Recording a project by myself. What approach to take???

[zakkfaerum]

Hey all. Ok, what I am going to do is record a project and do all the parts myself. I have a good amount of gear and all, so that's not the problem in the least, I have recorded full bands before no problem. What I am wondering is what approach do I take. I know that recording drums first is always a good idea, but what should I do to keep everyting in sync. Click tracks and memorize the guitar parts in my head or...........??????

Thanks a lot everyone.

 

[LeeRosario]

You know if anything is true, it would be that producing music for yourself and music for someone else is almost completely different.



Because as much as you would love to treat yourself as you would with a band, you just can't. It would be lovely to try and tell yourself, "well Im going to rehearse this until I have it perfectly and then track it during production".


But the truth is, you're going to miss things that would otherwise be noticed as an outside opinion.

Some of the best self produced stuff still needed outside help to arrange, mix, program, track and somewhat keep everything in check.

For example, Bjork is an amazing talent and she does alot of stuff on a Pro Tools system at home. However, she has her "personal" engineer do alot of the tracking and managment of sounds, so she can focus on lyrics and just creating the music. Of course, occasionally they stop in at a few studios to track additonal stuff.

I guess the best thing to do is to treat yourself as you would a band, but to also be sparing with yourself.


Like if you have to take an entire day to do drums on one song, to do it in pieces (verse, chorus, etc) then let it be that way. In fact, I would say having a calendar of events would probably help you stay on track so you can focus on the performance as much as humanly possible.

Cause if you think about it pyschologically: Telling someone else what to do is completely different than telling yourself what to do.

So approach it like that. Also, since it's self produced, I would take my time. Like save one week to do all your drum stuff. Then at the end of the week, analyze everything you did, try to put your parts together (minimal editing) to prep it up for the next week. Which may be guitars, bass, vocals...whatever you feel like doing.

So that way, at the end of the month, you actually have an album that you where able to give detailed attention to.


Like it was a habit for me in my early teens to treat myself like a big movie. "Drums one week and every sunday in that month would be editing and performance review".


So it was always:

Week 1 (Drums): Mon-Sat/Tracking. Sun/Editing & performance review. Then I prepared my game plan for week 2.

Week 2 (Rhythm Guitars): Mon-Sat/Tracking. Sun/Editing & performance review. Then the next game plan.

Week 3 (Vocals & Bass): Mon-Sat/Tracking. Sun/Editing & performance review. Next game plan...

Week 4 (Final bits, lead parts, supporting instruments or extra sounds): Mon-Sat/Tracking. Sun/Editing & performance review.


So you see, each successive step set me up for the next step. I would manage to get my basic editing done, plus I could calmly work off the previous week's worth of material. Almost like building a pyriamid. So I was never stressed out, or freaked about what to do next. Because I could always visualize how one part would help set me up for the next part.

Then the next 2 weeks- month was where the mixing came in. So on and so forth.



Think about this for a second:

What do you think is easier:

a) Trying to get to an unknown destination without a map?

or

b) Trying to get to an unknown destination with a map?

I don't know if it will work for you, but I figure I'd share the thought.

 

[zakkfaerum]

Very nice man. Thanks!!!!

 

[LeeRosario]

Very nice man. Thanks!!!!

No problem buddy!

 

[hungovermorning]

I'm assuming you're a guitar player. One approach that's pretty interesting and which Hot Tuna did on the "Burgers" album would be to sit down with an acoustic guitar and vocals and record those and build everything else off a solid performance of that (in the probably order of drums, bass, guitars)

 

[Omniscient]

I miss being in bands, but I just grew tired of it. 3-5 people all using their input to mold a song is a lot easier than a single person trying to do everything. But that's what I do now. I basically do what Lee does. Although I do the drums last and mostly just ad-lib them into the bass and guitar mix. It's hard to come up with a metal/hardcore drum line without some rythm structure because in a way hardcore music doesn't have a set structure that's why I love it. I never use the same lines over in a song. It's one line set, next line set, possible break down, next line set, etc. But when you give yourself that game plan and pace yourself, it all comes together rather nicely. It is going to suck redoing what I've done so far when I get my EQ and preamps. I don't have my priorites in order.

 

[zakkfaerum]

Yeah, I am currently looking for a band as my last original band after 5 years has since broken up, and since I was the primary songwriter and am very capable of playing the other instruments, and also own all of the other instruments, I figure let's see what can I do. I know that 3 or 4 minds makes song writing easier for the most part, but my philosophy is that "If you do it yourself, there is no one else to mess it up!!"

 

[gecko zzed]

In recording your own stuff yourself, there are as many approaches as there are people with opinions. People operate differently, and will find some methods easier than others.

Some possibilities are:

1 Put down a basic drum rythm for the track, then progessively add parts to this, synching to the drum pattern.

2 Assemble the song in chunks (e.g. choruses, verses etc.), then stitch them together afterwards.

3

 

[gecko zzed]

In recording your own stuff yourself, there are as many approaches as there are people with opinions. People operate differently, and will find some methods easier than others.

Some possibilities are:

1 Put down a basic drum rythm for the track, then progessively add parts to this, synching to the drum pattern.

2 Assemble the song in chunks (e.g. choruses, verses etc.), then stitch them together afterwards.

3 Lay down a basic guitar (or keyboard) track, then build the song up around this.

An important factor is how rigid your tempo is. If variable tempo is important for your songs, then you need to be able to manage this. It can be done using the three techniques above.

 

[Feanor IV]

Play the rhythm guitar to a click (or very simple drum pattern). Then record drums. Then rerecord the guitar and go on recording the rest

 

[up-fiddler]

Typically I will pull a simple drum track off the drum machine and then record EVERYTHING ELSE. Then go back and record live drums to the music and toss the drum track. I usually find that I will rerecord the lead vox at this time also. Give it a try. Hope this helps, Dave.

 

[aznightwolf]

Play the rhythm guitar to a click (or very simple drum pattern). Then record drums. Then rerecord the guitar and go on recording the rest

That's how I do it, even add scratch vocals if that helps cue the changes.

 

[Dani Pace]

This works for me; first I lay down a scratch track consisting of click, rythm guitar and vocal. I just use this track as a reference to build the other tracks upon. Then I (personal preferance) lay a bass track, then drums ( I'm not saying this is the right way, it's just what works best for me) then rythm guitar, other instruments (keyboard, lead guitar etc...) and lastly vocals. I drop the scratch track as soon as I can hear the structure of the song without it, usualy about the time I get to the rythm guitar track. There isn't really any set order for recording, we all use what works best for us, if you need to be able to hear everything else in order to play the drum part, then by all means record it last.