In what order do you prefer to record?

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hybridsound

hybridsound

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I personally like to record:

Drums first
Main guitars second
Bass next
Keyboards or piano (if any)
Additional guitars such as solos or other rhythm
Vocals
Harmony vocals
Sound effects (if any)

What do you like?
 
I like to get the drums, bass and rhythm guitar and at least a scratch/guide vocal down in the first pass. Then start filling in what ever's left. Just my opinion but I think tunes feel better if the majority of the tune can be recorded by the band actually playing the song together as much as possible as opposed to building it one instrument at a time. YMMV.
 
I like having rythm guitars down before I track the bass.. Gives me an idea of what bass sound I'm going for..
 
Meshuggah said:
I like having rythm guitars down before I track the bass.. Gives me an idea of what bass sound I'm going for..
Click to expand...

I agree! After the drums and rhythm guitars are down the bass part just kind of flows into place. This works really well for me since I am not really a bass player by trade. :D
 
All I know is that I put drums first. It doesn't really matter after that. :) 90% of the time I will track scratch guitar and scratch vocals along with the drums, if only so the drummer knows where he is in the song.
 
Out of necessity (one-man band), I record this way:

- I sequence drums, synths and generally bass
- I record main rhythm guitars
- Additional rhythm guitars
- Solos
- I rerecord bass
- Main vox
- Harmonies

Then I give it to the drummer so he can study it and when he's ready I re-record drums.

Awkward, isn't it?
 
OLA Flapo Uno:]

?Que` Paso?

I like to get the drums down with the "chords" if I overdubbing a song. Once the beat is set and drum fills, etc., then I can do the rest. I usually use five/six tracks if I'm doing all of the music.

Vocals: I always do those last. If I use canned background music, I put that into the recorder and then do the vocal or a parody set of words which I write, usually for a spoof.

My, how the time flies when you're having fun in the studio.

Green Hornet :D :p :p :cool:
 
Muy cierto, avispón verde.

Just yesterday I spent about 3 hrs. just laying down background vocals. Thanks God I'm not using a commercial studio!
 
drums
guitar
bass
vox
extra

you have your basic rhythm (drums), then you can hear the song's progression (guitar), then added emphasis (bass), then finishing touches (vox/extra)
 
Me and my band of.. well, just me, record a basic mix of drums, bass, guitar, and lead vocal. I use portions of this mix as samples to get the guitars to sound right. I then record an SMPTE for the drum machine, a mono track of drums, and then track the guitars, bass, lead guitar solos, then vocals and back vocals.

Because I use a hybrid of ADAT and the pc, I dump all the tracks I have recorded thus far into the pc, and record the drum machine synched to SMPTE on new tape.

Cy
 
I like to "sketch out" the song on the sequencer, just the basics drums, bass, maybe keys if the song calls for it. Then I lay down the ryth. guitar. Next I usually replace the sequenced drums and bass with real instruments. Thats where the song takes over, perhaps I double the guitar, or lay down percussion parts, or (cringe)vocals, it all depends on how the song is developing.
 
Ideally; drums, bass, and main instrument (guitars, piano, or keys), along with scratch vocals. Most important, at this point, is drums. Bass and primary riff instrument come next. If I only get a scratch version of these, fine. If I can get final versions, even better.

Once I have the basics down, I like to record main vocals next. It is important to have the main vocals early in the process so that nothing else you do interferes with the vocals.

Only once the basics and vocals are done do I begin the sweetnings. This would include additional guitars, pads, solos, other keyboard riffs, percussion, background vocals, and other additions which flesh out the production.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
seeing as I am a one-man band, I go this way:

click track
acoustic guitar and vox at same time for scratch track
program basic drums
electric rhythm guitar
bass
re-work drum track with fills
acoustic guitar
vocals
lead guitar
re-do rhythm guitar to work well with bass line and drum fills
keyboards
more vocals/backups

but part of my reasoning is that the recording phase exists simultaneously with my composition/arrangement phase.
 
When recording a band I prefer to get the rhythem section (drums, bass & whatever) - with a scratch vocal. Then record any other overdubs (guitar solo, etc). I then get a reasonable mix to make sure the music tracks sit well. Then the lead vocal (possibly doubled). Then the vocal harmonies. Hopefully at this point no additional dubs are needed.

When recording by myself I will record either a rhythem guitar track or a keyboard track (to a click) Then a scratch vocal. Then either more rhythem instruments or a bass track. After I have a solid melody/harmony arrangement I then add the drums. (normally MIDI tracks - via V-Drums). followed by solo instruments. Then lead vocals (often doubled) followed by harmony vocals.

I tend to think the drums and bass need to follow a guitar or keyboard track (the main harmony lines of the song) so I record accordingly. I'm a drummer and I find that my drumming supports the song so much better after I know what the harmony instruments are doing.

When recording singer songwriters (one of the main income sources of my studio) I normally start with programming the chord sequence iinto either Band-In-A-Box or Jammer (my "computer band"), and feed that to Cakewalk. I then record a scratch vocal and start to add guitar (or whatever) around that. If it's a vanity recording I leave the computer band in place - if it's a demo destined for shopping a song/singer I will normally replace most if not all of the computer band.
 
When working alone, I lay down a vocal and rythm guitar track which usualy gets dumped or at least lost in the mix, just to keep myself oriented as to where I am in the song. Then I add bass and drums, clean up the rythm guitar, add keyboard, then lead guitar and wrap up with the vocal tracks. I do a lot of 60ish sounding stuff and this works for me.
 
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