Whats YOUR recording process?

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Benreturns

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Me? firstly i lay down some rythem - usualy a rythem guitar, you might not be even able to hear this in the final mix, but its a good starting reference point. Also when recording vocals there's nothing better to listen to than a guitar strumming (il turn off every other track). Gets your tone and pitch going good.
Next il add bass (compressed) and then drums. I record snare and bass drum first and then percussion on my next track (hi-hat, cymbals, extras). Next i usually add the lead instrument, which is usually guitar or keyboard. After that i have 3 tracks on which to do vocals (i usually do a lead followed with a 2 part harmony - backing vox recorded first) If theres just one backing vocal on the song then i have a spare track to be creative with. All other 'extra' bits/effects/parts of the song can be edited in the right spaces later.

Anyone?
 
You are doing this in a very interesting way! You a one man band? How do you keep your time for the first track without drums? Usually:

Drums, Bass, Guitars, Vocals

Hmmmmmmmm....:D

You do snare and highhat THEN the toms? Are you an alien? Why not just record everything on seperate tracks> You are an alien aren't you!?
 
Normal order for me is:

1. Drums, Bass, Keys (separate tracks)
2. Guitars
3. Scratch vocals
4. Re-do drums, bass, keys, guitars as needed
5. Vocals

Then iterate on 4-5 until done.

Ed
 
It depends on the client but if they're tight enough as a group, I'll typically try to have them play together with the intent of getting a good drum track down, and possibly bass - treating everything else as scratches....

Then replace/overdub tracks until it's done...
 
Drums
Rythym guitars
Vocal
Bass/Keys
Lead guitars
 
Just curious... how is it you don't do a bass track after drums?
 
For a band, I'll do the same as Bear... have them play live and go for keeping just the drums. Any other keepers from that are gravy... I had a band in a couple of weeks ago and they nailed drums & keys in one take. The bass and guitar were next then leads & vocals.

For soloists, it depends on the singer. Usually I try and get just the guitar track(s) first then add vocals. Sometimes they like to play to a scratch of singing & playing.

Cheers
Kevin.
 
If its just me, I practice for weeks and weeks until I have the piece down pat, and know it like the back of my hand.
Then I set up the mics, and hit record.
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
Just curious... how is it you don't do a bass track after drums?
Click to expand...

i do the same, i need rythym to carry the rest of the song as i improvise along, sometimes i'll use light keys but i have hearing issues and do bass last so i can get the punch and bottom end right, tell us how it's done BB, if you would...

thanks...
 
Being another all-in-one band, I write all my stuff on acoustic...in the yard, at the beach, on the couch etc. So, I put down a click track, and set up two mics: acoustic and vox, and just record that.

Give it a listen, decide if some bits need to be longer, if some need to come out. I edit this part fiercely, it is essentially my arrangement phase. This is what i love digital recording, it is easy to do. I may delete a chorus, insert a few bars for a solo etc. I generally snip the guitar part into sections and then groove-clip enable them, try them out in different places, adjust the tempo etc.

Then, I will concoct a drum part (I am stuck with samplers/sequencers), then bass (also via samplers),

then I rerecord the acoustic bit (all that cutting and pasting gives a few good clicks/pops/holes), and start adding electric guitars, keys or whatever else.

I leave vox until the very end, I sing better when I have all the other bits to react to.
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
It depends on the client but if they're tight enough as a group, I'll typically try to have them play together with the intent of getting a good drum track down, and possibly bass - treating everything else as scratches....

Then replace/overdub tracks until it's done...
Click to expand...

is there any other way?

one trick: try not to tell people that they are playing "scratch" parts. then they play better... and it is easier on the bassist and drummer.

i have been on the losing end of this... (i am a drummer) some people in the band blowing parts and starting to fuck around, and you are concentrating... and ... well... you know...
 
well...

13th_Omen said:
You are doing this in a very interesting way! You a one man band? How do you keep your time for the first track without drums? Usually:

Drums, Bass, Guitars, Vocals

Hmmmmmmmm....:D

You do snare and highhat THEN the toms? Are you an alien? Why not just record everything on seperate tracks> You are an alien aren't you!?
Click to expand...


