How to record one section at a time.

[Firefighterr003]

Hi yall,

I' am new to this recording stuff so be easy on me. My question is instead of recording a song all the way through in one take, how can I just record seperatly? For instance just record a verse and chorus seperatly and then "Paste" them into differnt sections of the song. I'm sure when recording a band, engineers to do not record the whole song in one take, they work on each section individually. How do they do it and what is this called? Also when I do this, what steps do I need to take, to match everything up and not be off beat?

Equipment:
I'm using Presonus FireStudio interface and Studio One recording software.

 

[Armistice]

A lot depends upon what it is you're recording.

You can use metronomes and guide tracks etc. to lay out the bones of a song and build around it.

People generally attempt full takes and comp tracks together from multiple takes, or "punch in" to complete takes.

They don't generally work section at a time in the recording process itself, just the editing - at least for the main instruments.

Bear in mind that if you are using microphones, then every time you move a mic you'll get a different sound, so if you attempt to record section at a time, your main instrument can sound different in each different section, which is probably not what you want.

 

[DM60]

It can be done, but I will say you have to really get the time right, if it is a strumming guitar, you have to run into it and then fade, so you can't just copy and past, then there is the whole thing as mentioned above, it has to "sound" the same. If you have your measures set, get you beat, and can give everything aligned, it can be done. But you have to make sure you are being very observant of your music and the pieces you are trying to put together.

 

[Steenamaroo]

If you can lay down a guide track for tempo that'll help.
Now you can record your verse over the top, and chorus after that.

Try to have a few bars of overlap when your dropping in a section. It can make editing so much easier.

 

[ollie99]

It can be done, but I will say you have to really get the time right, if it is a strumming guitar, you have to run into it and then fade, so you can't just copy and past, then there is the whole thing as mentioned above, it has to "sound" the same. If you have your measures set, get you beat, and can give everything aligned, it can be done. But you have to make sure you are being very observant of your music and the pieces you are trying to put together.

If you are a beginner to recording then it can be hard but I do all my songs in sections pretty much, including the drums because I am not very good at them, and my songs sound fine actually. I've always done it like that since I started recording 3 years ago so I guess I've had practice.

 

[Chili]

What are you using to record with?? With a regular good ol' DAW program like Cubase, it's fairly simple. Use the built-in metronome lay down a scratch track as a guide and have at it. You'll get familiar with cut n paste and cross-fading controls. Learning the idiosyncrasies of your recording tools will enable to work on sections effortlessly.

Honestly, I have thought about doing my songs in section, but when I hit the record button, I just want to keep playing. lol.

 

[ollie99]

What are you using to record with?? With a regular good ol' DAW program like Cubase, it's fairly simple. Use the built-in metronome lay down a scratch track as a guide and have at it. You'll get familiar with cut n paste and cross-fading controls. Learning the idiosyncrasies of your recording tools will enable to work on sections effortlessly.

Honestly, I have thought about doing my songs in section, but when I hit the record button, I just want to keep playing. lol.

Yeah I sometimes have problems with different sections not sounding fluent going into each other but I just play around with cross fading and that'll usually sort it.