strange idea

[mrduval]

So I'm recording this band very soon, but with our schedules its been hard for me and the drummer to met up early enough that we don't piss off the next door neighbors. But me and the guitar sat down and set the tempo maps for the songs and laid down scratch guitar tracks. And holy shit this kid has great timing, so would it be possible to record everything perfect to the click map and do drums last since the schedule conflict is out of control right now with him or would that just be a waste of time. Has anyone tried this before.

 

[knightfly]

I do it all the time, sorta - I'll usually start with a "click" track comprised of a completely quantized drum loop that has the feel I want the song to end up with - I loop it however many times it takes to get a full-length drum track to work to. I then add whatever key parts, guitars, bass, etc, til I'm happy overall - then I play the drum track real time, record that to 8 10 tracks, pull up the overheads, kick and snare, and only bring up the other drum tracks (toms, bottom snare, hat) as needed to round out the kit sound. Of course I MUTE the quantized "machine" sound during this phase, and usually trash it entirely when I'm done.

For quick sound tracks for industrial training videos I usually do something similar but with a Roland V kit because it's quicker... Steve

 

[mixsit]

... so would it be possible to record everything perfect to the click map and do drums last since the schedule conflict is out of control right now with him or would that just be a waste of time. Has anyone tried this before.

Depends. A lot of guys on the 'local level may not drum to a click very well. Some may not even know they can't it they haven't tried it yet.

 

[Analoguy]

well i was experimenting one day and i decided to record the non-percussive instruments first on a click then laid down the drums and i realised that when i recorded the drums first i felt the song more when recoding the guitars and what not. just think: record with drums or record with loud ear ringing click track? hmmm. go with the bass and guitar first with click trak as scratches so that you can also feel the drums the same way you should feel guitars then record the drums then go back and nail the guitars again. but the answer is yes you totally can record the guitars first but the end result will be a robot like sound if you dont go back and record them again after you get the drums down.

 

[knightfly]

I agree; that's why, when I'm looking for a specific "feel" instead of just "letting whatever's in there come out", I nearly always start with an actual drum pattern that has the "feel" I want instead of just a click.... Steve