What works for me

[nate_dennis]

So, I wanted to share my work flow with you all. Not because it's perfect, or because I'm great, but because I think "where to start" can be daunting if you're just starting out. I hope others will come in and share their process. (I never know which "they're/their/theyrree" to use, sorry) That way, the noobs can have some different models to look to.

First of all, I record to tape, so some of this may not apply to you.

I only start recording once I have a song written. I don't write/record at the same time. I use the recording process/time to flesh out my arrangements but that's about all I do.

I start out by striping my tape with SMPTE code and establishing a tempo. I slave my drum machine to the recorder, and set up a basic click or four beat pattern to record over. I do this so that I can create drums later. (for those of you using DAWs, this part would just be setting up a click track in the software.)

I set up a mic on my acoustic and a mic on my vocals (sometimes just one mic to catch both) and I lay down a scratch track to work around. I find it much easier to program drums around a song than it is to sing the song in my head while trying to program.

Once my drums are programmed and I am happy with them (maybe later I'll go into how I program, but not right now) I use the stereo output fromt he drum machine and play them through my monitors, I mic the monitors (ensuring no phasing issues) and I record the sounds that way. I do this so that I am recording actual sound waves and air moving instead of just digital signals.

After my drums are recorded I use my scratch track as a guide and re-record my guitar part (unless my scratch was awesome!!) Then I add my bass, other instruments, etc. Once I get down to six tracks full, I go into mix mode, and bounce those down to two track. Now I record over the original six tracks with new material using the bounced stereo tracks as my "scratch."

Why I like this method:
1. It forces me to think like other members of a band. I have to think like a bass player, a drummer, etc.

2. I have to make decicions and live with them. I don't get to make 1493 guitar tracks and v tracks, etc.

3. It's efficient. I get to work with my drums till I dig them without re recording them, since I use SMPTE code and MIDI nothings final till I record.


If you have any questions, let me know. I hope this helps you some.

 

[RAMI]

OK, here goes....

I record all my tracks into my TASCAM 2488, and then bring them into REAPER to mix.

I usually start with a scratch guitar or bass track, playing to a simple programmed drum beat, and build from there. I do guitars, bass and then vocals. I only do the real drums once everything else is recorded. So, the last thing I record are the drums. I don't use any synths, samples, loops, etc....all real instruments.

 

[nate_dennis]

thanks for the response and sharing your ideas!

 

[grimtraveller]

Do melons even grow on trees ?

I record very much on the fly.
The process differs from song to song ~ some are ruthlessly determined in my mind before recording, some aren't even finished when I start to record but a particular section might be so that can be recorded. Others are more loose, that is, I have some sort of vague notion of the song but once I get together with whoever I do the initial bit with, it has the scope to change quite dramatically into something 'other'.

However a song comes to me, the initial tracking will take primarilly one of four forms ~ guitar/drums, guitar/percussion, bass/drums or bass/percussion. I've long regarded myself as very fortunate to be friends with people that play drums and I've always had a kit at home. When I do guitar/drums, if the guitar is meant to be acoustic, I'll do a scratch guitar on electric and redo it later so the shape of the songs and the drums are there. I always used to do the acoustic and drums together but while I'm no opponent of bleed, it was often just too much. It did push me into some novel ways to try and minimise the bleed (I'm very much one for feel ~ if there are a few mistakes I don't mind, but that intangible feel has to be there). Tracking can still be adventurous and inventive, even if I'm going to redo the guitar. But it all depends because recently, I've loved some of the scratch tracks and decided to keep them. I just 'alter' their sonics from a thin sounding "let me just plug in an electro acoustic that I'm not going to keep coz I generally hate the sound" to something a little more palatable but that doesn't sacrifice the feel I'm trying to keep.
I do the same with the bass, just go DI with the aim of redoing it with the sound that I want. But again, sometimes the feel of the performance is such that I just keep it. It doesn't really need tweaking in that case.

In a real sense, it's that initial recording that will determine the shape of the song. If it's one of the 'looser' songs, for example, the interaction can often produce unexpected twists (bizarre time signatures, reggae passages, cod jazz swings, instrumental sound effects) that necesitate more careful afterthought of what's going to go into the song. Sometimes a 'song' may consist of just what exists in the initial tracking and it grows from there. Some of them have taken years to record ! Quite a number have been vastly different at the end from how they were at the start. These days, once the initial foundation is tracked, I'll listen very carefully and I might do some editing, mainly because of the drums. I think my recording of drums has improved since my portastudio one track days and digital affords me the opportunity to add, bolster, extend and take away here and there. I'm forever flying in cymbal crashes to places "where they were not". I guess for me, that initial laying down of the track is critical. I've tried before to continue to build on a track that I just was not happy with but couldn't be bothered to retrack. And after a few years of trying to fit a lemon onto a melon tree ended up scrapping the lot and starting over. I'm a little more ruthless in middle age ! But editing can be a useful tool.

 

[grimtraveller]

I record very much on the fly.

The on the fly bit really comes into it's own after the basic rhythm and shape is down. Partly because of space and partly because of availability, recording more than two instrumentalists at a time is really awkward but recording three or four vocalists isn't. So depending on availability I try to get vocalists and backing vocalists down as soon as I can. All the other elements are also on a kind of "as and when" basis because my friends have constraints too and what might be a good time to track for me may not be for them and vice versa. But we manage, bit by bit, piecemeal. I do alot of 'writing' of instrument lines and melodies as I'm driving about or in the shower or whatever and often, before a session, I'll hum these onto a spare track and when whichever instrumentalist/vocalist comes to do their thing, it's there as a guide. It's not necesarilly carved in stone, but it might be. It depends. Sometimes the person is an improviser and so I'll just let them get on with it. Other times they are not so more 'direction' is required.
There are certain options that I have as VSTis and I put them on when I'm in the mood. My view of VSTis is > if there isn't anyone I know that can play said instrument and the VSTi sounds authentic, well, then I'll play it and put my head into that of the player of whatever instrument it is that I'm 'playing'.
I'm no fancy mixer, eventually I just go from my portastudio or DAW straight to a CD recorder and the nightmare really begins.......