Ricklh
New member
I've been a Fostex MR-8 owner for a couple years now and haven't exactly burned the thing up from over-usage - I'm mostly an experimenter/dabbler who uses the recorder for overdubbing and recording primarily cover material, for my own enjoyment and to improve at the art of getting a decent mix. The most recent thing I've recorded is "Day Tripper" and the track layout (only 4 tracks) and panning are like this:
Track 1 - electric guitar with Digitech effect, panned mostly to left channel (playing the main riff that the song is based around)
Track 2 - Second electric guitar with different Digitech effect (but complimentary to the other track) doubling the main riff and panned mostly to the right
Track 3 - closed-mic'ed acoustic guitar (Takamine) playing a rhythm panned down the middle
Track 4- vocal (hard left because I used track 5 on the Fostex, non-pannable, this track was just to fill out the mix more)
(No drums or bass - I'm in an apartment without a computer, bass guitar, or drum machine)
Anyway, the point of this post is that I've found it takes some quite a bit of experimentation and trial and error, especially if you're a lone overdubber, to sometimes get the tracks to gel with each other. For instance, in the above example, Track 3, I first did a rhythm strum with the electric guitar but on playback there was just something not quite there yet, so I thought I'd give the acoustic a try and it sounded a whole lot better than the electric playing rhythm.
I realize this is pretty basic stuff, but you have to get down the basics before getting to a point where you have something that sounds like a fairly tight demo, worthy of letting others hear (I'm not quite there yet, but getting closer!). Plus, sometimes just a relatively small change can make a large difference in your mix.
Any recent recording lessons, mix tricks you've found on your own that you want to share?
Track 1 - electric guitar with Digitech effect, panned mostly to left channel (playing the main riff that the song is based around)
Track 2 - Second electric guitar with different Digitech effect (but complimentary to the other track) doubling the main riff and panned mostly to the right
Track 3 - closed-mic'ed acoustic guitar (Takamine) playing a rhythm panned down the middle
Track 4- vocal (hard left because I used track 5 on the Fostex, non-pannable, this track was just to fill out the mix more)
(No drums or bass - I'm in an apartment without a computer, bass guitar, or drum machine)
Anyway, the point of this post is that I've found it takes some quite a bit of experimentation and trial and error, especially if you're a lone overdubber, to sometimes get the tracks to gel with each other. For instance, in the above example, Track 3, I first did a rhythm strum with the electric guitar but on playback there was just something not quite there yet, so I thought I'd give the acoustic a try and it sounded a whole lot better than the electric playing rhythm.
I realize this is pretty basic stuff, but you have to get down the basics before getting to a point where you have something that sounds like a fairly tight demo, worthy of letting others hear (I'm not quite there yet, but getting closer!). Plus, sometimes just a relatively small change can make a large difference in your mix.
Any recent recording lessons, mix tricks you've found on your own that you want to share?
