What order do you record?

  • Thread starter Thread starter gwayms
  • Start date Start date
G

gwayms

New member
I'm trying to get some other input on how you guys do your recording. I just fininshed my studio and have all the instruments in there. My question.
What instrument do you record first or what are some techniques you use? I do my recording by my self (drums, bass, guitar, vocal). And i havent figured out what to do first.
Ex. If i lay down a guitar track then try to play drums to it, the guitar track is not on time. And so on
 
gwayms said:
If i lay down a guitar track then try to play drums to it, the guitar track is not on time. And so on
Click to expand...
Perhaps a metronome or click track in phones to keep time when you record the guitar. Then come back and do the drums to the same beat.

G.
 
What I do, and I do stuff by myself is....A decent drum track first. If I play to a regular click track, I find that I might play very mechanical, and then need to re-track guitars later, because they don't really sound the way I want, with the drums. They don't have to be final drums, but I like them to have the sound that is close to what is going to be in the final of the song. Then I do guitars, and bass, and try and mix this pretty close to what it will be in the end, so the vocals are done to this, and they seem to fit in the overall feel of the song. If I make really big changes later, some stuff doesn't seem to have the dynamics it needs, from the performance. Just my way, as there are several ways that could work.
Ed
 
Click - Drums - Guitars - Bass - Everything else...
 
Click > Drums > Bass > "Other/Percussion" > Rhythm Guitar > Lead Guitar > Lead Vocals > Harmonies/Back up.

Thats usually how i approach a session, if its a full band.
 
1. Rhythm guitar
2. Bass
3. Lead guitar
4. Vocals
5. Shaker
 
click
drums
bass
other rythm instruments (acoustic guitar/electric rythms)
lead instruments (pianos/guitars)
vocals
backup vocals
doodads
 
I'm curious that some people record drums just to a click track. Being a drummer
myself I need to be able to hear the song (or just a guide track) to remember which
bits come where. Do other drummers just play the whole song to a click with nothing
else? Maybe I need to imporve my memory ;-)

Dave
 
I'm with you Dave, even if I could play drums, I'd never be able to remember a whole song to lay out
 
drums > guitar > bass > vox

If I am with a live drummer, I'll play a scratch guitar track along with him while he is tracking.
 
i start w/ drums,bass,guitar,vocals,keyboards-I also mute out everything but drums and bass to drop my vocals,usually.Almost always stick to this order because its just me and nobody else to answer to.
 
daveparker said:
I'm curious that some people record drums just to a click track. Being a drummer
myself I need to be able to hear the song (or just a guide track) to remember which
bits come where. Do other drummers just play the whole song to a click with nothing
else? Maybe I need to imporve my memory ;-)

Dave
Click to expand...

I track my drums with no click track nor any guide track. I kinda "play the song in my head" and track. Sometimes, I'll write down stuff on an index card, like "intro, verse x 4, chorus x 2", etc., and tape it to a cymbal stand...just in case I need to look at the arrangement...but for some reason I usually don't. Do I goof up? Sure I do, but I don't let it bug me much. If I goof it up too much, I just start over.

That said, I track drums first then either guitar or bass depending on which instrument seems to drive the song more. Then I track vocals. Then I track any guitar solos the song might have.

As far as my timing goes...I dunno...it seems to be ok. The page with stuff I've done is in my signature if anyone cares to check it out. There are times I'd like to have a click track...but I don't so...eff it! :D
 
1. click + scratch ref track - guitar/piano and maybe vox
2. prog rough drum track (better feel than a click track)
2a. this is were i check/set tempo changes since once i record audio
it will be hard to do major shifts
3. add rhythm guitar
4. add bass
5. add drums (if doing live drums)
6. add keys and synths
7. add lead/solo instruments
8. mute everything except drums/bass/rhythm guitar/maybe piano
9. lead vocal
10. backup vox
11. rough mix and add any pads or effects

after that the tracking is pretty much done and its time to mix...
 
I do pretty much everything myself, so here's my sequence:

1) scratch track -- contains click, guitar and vocal (this is deleted later)
2) drums/percussion -- using the scratch w/click as a guide
3) bass
4) retrack guitar
5) keys, lead guitar, etc.
6) lead vocal
7) background vocals
8) any additional beeps and boops
 
1. Scratch guitar with click track (working out the tempo/key sig and tempo/key sig changes before hand)
2. Work out a drum part...this is where inspiration for changes to the scratch guitar come
3. Track rhythm guitars
4. Track bass guitar
5. Track synths/strings/piano
6. Track vocals
7. Track lead guitars
8. Track backing vocals
9. Track any other extra stuff
 
i recorded my band with a guy once that made us play a rythm track.. he just had our acoustic guy play a basic strumming and me do a basic rythm strum thing on the electric along with the drums..

then went back and layed down everything one at a time on top of it proper before removing the original track.

i thought that was probably the easiest way to go about things.
since then my band always gets a basic one-take recording done before we try to track anything perfect.

the problem is when im alone i always end up keeping those first takes because i'm so lazy :)

daveparker said:
I'm curious that some people record drums just to a click track. Being a drummer
myself I need to be able to hear the song (or just a guide track) to remember which
bits come where. Do other drummers just play the whole song to a click with nothing
else? Maybe I need to imporve my memory ;-)

Dave
Click to expand...
 
daveparker said:
I'm curious that some people record drums just to a click track. Being a drummer
myself I need to be able to hear the song (or just a guide track) to remember which
bits come where. Do other drummers just play the whole song to a click with nothing
else? Maybe I need to imporve my memory ;-)

Dave
Click to expand...

I'm a drummer as well and I can see where you're coming from. The thing is, I guess we shouldn't really be recording the song if we don't know it well enough yet! There's more confidence behind your playing when you know everything dead-on. What I sometimes do though, is record a rough guitar track to a click, record the drums with the click and guitar in my phones (it gives your playing more emotion because you can hear every aspect of the song), then I'll record a good guitar track afterwards.
 
daveparker said:
I'm curious that some people record drums just to a click track. Being a drummer
myself I need to be able to hear the song (or just a guide track) to remember which
bits come where. Do other drummers just play the whole song to a click with nothing
else? Maybe I need to imporve my memory ;-)

Dave
Click to expand...

If this is the case, usually you do a rough draft of the song "scratch track" which may include the guitarist and the vocalist. And you play that through the h/p instead on the click, hoping the vocalist and guitarist have the right timing it should be fine.
 
My scratch track usually consists of a programed rythm, guitar and vocal, that way I have the basic referance points for the song. For my first "real" track I try to get the bass part, then rythm guitar, drums, vocals, finally lead guitar and keyboard. I try to do the bass part first because if I try it later the mix tends to get muddy. Of course the order changes sometimes, depending on the song or if something isn't working. The great thing about multi track is if you dont like a track it's easy to record another and replace the first one. The correct order is the one that works for you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top