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R/E/P => Recording - Engineering & Production => Topic started by: John Marsden on September 29, 2017, 08:25:14 PM

Title: Relative Newbie - tracking question to getting a reference track down
Post by: John Marsden on September 29, 2017, 08:25:14 PM
Tracking advice
New to self recording
Few years doing live sound
I am after advice regarding  the best order for recording a song.
it will be essentially solo artist, vox and accoustic guitar- and then some lead fills, ambient synth pads etc way in the background.
I will be doing the lot.
Should I lay down a referenc track with click track in my ear of the whole song. one take vox and guitar. then use that to re-record all the parts. In the past when I've tried this it can takes a long time to get a good take. Or do I just start recording just the guitar part. This does my head in as its hard to know where you're up to with no reference. Or do I record just sections at a time. Then put them together in daws.
As you see I would value advice on how to initially get going.
Advice gratefully received
Thank you
Title: Re: Relative Newbie - tracking question to getting a reference track down
Post by: Fletcher on September 30, 2017, 05:57:10 PM
All due respect, this is an unanswerable question as its a highly individual thing.  FWIW, if I were "producing" the session I'd have you lay it down with vocals and guitar until you got a tempo / feel you liked for the song... then add drums, bass, other guitars backing vocals, etc. etc., etc.

Never be afraid to go back and change stuff... and never be afraid to say "ya know what... I'm going to start over" after you've lived with the song in its various iterations over time.  You have to realize that you're under no time constraint / budget restrictions to get this done... so take your time and build a product you're going to be psyched to play in your car for the rest of your life [which is how I've approached every project in my career... I need to love the outcome... if anyone else does and happen to buy it -- well then, it appears we're on the bonus plan].

I hope this is of some assistance.

Peace
Title: Re: Relative Newbie - tracking question to getting a reference track down
Post by: John Marsden on September 30, 2017, 06:51:17 PM
Thank you Fletcher.  Great advice.
I write songs very much like that, with multiple revisions that  get me lots of gentle ribbing from my fellow musicians. So it makes sense to record the same way. 
Cheers
Title: Re: Relative Newbie - tracking question to getting a reference track down
Post by: Fletcher on October 01, 2017, 01:53:55 AM
Do what comes naturally and you will hardly ever go wrong.

Peace
Title: Re: Relative Newbie - tracking question to getting a reference track down
Post by: Vertig07 on October 06, 2017, 12:15:07 PM
I'm currently in the same situation - working on my own solo material and playing all of the instruments myself. Some tips based on my own experience (YMMV):


Good luck with your tracking and composition!

-Lance
Title: Re: Relative Newbie - tracking question to getting a reference track down
Post by: Fletcher on October 06, 2017, 05:45:39 PM
In with "doubling your riffs", you might want to try doing backing guitar / keyboard tracks using different chord voicing [or with guitars, open tunings as well as voicing] -- often that can help make the presentation sound HUGE without sacrificing "mix space".

Peace
Title: Re: Relative Newbie - tracking question to getting a reference track down
Post by: John Marsden on October 20, 2017, 12:17:12 AM
Thank you Lance great advice.
Thank you for sharing. There are so many things you can do its hard to know when to stop...

Thanks Fletcher - I shall bear this in mind too.