Track by track recordings - a beginners guide

[Lew Bear]

I've reached the stage where just slamming a mic in front of me and trying to get the position right for the balance between guitar and vox is no longer satisfying and have decided to attempt track by track recordings to be able to add more instruments in and give my songs more life and a cleaner, crisper sound

I've got a simple bit of software (audacity) and put a drum beat in (that I will later take out and replace with percussion). I decided to attempt one of my easiest songs to make it as painless as possible and have got a guitar take down

Overall its good, but where do you draw the line on perfection? It goes out of time with the drumtrack slightly in the first chorus and there's a half muted chord somewhere else

The half muted chord I can live with. Its barely noticeable now and when the other instruments are in, should all but disappear. What about the timing bit?

If you take out the drumtrack, once again, its not noticeable - and I can play my percussion along with it just fine - but if I ask other people to join in will it cause a problem for them?

Will it be something that I can live with now, but in years to come I'll look back and wish I'd had one more go? Or is it more that as time goes by, I'll forget where it is? If I attempt too many takes, will it lose its soul and become a robotic version of itself?

I'm not a perfectionist - in fact, while I respect Steely Dan, I've got no love for them coz they are too perfect, but is this a personal thing in where you draw the line? Or is it more definable?

[Cormier and Long]

Lew go for it and be patient. Recording is an encredible experience.

When I record I'm always trying to get the character of the track. What i mean is, use Roger's vocal as an example, Roger can sing pitch perfect and have exact phrasing for all the lines but when we do it it takes the life out of the track. So what I shoot for is more character. His voice is raspy and masculine so we go for that quality rather than perfection. We don't want Roger to sound like Justin Timberlake we want Roger to sound like Roger. The guitar tracks are the same thing. I love hearing Rogers fingers sliding up and down the fret board and I can see his fingers bending the strings when I listen to his solos. What I mean is he's got a certain quality that tells me it's Roger playing the guitar and thats what I try to get. I do the samething with myself their are certain qualities that I try to get rather than perfection.

Another thing that happens sometimes is we'll have two different versions going at the same time maybe a soft acoustic version and a raunchy electric version. If they're both happening let them happen you never know which version you'll end up keeping.

We could spend hours getting the right track, once we know what we want, then we lay the track down ASAP. Always trying to keep it fresh. Then most times it's a keeper but not always. We generally play tracks from start to finish and just recently tried comping on a vocal track but usually we just sing from start to finish. This style kind of gives it an unpolished raw kind of sound, not over produced. More Neil Young and less Queen. David Partridge often suggest a 'Roadhouse Feel'. It's not for everyone but it works for us.

What one person may think of as an imperfection another may think of as perfect. A great example is the Beatles "Shake it up baby". Lots of energy on that one but a far cry from perfection.

Don't go mad doing it just keep doing it. Save your old tracks, as you progress you can go back and fix them up.

Steve

[Jeremy Perron]

Al i can suggest apart from what has been already said, is don't stop recording.

Since I was 19 or so I've always been messing about with tape recorders or something. There was a time when i would use my 4-track fostex every night and at least record one track a night.

these tracks would be like Jam-with-myself tracks, that is, I'd start the recorder, play some tune, rewind, and without listening first, overdub a second track, and so forth.

The playing quality would end up a bit rough at the edges, like you have experienced, but the sheer creative flow from doing a simple exercise like that was wonderful and it kept me sane for many years while i was working in the 9-5 world...

You just cannot do too much of this, and then the day comes you may have an album of stuff out of all those recordings, re-record them with care and attention and voila- an album of original tunes!
jp

[Wing and a Prayer]

People have different reasons for recording....the main ones being to let the world hear your music [and hopefully respond positively!] and sometimes in order to create while youre recording.

A lot of artists these days like to record "live"...guitar and vocal and even a full band , in the studio all playing at the same time...which can capture the whole feel of a piece of music - which would be lost in any "layering process".

Ive spent 40 years trying to sing and play in a way where I can weave the guitar and voice together as inseparable...and then a recording engineer will ask me to record the two separate!!

One compromise to all of this...and an aid to your problem of timing...is to record a "guide track" with two microphones....then play and record over it as close as possible...until youre happy with the timing....keep that/those tracks and remove the "originals".Thats a well used recording studio technique...

Good luck!...Dave Dick