how long does it take for you to record a perfect take?

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bball_1523

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How long does it take you all to record a perfect take of your tracks? Especially recording rhythm guitars in stereo with screwing up the timing on both tracks?

It takes me forever. I was wondering if any of you have any tips to practice better?
 
it depends for me. if it's a pretty simple song, like a punk rock style or something without a lot of crazy "chugga-chugg" stuff, it only takes me a couple tries per track. my timing for rhythm is pretty decent which i'm thankful for. too bad i completely suck at lead. if i'm doing something with more complicated or faster riffage, then yeah it could take me forever. i try my best to do an entire song in one long take so that way the sound is consistent, but it never works out. i'll do punch-ins and stuff, but i won't put down the guitar or touch the amp or anything for that one track until i finish the entire song, just because i'm afraid it'll sound different later haha.

just practice playing to a click. i found that sometimes if i just kinda zone out while listening to the click, my hand just sorta plays the guitar by itself, haha like auto-pilot or something. anyway, just make sure you're really comfortably seated (or standing, however you prefer), and just let 'er rip. but yeah it's kinda normal for it to take a few tries to get the rhythms to a point where all the layers match up pretty well.
 
i record guitars direct right now (still havent got any new gear). usually what happens is i record in one or maybe two tries, then i make the whole rest of the song, then after screwing around with everything, i often end up going back and rerecording the lead and rhythm guitars.

Adam
 
for me, it takes as long as it takes.

meaning, when i hear it, i know it's good to go.

that might be the first take.

or i could spend a month, off and on, here and there, til the mood is just right.

bottom line is, to not waste time, rehearse it til you're blue in the face.

then, wait for inspiration to hit, then nail it in one good take.
 
Unless I actually hit a wrong note, I never have to do more than 1 or 2 takes. But, I am a drummer first and foremost so my timing is solid. I actually picked up guitar out of frustration of trying to record multiple takes with a guitarist.
 
what if the song is 10 or more minutes long and has very complex passages and leads, how do you cope with multiple takes? Do you record one riff here and there, then use a separate different track to continue the next sections in the song? Or do you do it all in one take?
 
I don't think anyone has ever gotten a "perfect" take. But getting excellent results takes time. I always play the song all the way through for each take, for consistency, and then pick and choose which sections sound best. Just keep doing it and you'll get better.

A metronome is essential for PRACTICE, not performance. You wouldn't put a metronome on during a show, would you? Time should flex naturally with the song during a performance, but it shouldn't stutter as it would if you didn't use a metronome. This is easily one of the most difficult things to do as a musician, and it takes years of practice. Nothing makes a musician sound more professional than being able to play in perfect time, even pitch is second to time.

Almost everyone hates it, but you gotta practice.

When I practice, i set the metronome at a comfortable speed and play the lick/riff/phrase until it becomes natural. Then I set it two clicks faster (usually around 8 bpm faster) and practice that until it becomes natural. I then repeat until I can't play the lick/riff/phrase any faster and then stop playing that riff for that practice session. At the next session, I set the initial tempo faster than the previous one and then do the same thing. I always make sure I can play something faster than it should be played because in a live setting, there is more adrenaline going through you and the other players which often lends itself to a slight tempo increase.

Hope this helped.
 
bball_1523 said:
what if the song is 10 or more minutes long and has very complex passages and leads, how do you cope with multiple takes? Do you record one riff here and there, then use a separate different track to continue the next sections in the song? Or do you do it all in one take?
Click to expand...
In these cases, I'd give the part in question plenty of lead in time and just do it part by part. But only after first recording the thing straight through.
 
how long does it take for you to record a perfect take?
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5 minutes.

1st take.


Then a couple of hours trying to get a better one.


Although I'm not that precise of a guitar player, there's usually some element of the 1st take that I really dig and have trouble replicating on subsequent takes.
 
IronFlippy said:
In these cases, I'd give the part in question plenty of lead in time and just do it part by part. But only after first recording the thing straight through.
Click to expand...


yup. i would tackle it one track at a time if working in layers. i would record guitar #1 all the way thru. if it needs some fixes, i would do them right away with punch-ins or whatever, but i wouldnt stop until guitar #1 is finished in its entirety. then you move on to guitar #2, etc.
 
bball_1523 said:
what if the song is 10 or more minutes long and has very complex passages and leads, how do you cope with multiple takes? Do you record one riff here and there, then use a separate different track to continue the next sections in the song? Or do you do it all in one take?
Click to expand...

I've done that with everything...just due to the fact people screw up, but i dont wanna have to start everything over...i just crop out the crappy part of the original and paste over.
 
how do you guys record in stereo? Do you copy and paste the one guitar track and delay it or do you just record two different takes of the same rhythm and pan them hard left/right?
 
bball_1523 said:
just record two different takes of the same rhythm and pan them hard left/right?
Click to expand...


thats really the best way to do it without getting any weird phase issues or having it sound phony.
 
bball_1523 said:
how do you guys record in stereo? Do you copy and paste the one guitar track and delay it or do you just record two different takes of the same rhythm and pan them hard left/right?
Click to expand...


Neither, stereo is recording the same take with two different mics and then panning them left and right to taste.

Recording two different takes is called double tracking and is much more difficult because your timing must be near perfect.
 
jfrog said:
5 minutes.

1st take.


Then a couple of hours trying to get a better one.


Although I'm not that precise of a guitar player, there's usually some element of the 1st take that I really dig and have trouble replicating on subsequent takes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, thats what is great about digital recording, you can keep the early takes for comparison. And realize thats the ones to keep!
 
I read somewhere that Whitney Houston's producer gives her twice through the whole song, recorded of course. Then they spend the rest of the time singing verses, choruses, refrains, fills about ten times each, while he coaches her through different ideas on each take. That means she literally sings the song 30 times, and she's Whitney Houston.

Of course the producer has a lot of material to sift through, and often, the first one or two takes has the "feel" in it anyway.

I take the same approach to just about any song now. I'll set up a loop on the verse, and keep banging away at it, creating a new track each time in Sonar. When I'm done I'll have about 5 or 6 takes. I may EQ one different and use two together, or solo one and be happy.

I do prefer to do solos as one-shots, but have been known to double or triple them, just in case.
 
mikemorgan said:
I read somewhere that Whitney Houston's producer gives her twice through the whole song, recorded of course. Then they spend the rest of the time singing verses, choruses, refrains, fills about ten times each, while he coaches her through different ideas on each take. That means she literally sings the song 30 times, and she's Whitney Houston.

Of course the producer has a lot of material to sift through, and often, the first one or two takes has the "feel" in it anyway.

I take the same approach to just about any song now. I'll set up a loop on the verse, and keep banging away at it, creating a new track each time in Sonar. When I'm done I'll have about 5 or 6 takes. I may EQ one different and use two together, or solo one and be happy.

I do prefer to do solos as one-shots, but have been known to double or triple them, just in case.
Click to expand...

dang how do you double/triple them without screwing up? haha especially 220 bpm shredfests?!?!

as for two mic'd stereo, how do you effectively do that? I have one behringer keyboard amp that I play my boss gt-8 with and I am wondering if I had two SM57's mic'ing the amp, if it would work out well for stereo recording? any interesting techniques with mic'ing?
 
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