Not enough tracks

[eviljoker7075]

Hey, I am thinking about buying an 8-track recorder and recording my band with it... however 8 tracks will not be enough. Can I record the percussion/drums to begin with and then move them to one track once I have mixed them to free up sapce?

I know I probably need to give more info on the recorder but as I haven'r decided what to get yet I can't lol.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Myriad_Rocker]

Yes, you can do that.

You might consider the DAW method though....unlimited tracks....might sound better too. Just a suggestion. Money might be an issue.

 

[eviljoker7075]

Yeah, moeny is a limiting factor for me. My plan was to record it all on the multitracker and do a bit of mixing on the pc.

how about using all 8 tracks to record all drums etc, mix them nicely and create a mixdown of that, then import that into the project, so essentially use 2 projects and fuse them together?

 

[felipousis]

you can record the drums on 6 tracks, then mixdown them into the last 2 tracks and continue recording on the previously recorded drum tracks

 

[RAMI]

What kind of 8 track is it? It's possible it has virtual tracks. If so, the possibilties would be endless.

 

[eviljoker7075]

what does that mean? virtual tracks?

I've read about them everywhere bu do not fully understand the term...

 

[scorpio01169]

on most digital recorders each track has virtual tracks. on an 8 track digital recorder lets say you record a vocal take on track 3, well on track 3 you may have 7 virtual track in addition to the playback track to do 7 different takes of that vocal....now you can only playback one take at a time. but lets say the first verse on take 2 was killer but you like the chorus of take 5, you can cut paste different takes onto an empty track to make one great track....i hope that helps you.

 

[eviljoker7075]

ahh, so essentially its, a set of 'temporary' extra chanels almost, that come together to form one mixdown?

I know I have many terms in the wrong place there - but basically that's the gist?

 

[RAMI]

Or....you can bounce tracks 1-6 over to 7/8. Then replace 1-6 with new virtual tracks. Etc.........

 

[scorpio01169]

no....virtual tracks dont work like that Rami.....on virtual track what is on that track is the only thing you can you can put to another track.....the only way you can bounce is if there is a bounce function. if i were you i would save a few extra dollars and get you a daw program like Sonar or Cubase and maybe i firewire interface and you are set.....an eight track recorder is going to limit you to mostly 8 tracks.

 

[RAMI]

no....virtual tracks dont work like that Rami.....

You may be right about some machines, but what I described is EXACTLY how virtual tracks are used. I own a TASCAM 2488 and I owned a TASCAM 788. They both use virtual tracks...You can absolutely do what I described. You bounce 6 tracks, and then replace those 6 tracks with new virtual tracks. It's been done 100's of times. I thought it was a standard function that any digital recorder can do.
So now I'm wondering. What's the point of having virtual tracks if you can't use more than 8 at a time and you can't bounce?