Not alien i dont think. For that first track, the very first thing i do is lay down a rythem guitar part. This can easyly be kept on time if you have rythem - tap my foot along - whatever. If, on the rare occasions the timing is out then il notice upon first playback or when it comes to laying down the drums and do it again more carefully. After rythem guitar on track 1 then its bass on track 2. Then its bass drum and snare and drum fills on track 3. Track 4 is the hi-hat and cymbol crashes. This is so i can pan the two tracks slighty apart and increase the high EQ on the cymbols/hi-hat without making the EQ higher on the bass drum/snare.
After that il fill in the lead instruments onto track 5. Then its vocals all the way! Out of this world, but not alien.
 
Fusion2 said:
i do the same, i need rythym to carry the rest of the song as i improvise along, sometimes i'll use light keys but i have hearing issues and do bass last so i can get the punch and bottom end right, tell us how it's done BB, if you would...

thanks...
Click to expand...
It's not a question of "how it's done"... I mean - you should do whatever works best for you -- but many, myself included, prefer bass tracked either with drums or after drums because a lot of the time (not always!), those instruments provide the bulk of a song's groove, making it much easier for the other tracks to get overdubbed (since the rhythm of the song has been established)....
 
Benreturns -- that sounds like a really strange way to get cohesive parts, but hey... like I said -- whatever works!

Would love to hear a clip of some of your work....
 
Well...

You will do, pretty soon. I dont know why i started recording like this. Maybe because my songs are written with my guitar, thats how i start them off. I didnt actually realise i was doing anything too different, but yeah - it works for me (i hope!).

Im reciveing a new effects processer in a couple of weeks (should have been last thurs) from one of those online distributers. Im totally re-recording my tunes and these will be sent off as demo's to publishers. I'll also upload some stuff on here, and you can tell me how my work sounds from a recording point of view. Should be interesting.

As i mentioned - i didnt realise my way was so unorthadox. It works as long as that rythem (how the hell do i spell that!?!) part is on time, i never thought of it as an issue.
 
i start off with a kick/snare/hihat click with Fruity Loops......I play around with guitar until i get a feel for where the tempo should be.......then i go thru and do a scratch vocal and scratch rhythm guitar part making sure the arrangement is working somewhat half assed.........

from there Ill start doing the keepers......sometimes Ill do the bass guitar first then work up the Fruity Loops drum part, other times Ill work out the drums before the bass....but i always get them first......

then i do the rhythm guitars...if it has acoustic, i do that first.....then electric........

if (and rarely) there will be a keyboard part, this is where i do it.....

then the keeper vocals.......

then the lead guitar.........

if (and rarely) there will be background vocals, this is where id do it.........
 
Blue Bear Sound said:
It's not a question of "how it's done"... I mean - you should do whatever works best for you -- but many, myself included, prefer bass tracked either with drums or after drums because a lot of the time (not always!), those instruments provide the bulk of a song's groove, making it much easier for the other tracks to get overdubbed (since the rhythm of the song has been established)....
Click to expand...

my hearing is bad enough that i miss bass half the time, i can hear a kick better and sync time to it easier, then lower the kick in the mix if needed by then, i add or build the bass track following the guitar rhythm, i guess i could use a standard bass run beat to enhance the kick beat then replace it later with a snappy across the scale progressive track, it gets hard at times in those progressive areas making the guitar keep in line, i've never thought about useing bass riffs to write a song, just guitar and keys as a rhythm, being a guitarst, a singer working a song would most likey make good use of it though...

it's all improvisation to me anyway...thanks again...
 
im a guitar person so i guess all my music revolves around that, but as far as drums go, i find it easier to lay them down after the guitar or bass parts.

i usually lay down drums to my harmony or melody lines but if u dont have a real drumkit its very difficult to program beats or manually press the little buttons for the length of an entire song in time on a drum machine. so im wondering if anyone has had similar experiances trying to compose a song without a band and has any advice?
 
Guitar or Keyboard (whichever is the main instrument)
Bass
Vocals (if there are any)
Drums

I find it much easier to just use a click track and then afterwards fit in appropriate fills and everything, although in the end it's probably harder since I have to go back and forth and see if i have the right amount of measures.
 
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