What to record first?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Love & Light
  • Start date Start date
L

Love & Light

New member
So, what do you guys record first?

We're the basic 2 Guitars, Bass and drums combo.....what's the best place to start?

I was thinking.....rythym (sp) first, then vocal, then lead and finally bass and drums? Is this a sensible approach?

Thanks in advance!!
 
No it isn´t. Try to get a metronome (click track) and first lay the drums down. Once this is solid in the beat, you have a strong base for the rest of the recordings.
Then add bass, rhythm guitars, and finish with vocals, overdubs, soli etc.

This is the most common, and undoubtely the most sensible approach.
 
F_cksia said:
No it isn´t. Try to get a metronome (click track) and first lay the drums down. Once this is solid in the beat, you have a strong base for the rest of the recordings.
Then add bass, rhythm guitars, and finish with vocals, overdubs, soli etc.

This is the most common, and undoubtely the most sensible approach.
Click to expand...
Totally. Get your drummer used to playing with a click track. It keeps him on tempo and meter better. Lay the drum tracks first. If it's possible, you guys can play along with him and just record the drums. The best way is to put headphones on him and just send a signal to him. Keep it low so that the mics don't pic up what's coming out of the phones. If you can't do it that way, rehearse the hell out of it so that he is familiar with the changes and go at it. Good luck!
 
Hey guys....thanks for your help.

Have to get a metronome now!
 
Lay down guide's first

It's been my experience that most drummers that aren't totally pro couldn't make it through an arrangement based on click alone very easily if at all.
If you want your drum tracks to have any sort of feel at all, lay down a guide bass track, guitar and scratch vocal to a click so he's got somethin to work from.
Believe me if you don't your gonna find A) your drum tracks will sound dead cause he's probably not gonna get those cool shots in from the bass and or guitarist and he won't be playing dynamically to the vocalist . B) you'll find an extra bar here, and a dropped bar there in the arrangement that you'll discover half way through recording the bass track. C) you'll waste more time and cause more frustration than you would have by recording the scratch parts anyway.

Just a thought. Good luck on your project.

Flip
 
I agree that most drummers have a very hard time laying a track with any feel if they have no guide track.

At very least, if you have enough inputs, play the rythem & bass with the drummer (possibly as planned scratch tracks). Run the bass direct and the guitar direct, thru whatever efffects (to avoid bleed into the drum mics).

If you're lucky you may even be able to keep the bass track - at worst, at least the drummer has something to groove to.
 
Guys, thanks for the advice.....its really helpful. I'll let you know how we get on.
 
I've noticed that no matter what you lay down first, that first track is always the hardest. Fortunately once you get one track down the others follow it and with a little luck it all comes together. Sometimes even those "happy little accidents," that we all make are the thing that gives a song that "something special."
 
You can first record the guitar (just a rough but CORRECT take) with a click track so that it's in time. Then send the recorded signal to the drummer through phones and he can record the drums. Then record the bass and guitar (again, this time it'll be the real take) and finally vocals....
 
Ok, at the risk of sounding like a total newbie (im in the right place though!) but where do I get hold of a 'Click track' and what exactly is it.......I assume its like a metronome?
 
Love & Light said:
Ok, at the risk of sounding like a total newbie (im in the right place though!) but where do I get hold of a 'Click track' and what exactly is it.......I assume its like a metronome?
Click to expand...
What are you recording on? That will determine where you can get a click track. If it's to your computer, the software will have it. If it's to digital multitracker, most of them have one built in. Most of the analog recorders I've worked with don't have them. There are stand alone units you can get at most music instrument sales places. They can be plugged into your signal chain or just off headphones that the drummer can wear while recording.
Check out the web.
 
click track

I suggest using acid. With acid you can drop in a beat to whatever tempo you want given its a perfect loop. I find that people who have little recording experience still have trouble playing with clicks. What I mean is that recording newbies have difficulty finding the one beat on a click track and often still drop or add time. Playing to an actual drum beat is more natural, just make sure you use one with a similar feel to the actual beat thats gonna be laid down.
 
My preferred approach is to track the whole band in one shot - with or without click (depending on what the band wants) - with the intent of only capturing solid drumtracks, and possibly bass (if the bassist is comfortable). All other tracks are considered scratches (unless they rock, in which case they become keepers...)

Obviously, this requires the ability to provide some level of isolation, otherwise overdubbed tracks will not match what may have bled thru on the drums.

If the band is not comfortable with that approach, then straight overdubs to a guide track and the next way... but always drums before anything else - very few drummers I've seen can produce effective drum tracks on top of the rest of the band's tracks.
 
Hey Bruce, glad to see you around here!





Even if I AM one of the drama queens!





But lately I've become a Sidewalk Commando :eek:
 
Blue Bear....thanks for the advice. I think we'll try that one and see how it goes.
 
Haven't read all the posts (no time) but I'd play a guitar track to a click and then let the lay down the bass THEN let the drummer unleash (bass is always good for a drummer to hear)
 
If your drummer has issues playing to the simple click sound and you have a sequencer/drum machine, you may want to change the "click" to a simple high-hat & snare combination. It is much easier to play (and grove) off a "beat" than a simple click.
 
Simman said:
If your drummer has issues playing to the simple click sound and you have a sequencer/drum machine, you may want to change the "click" to a simple high-hat & snare combination. It is much easier to play (and grove) off a "beat" than a simple click.
Click to expand...
Nice tip, thanks! :D
 
Ok, I can help you a lot here because I am a drummer and, as luck would have it we encountered the same problem this evening when doing an album song. Here it is, it's a difficult to really get into the music when you have boundaries like a metronome, if the drummer wants to speed up, the way I see it is that's how the song should be. If that's what naturally happens, let it happen...so how do you record other stuff with this? Well we went ahead and just did bass vocals and drums all at once, and every thing fell into place after that. Because we laid down not only the foundation but also the vocals, the guitar player can still "feel" the music with headphones when recording his part. I'll give you a link to the track we did sometime, it's a got some REALLY heavy bass drum.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top