again while listening to what you recorded earlier.

What I've done is record myself playing the drums, with the guitarist or bass player playing along in my headphones, as well as a click track to keep me in time. That way I stay in time, and I get more of a feel for the song. Then after, we go back and record the guitar/bass if needed.