Order of recording

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SirCoughALot

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Im using a tascam 424mkIII to lay down tracks, and I was just wondering what would be the best method to record a band. Would it be better to record the whole band at the same time, and put vocals in at a later time, or record one instrument at a time? This always confuses me. I'd rather just get some professional help, then just wing it. If anybody can help me, pleeeeease do!
 
Well, I like to try and record as many things live as possible, but you may find that not to your liking. It depends on where you're recording, how comfortable the players are in different situations (w/phones on, not being able to see each other, or whatever). Just think about what they're going to play (instruments, volume, etc), take into consideration mic placement and what each will pick up, and make your own decision. I mean, you wouldn't want to record a screaming version of an Anthrax song being performed in a bedroom all at once, but you could if it were acoustic.
 
Some bands play off of each other so much that the only way to capture their sound is record everybody together. It's sort of a controlled live recording. If the musicians are good enough you can lay down tracks seperately.
 
Yo Coughing One:

I'm guessing that you have only 4 tracks? I hope you have 8 tracks.

With only 4 tracks, you can use three for the band and save one for the vocal.

If you have to bounce tracks, well, you will lose control of the individual tweaking of, say, the bass track. If you bounce the bass and keys and drums to one track, however you tweak it when mixing you can't tweak each sound; so, what you would want with the bass probably won't work too well with, say the drums.

The more mics you have going, the more difficult it becomes to get a good cut unless you are in someone's studio paying for the service.

I always like to get the meter down first; like drums. Most of the time, I do keys with drums. Then, bass; then, whatever else I dream up. Sometimes one track has only a cymbal splash or some sound from my synthesizer.

But, I always like to do the vocal last. This way I can trim the sound of everything and keep the vocal up front. If I have a couple of tracks, I sometimes put the vocal on two tracks. But, with a good mic pre, this isn't always necessary.

Get in there and record and experiment.

Green Hornet

PS You can almost always let the singer hear the reverb; but, you don't have to have reverb recorded with the singer; you can add it or tweak later when you mix.
 
I've recorded bands on 4-tracks in two ways:

A: A three-piece. Everything in mono on it's own track. Drums, bass, guitar, vocals. Yes, boring, but it sounded OK and hey, it's a demo. The A&R guy is probably listening to it in his crappy car stereo anyway. We recorded the bass and drums at one time, the drummer + bassist used headphones, the drums were miced with one mic laying on the padding inside the kick, one mic for the snare and a third between the toms. The bass was lined.

B: Everything live in stereo, except two things, which is either vocals + backing vocals, or vocals and lead guitar, which each got one of the remaining tracks.

Oh, yeah, and:
C: Synced drum-machine (kick and snare from separate outs, the rest in stereo) + bass + keyboards + guitar on four tracks, mixed in stereo onto another four track, where vocals + backing vocals were added. But thats using TWO four-tracks, which is cheating. :)
 
Almost live but better

1. I would suggest that you set up for a "live band basic track" and run several drum mikes into a good quality mixer. (Kick, snare overheads panned in stereo) Bass miked or direct center pan, Guitars and other inst. left or right panned slightly.

2. RUN this stereo mix out to the 4 track machine on just 2 tracks. If you make mistakes do it again.

3. LISTEN to the tape, adjust mics if necessary for balance.

4. DO IT AGAIN until you get a great groove on tape.

5. ADD VOCALS on track 3 use headphones to avoid bleed.

6. ADD LEAD INSTRUMENTALS on track 4.

7. MIXDOWN

Dom Franco
 
Keep highs off the edge tracks,they bleed.So put bass on 1 or 4.Anything with cymbals should be on 2 or 3.
Tom
 
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